Republicans Suppress Votes While Democrats Fight For Voting Rights

The Republican controlled legislature in Georgia passed new voter suppression measures aimed at minority voters a few weeks ago under to the guise of protecting against vote fraud. If that’s really what it was about they wouldn’t have included measures such as criminalizing handing out bottles of water to people standing in long lines to vote. The Texas legislature said “hold my beer” and is poised to pass the onerous SB 7 which included a provision to make it harder for the disabled to vote by mail by requiring that they provide a note from their doctor declaring them disabled and therefore worthy of a mail in ballot, until a last minute amendment to strike that language sponsored by Senator Judith Zaffirini (D) was passed. None of the other amendments to remove restrictions or clarify language were accepted the bill to pass the Senate on a party line vote.

While Republicans claim that the bill is fair and applies equally to everyone in reality several provisions in SB 7 focus on increased voting regulations in only urban areas. There are restrictions specifically targeting Harris County where Democrats have won nearly all seats in local and state offices recently. The legislation also sets specific rules for the distribution of polling places in only the handful of counties with a population of at least 1 million, most of which are either under Democratic control or won by Democrats in recent national and statewide elections.

The Texas House, not wanting to be outdone, is working on HB 6 another highly discriminatory bill that drew criticism against it from a number of prominent corporations, including Dell, American Airlines and Microsoft, as well as former House Speaker Joe Straus (R), who tweeted: Major Texas employers are stepping up and speaking out against voter suppression, and for good reason. Texas should not go down the same path as Georgia. It’s bad for business and, more importantly, it’s bad for our citizens. #txlege

It isn’t just Georgia and Texas, nearly all states where Republicans control the state legislatures are working to pass similar voter suppression laws in an effort to stem in-roads by Democratic candidates. This is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0 using the myth of voter fraud as the excuse. Since they’ve found in many states and localities that they can’t or soon won’t be able to win free and fair elections Republicans are changing the rules to disadvantage voters most likely to vote for Democrats.

Moving in the other direction the U.S. House recently passed H.R. 1, The For The People Act which includes measures such as voter registration modernization, prohibiting partisan gerrymandering, and require candidates for president and vice-president to disclose their tax returns among other measures.

Modernizing voter registration is important since roughly a quarter of eligible Americans are not registered to vote. H.R. 1 promotes internet registration because the current manual transfer of handwritten information to computerized voter rolls is costly and prone to error. The bill requires states to implement automatic voter registration such that when eligible citizens provide information to government agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles, they are automatically registered to vote or have their existing registration information updated unless they affirmatively decline. The bill also requires same day voter registration for federal elections which helps safeguard against registration system errors, cyber-attacks, and wrongful purges.

Democrats are fighting to make our elections better and increase citizen participation while Republicans are scrambling to suppress voter participation in an effort to squeeze out victories even when their policies are not supported by the majority of voters.

Elections Matter - For the People Act

I often hear the phrase "elections matter" when suggesting that a judicial appointment or new law has been either especially good or bad. Last week that phrase took on an additional meaning when Maryland congressman, John Sarbanes introduced H.R. 1, the For the People Act which is designed to clean up corruption in Washington, make it easier to vote, and give the American people more power in our democracy. The bill was written because elections matter - and elections matter because without the 2018 election resulting in the Democratic Party majority in the House this bill wouldn't have seen a chance for passage. All 236 Democrats have co-sponsored the bill but not a single Republican cares enough about the right of the people to free and fair elections or open and honest representation.

H.R. 1 makes critical reforms across three key areas: voting rights, campaign finance, and ethics and accountability.

On voting rights H.R. 1 expands access to the ballot box by attacking cumbersome registration systems, limited voting hours and many other barriers. The bill requires automatic voter registration in every state, ensures that individuals who have completed felony sentences have their full rights restored, expands voting by mail and early voting and otherwise modernizes the U.S. voting system.

 H.R. 1 fights back against attacks on voting rights like eliminating polling sites in minority communities and gerrymandering by committing Congress to build the record necessary to restore the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting voter roll purges like those seen recently in Texas as well as Ohio, Georgia and elsewhere and ensuring that discriminatory voter ID laws do not prevent Americans citizens from exercising their rights. The bill also ends partisan gerrymandering to prevent politicians from picking their voters. The bill enhances federal support for voting system security, particularly paper ballots - which our county commissioners had the foresight to address with our new voting machines.

On campaign finance, H.R. 1 addresses super PACs and dark money in politics by requiring any organization involved in political activity to disclose its large donors. Since the Citizens United decision nearly a decade ago wealthy donors and special interests have been able to hide their spending in networks of “social welfare” organizations that aren't required to report where the money came from.

H.R. 1 levels the political playing field for everyday Americans by creating a multiple matching system for small donations thus restoring the right of the American people to exercise their will in a world where the wealthy currently have overwhelming influence. The bill will break the stranglehold special interests have on Congress so that the American people are served once again.

H.R. 1 tightens rules on super PACs and restructures the Federal Election Commission to break the gridlock and enhance its enforcement mechanisms and repeals regulations that prevent government agencies from requiring commonsense disclosure of political spending.

The bill also addresses the revolving door between government and lobbyists and boardrooms which is where much of the shenanigans originate. H.R. 1 also closes registration loopholes for lobbyists and foreign agents, and ensures watchdogs have sufficient resources to enforce the law.

In all H.R. 1 is great start on restoring government power to the people, sadly while it is sure to pass the House, Mitch McConnell has already boasted it won’t ever even be voted on in the Senate claiming it’s a power grab. Well if that’s true it’s a grab by the people and Mitch and his Republican enablers like John Cornyn should watch their step.

In 2020 elections will matter once again.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - March 15, 2019

Heed John Lewis

Civil rights hero, Congressman John Lewis, has taken to social media recently to encourage voters to use their right to vote. He tweeted “I have been beaten, my skull fractured, and arrested more than forty times so that each and every person has the right to register and vote. Friends of mine gave their lives. Do your part. Get out there and vote like you’ve never voted before.”

Congressman Lewis’ remarks are especially important this week when many Americans are going to the polls for early voting at the same time a right wing terrorist has mailed and hand delivered at least seven bombs to former president Obama, Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, progressive billionaire George Soros, and the New York offices of CNN. Hate from the right; like the white nationalist/Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia last year that ended in the death of Heather Heyer, has been on the rise since Barack Obama began his campaign for president in 2007. The current White House stoked that hate during his campaign and enough Americans in the certain states accepted his hateful message so that he managed to take office even though he received nearly 3 million fewer votes. Since his inauguration he has thrown more fuel in the fire and claimed that the bigots marching in Charlottesville were nice people.

By continuing to spout hateful language toward his opponents and those in the media not associated with Fox News and AM talk radio the popular vote loser in the White House has incited and given permission for his followers to act on his words by striking out at those with whom they disagree. No prior president of either party has pushed the envelope the way the man in the White House today has done. Even Reagan using dog whistles like his imaginary welfare queen remarks didn’t stoop to calling for violence.

In the face of attacks and calls for violence it is of the utmost importance that we all heed John Lewis’ call to vote. Even though they were subjected to violence from both police and civilian bigots Lewis, Rev. Martin Luther King, Dolores Huerta, Bayard Rustin, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, and the many other activists forged a highly effective and non-violent path to achieve their voting rights and civil rights goals. Once their right to vote was established those pioneers were able to achieve and protect other civil rights for a time.

Over the last 30 years as the right has recognized the opportunity to rule by exploiting division amongst the electorate. One of the main fault lines exploited is race, others are generally religious biases like non-Christian faiths, a woman’s right to control her body, and non-traditional sexuality. Exploiting these fault lines requires generating fear, anger, and hate to move those who are susceptible to voting for those who claim to be protecting them. Of course the politicians who use these methods including the record setting liar in the White House aren’t really interested in or concerned about the issues surrounding race or religion. Their vociferous calls to protect white, Christian America are just tools to get access to the levers of power for the purposes of enriching themselves and their billionaire and corporate sponsors. The evidence for this is the single significant piece of legislation that the Republican controlled congress was able to pass was a giant tax break for those billionaire and corporate sponsors.

If you, your family, your friends, and your neighbors don’t vote, the hate mongers and their rich sponsors win. Don’t let them.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - October 26, 2018