The Republican Attack on the Right to Vote

[b.c.]

Besides illegal purges of voters from state rolls, fighting against voting by mail, and other voter suppression laws that Trump's right winged fascists have inflicted upon the populace, they're hiring their own GOON squad to show up in person at polling places in an attempt to intimidate minority voters.

GOP recruits army of poll watchers to fight voter fraud no one can prove exists - AOL News

Republicans are recruiting an estimated 50,000 volunteers to act as "poll watchers" in November, part of a multimillion-dollar effort to police who votes and how.

That effort, coordinated by the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump's re-election campaign, includes a $20 million fund for legal battles as well as the GOP's first national poll-patrol operation in nearly 40 years.

While poll watching is an ordinary part of elections — both parties do it — voting rights advocates worry that such a moneyed, large-scale offensive by the Republicans will intimidate and target minority voters who tend to vote Democratic and chill turnout in a pivotal contest already upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

Some states allow poll monitors to challenge a voter's eligibility, requiring that person's ballot undergo additional vetting to be counted.

In Michigan, for example, a challenged voter will be removed from line and questioned about their citizenship, age, residency and date of voter registration if, according to election rules, a vote challenger has "good reason" to believe they are not eligible. They are required to take an oath attesting that their answers are true and are given a special ballot.
​

(I sure pray no one tries that on me... and that's all I'm going to say about it)

The poll-watch operation is part of a "voter suppression war machine," said Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams. Abrams lost her 2018 bid for governor in Georgia in a tight race clouded by allegations of voter suppression that drew national attention to issues of ballot access.

Groh-Wargo said the full "machine" includes everything from Trump's rhetoric on voter fraud to Republican-led state legislatures passing laws that may make voting more difficult for certain groups, as well as spending taxpayer dollars looking for the voter fraud the president and other Republicans claim occurs. Georgia, for example, established a voter fraud task force in April.

But a coordinated poll-watch effort, advocates warned, is particularly dangerous because of the GOP's history of using monitors to intimidate minority voters.

"We know that the targets of these actions, as we've seen in the past at our polls, are voters of color," said Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition, in testimony to Congress in early June, in reference to the poll watchers.

.​

 

[gr8gatsby]

Georgia Voters Are Waiting Hours to Cast Ballots, in a Bad Omen for November – Mother Jones

Extremely Long Lines At Georgia Polling Places Lead To Claims Of Voter Suppression | HuffPost
.

It's all they've got ... no ideas, no policy. Just voter suppression to win.

 

[deleted15807]

It's all they've got ... no ideas, no policy. Just voter suppression to win.

+ gerrymandering and the old standby...hate which they have a 50/50 deal with Fox News.

 

[Hightest]

Besides illegal purges of voters from state rolls, fighting against voting by mail, and other voter suppression laws that Trump's right winged fascists have inflicted upon the populace, they're hiring their own GOON squad to show up in person at polling places in an attempt to intimidate minority voters.

GOP recruits army of poll watchers to fight voter fraud no one can prove exists - AOL News

Republicans are recruiting an estimated 50,000 volunteers to act as "poll watchers" in November, part of a multimillion-dollar effort to police who votes and how.

That effort, coordinated by the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump's re-election campaign, includes a $20 million fund for legal battles as well as the GOP's first national poll-patrol operation in nearly 40 years.

While poll watching is an ordinary part of elections — both parties do it — voting rights advocates worry that such a moneyed, large-scale offensive by the Republicans will intimidate and target minority voters who tend to vote Democratic and chill turnout in a pivotal contest already upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

Some states allow poll monitors to challenge a voter's eligibility, requiring that person's ballot undergo additional vetting to be counted.

In Michigan, for example, a challenged voter will be removed from line and questioned about their citizenship, age, residency and date of voter registration if, according to election rules, a vote challenger has "good reason" to believe they are not eligible. They are required to take an oath attesting that their answers are true and are given a special ballot.
​

(I sure pray no one tries that on me... and that's all I'm going to say about it)

The poll-watch operation is part of a "voter suppression war machine," said Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams. Abrams lost her 2018 bid for governor in Georgia in a tight race clouded by allegations of voter suppression that drew national attention to issues of ballot access.

Groh-Wargo said the full "machine" includes everything from Trump's rhetoric on voter fraud to Republican-led state legislatures passing laws that may make voting more difficult for certain groups, as well as spending taxpayer dollars looking for the voter fraud the president and other Republicans claim occurs. Georgia, for example, established a voter fraud task force in April.

But a coordinated poll-watch effort, advocates warned, is particularly dangerous because of the GOP's history of using monitors to intimidate minority voters.

"We know that the targets of these actions, as we've seen in the past at our polls, are voters of color," said Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition, in testimony to Congress in early June, in reference to the poll watchers.

.​

Totally agree with all of this. This is also why trump does not want people to vote by mail because then all his illegal dirty tricks would be worthless.

 

[b.c.]

Police Were Called on Predominantly Black Voters Waiting to Cast Ballots After Midnight in Georgia​

Georgia State Senator and chair of the state’s Democratic party Nikema Williams, who had already cast her vote earlier that morning, was at the Christian City polling location offering support to those waiting in line when the police arrived. South Fulton’s population is approximately 90-percent black or African American according to the latest census data.

“5 hours and 37 minutes after polls should’ve closed, the last voter cast a ballot in Georgia and the police were called on us,” Williams wrote.

“Seven police cars were called because black voters refused to let their voices be silenced. This is why we march and why we vote.”

Williams, who had been documenting the long lines at Georgia polling locations throughout the day with several Facebook Live videos, also posted a photograph of officers on the scene.

“Tonight when I’d much rather be home celebrating my victory with my family, I’m out doing voter comfort because people are still in line in #Georgia voting after midnight,” she wrote, before adding, “Well, y’all the police were just called on us!!! A total of SEVEN cars!!!! This is why we march. This is why we protest. #Black people, keep making your voices heard!”

.​

 

[keenobserver]

Tom Cotton’s Oh-So-Principled Case for Denying D.C. Representation

 

[b.c.]

More signs of how the GOP plan on CHEATING come November:

Indiana primary: Marion County absentee ballots left uncounted

High Court Rejects Call for Universal Vote-by-Mail in Texas - Bloomberg

Supreme Court denies Texas Democrats' request for mail-in ballots

If The Supreme Court Lets The Electoral College Vote However It Wants, Will Chaos Ensue? | FiveThirtyEight

.

 

[b.c.]

Think it can't happen here? If so you STILL don't get who and WHAT Trump and the GOP are, and CAPABLE of:

• Ballot Fraud Gave Russia's Putin 22 Million Extra Votes, Says Expert

• Putin could rule Russia until 2036 under proposed constitutional reforms - Axios

• Supreme Court hands down some truly awful news for voting rights - Vox

• Trump has a plan to stay in the White House if he loses election, former senator says | The Independent

 

[b.c.]

The reason why Trump's apologists, defenders, and propagandists (near and far) are so smugly assured Trump will pull off another coup is because they know how much the GOP has and WILL FUCK millions of Americans out of their right to vote:

The federal judiciary keeps upholding voter suppression laws ahead of the 2020 election.

In four awful decisions over the past two weeks, federal courts cleared the way for voter suppression in November.

Over the last two weeks, the federal judiciary has delivered a blunt message to Americans who stand to be disenfranchised in this year’s election: You’re on your own.

In a dizzying succession of rulings, courts are laying the groundwork for a chaotic Election Day.

One appeals court allowed Wisconsin to reinstate its dramatic cutback on early voting in a startling opinion that explicitly authorizes lawmakers to manipulate election laws for partisan gain.

Another appeals court blocked a lower court decision that protected indigent ex-felons’ ability to vote in Florida.

The Supreme Court also delivered a one-two punch, first allowing Texas to impose discriminatory limits on mail-in voting, then reversing a decision that eased voting restrictions in Alabama due to the pandemic.

Taken together, these moves indicate that a growing number of federal judges—and five justices on the Supreme Court—have simply abdicated their responsibility to safeguard voting rights.

,​

 

[b.c.]

MEANWHILE:

Conservative groups sue to make pandemic voting even harder.

Powerhouse right-wing lawyers... have now opened a troubling new front in the voting wars. They now claim that it’s unconstitutional for states to make it easier to vote while the pandemic rages.

They target states that have facilitated voting during the pandemic by loosening electoral regulations. So the plaintiffs don’t complain that it’s too hard for them to vote.

Instead, their grievance is that, while they can vote without hindrance, their ballots may be diluted by fraudulent votes cast by other people. The prevention of fraud thus becomes a sword in these cases, not a shield—a reason to strike down a state policy, not to uphold it.
​

In other news:

The Supreme Court unanimously let states force electors to vote for the winner of the popular vote in the Electoral College.
.

 

[b.c.]

How the GOP Plans to Suppress the Vote and Sabotage the 2020 Election - Rolling Stone​

​

In June, Trump sat in the Oval Office for one of his periodic interviews-turned-airing-of-grievances. When the conversation turned to the 2020 election, Trump singled out what he called the “biggest risk” to his bid for a second term.

It was not the mounting death toll from COVID-19, or further economic damage inflicted by the pandemic, or anything else a reality-dwelling president might fret about.

“My biggest risk is that we don’t win lawsuits,” Trump told the Politico reporter he’d invited.

He was referring to the series of lawsuits filed by his campaign and the Republican National Committee that fight the expansion of mail-in voting and seek to limit access to the ballot box in November. “We have many lawsuits going all over,” he said. “And if we don’t win those lawsuits, I think — I think it puts the election at risk.”

Just as racism and xenophobia have always been essential to Trump’s political DNA, so, too, have nonstop, evidence-free claims of “voter fraud” and “rigged” elections.

Even after he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, he claimed — with zero evidence — that 3 to 5 million noncitizens had voted, and that was why he lost the popular vote, thus surely becoming the first presidential victor to allege historic levels of “illegal” voting … in the election he just won.

Now, with COVID-19 ravaging the country and disproportionately afflicting people of color, Trump has found a way to attack the democratic process that combines his Stephen Miller-inspired racist agenda and his deranged voter-fraud obsession.

... voter suppression isn’t the only goal — it’s also about creating chaos and confusion before, on, and after Election Day.

Perhaps Trump’s assault on voting in our pandemic election year isn’t a “strategy” at all but rather a kamikaze mission aimed at the heart of American democracy.

... the ultimate goal of Trump’s criticism of mail-in voting is “to sow doubt in people’s minds about the process, which validates any view of his unless he wins.”

By beating the drum about “massive fraud and abuse” and spreading misinformation about the integrity of the election, Trump could be laying the groundwork to challenge or outright deny the results.

.

 

[b.c.]

ALSO

Another Monument to White Supremacy That Should Come Down? The Electoral College – Mother Jones​

We are in a moment of reckoning over racism, not only taking down Confederate statues to eradicate these lingering odes to white supremacy but also examining how deeply our society has been shaped by slavery and its aftermath.

Last year, the New York Times’ 1619 Project traced the influence of slavery on everything from American capitalism to the American diet. Today, individuals, brands, and lawmakers are taking stock. In this reappraisal, the Electoral College is likewise due for a second look.

In the last five elections, the Electoral College has handed the presidency to two Republicans who lost the popular vote: George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.

Looking ahead to the election this November, Democrats harbor a very realistic fear that Trump will again prevail without winning the popular vote. The political divisions and demographics of the 21st century have highlighted the undemocratic Electoral College system.

But the fact that we have an election system that privileges a minority white party over a diverse majority is not a quirk of the system. That has been its purpose all along.


MEANWHILE:

In major blow to Black voting rights, Supreme Court allows Florida GOP's poll tax to stay in effect
https://slate.com/news-and-politics...orida-felons-poll-tax.html?via=recirc_engaged
The Supreme Court just stopped 1 million Floridians from voting in November.
.

 

[Novaboy]

ALSO

Another Monument to White Supremacy That Should Come Down? The Electoral College – Mother Jones​

We are in a moment of reckoning over racism, not only taking down Confederate statues to eradicate these lingering odes to white supremacy but also examining how deeply our society has been shaped by slavery and its aftermath.

Last year, the New York Times’ 1619 Project traced the influence of slavery on everything from American capitalism to the American diet. Today, individuals, brands, and lawmakers are taking stock. In this reappraisal, the Electoral College is likewise due for a second look.

In the last five elections, the Electoral College has handed the presidency to two Republicans who lost the popular vote: George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.

Looking ahead to the election this November, Democrats harbor a very realistic fear that Trump will again prevail without winning the popular vote. The political divisions and demographics of the 21st century have highlighted the undemocratic Electoral College system.

But the fact that we have an election system that privileges a minority white party over a diverse majority is not a quirk of the system. That has been its purpose all along.


MEANWHILE:

In major blow to Black voting rights, Supreme Court allows Florida GOP's poll tax to stay in effect
The Supreme Court just stopped 1 million Floridians from voting in November.
.

That story about Florida is beyond shocking. They don't even try to hide their schemes any more. Blatantly out in the open.

 

[Klingsor]

In major blow to Black voting rights, Supreme Court allows Florida GOP's poll tax to stay in effect

Voting: It's not a right, it's a purchase.

 

[b.c.]

John Lewis’ Legacy Is the Right to Vote. And It’s Under Attack. – Mother Jones

A bill to restore the Voting Rights Act he championed has been sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk for 225 days.

​

Lewis was sitting in the Supreme Court chamber when it heard a challenge to the Voting Rights Act and told me he almost cried when Justice Antonin Scalia compared the VRA to a “racial entitlement.”

He called the decision gutting the law “a dagger into the very heart of the Voting Rights Act.” (I tell this story in my 2015 book Give Us the Ballot, which extensively details Lewis’s long fight for voting rights and which he reviewed for the Washington Post.)

This wasn’t just history to Lewis. I traveled with him on civil rights pilgrimages with members of Congress to Alabama in 2013 and 2015, including for the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march, when he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Barack Obama and 100,000 people behind them—one of the most powerful images of the past decade.

In December 2019, Lewis presided over the House as it passed legislation to restore and modernize the Voting Rights Act, requiring states with a long history of voting discrimination to once again get federal approval for any changes to voting procedures. In a primary season marred by voting problems, like six-hour lines in Lewis’ home state of Georgia.

It’s been sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk for 225 days.

.

 

[b.c.]

Two Trump Judges Broke Ethics Rules to Stop Up to 1 Million Floridians From Voting in November - Senate Democrats are demanding to know why.

A breach of judicial ethics may have prevented up to 1 million Floridians from voting in November.

On July 1, a federal appeals court lifted an order that had blocked Florida from imposing a poll tax on people convicted of felonies. The U.S. Supreme Court then declined to step in.

If two judges appointed by ... Donald Trump had complied with the judicial Code of Conduct, Florida’s discriminatory and unworkable poll tax might well have remained blocked through Election Day.

And Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are now demanding that these judges explain their justification for flouting their ethical duties.
​

ALSO:

Trump sues all 67 Counties in PA over vote by mail


Seems Mr. Popular, the "stable genius "chosen one" doesn't want EVERYONE to be able to VOTE. Same goes for those hypocritical b-------------- who had the audacity to eulogize the passing of Rep. John Lewis after STANDING IN THE WAY OF VOTING RIGHTS for fkn DECADES:

Senators Introduced a Bill to Restore the Voting Rights Act. It’s Named After John Lewis. – Mother Jones

The “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act”—sponsored by 47 Democrats and Republican Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)—would require that any state with a history of voting discrimination within the past 25 years seek federal approval before making any changes to its voting procedures.

And it would mandate that any state, regardless of its history, obtain clearance from the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington, DC, before making any changes that would tend to burden voters of color, such as strict voter ID laws or closing polling places in areas with large numbers of minority voters.​

That's 47 Democrats AND ONE REPUBLICAN. F---------- the rest of 'em.

,

 

[phonehome]

Two Trump Judges Broke Ethics Rules to Stop Up to 1 Million Floridians From Voting in November - Senate Democrats are demanding to know why.

A breach of judicial ethics may have prevented up to 1 million Floridians from voting in November.

On July 1, a federal appeals court lifted an order that had blocked Florida from imposing a poll tax on people convicted of felonies. The U.S. Supreme Court then declined to step in.

If two judges appointed by ... Donald Trump had complied with the judicial Code of Conduct, Florida’s discriminatory and unworkable poll tax might well have remained blocked through Election Day.

And Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are now demanding that these judges explain their justification for flouting their ethical duties.
​

ALSO:

Trump sues all 67 Counties in PA over vote by mail


Seems Mr. Popular, the "stable genius "chosen one" doesn't want EVERYONE to be able to VOTE. Same goes for those hypocritical b-------------- who had the audacity to eulogize the passing of Rep. John Lewis after STANDING IN THE WAY OF VOTING RIGHTS for fkn DECADES:

Senators Introduced a Bill to Restore the Voting Rights Act. It’s Named After John Lewis. – Mother Jones

The “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act”—sponsored by 47 Democrats and Republican Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)—would require that any state with a history of voting discrimination within the past 25 years seek federal approval before making any changes to its voting procedures.

And it would mandate that any state, regardless of its history, obtain clearance from the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington, DC, before making any changes that would tend to burden voters of color, such as strict voter ID laws or closing polling places in areas with large numbers of minority voters.​

That's 47 Democrats AND ONE REPUBLICAN. F---------- the rest of 'em.

,

Here is what I have always thought is the simplest "formula" for this

Just make it apply to all 50 states and be done with it

How could GA and TX complain about it, say they are "getting picked on" if it applies to NY and CA too. ??

If you live in a state that has no history and has no desire to enact any of these questionable laws then why would you care if your state is now "covered" ??

It is like so fucking what, we were not going to do that anyway

It would be like getting all bent out of shape for lowering the speed limit from 70 to 65 when you own a car that can't get past 50 on the good day

Also it would cover a "Wisconsin" that after another 2010 type takeover ushers in a new Scott Walker with a bunch of right wingers and starts enacting a bunch of these laws

They were not covered by the old formula and would not have been at the time and still would not be covered by this "25 year rule"

 

[keenobserver]

Here is what I have always thought is the simplest "formula" for this

Just make it apply to all 50 states and be done with it

How could GA and TX complain about it, say they are "getting picked on" if it applies to NY and CA too. ??

If you live in a state that has no history and has no desire to enact any of these questionable laws then why would you care if your state is now "covered" ??

It is like so fucking what, we were not going to do that anyway

It would be like getting all bent out of shape for lowering the speed limit from 70 to 65 when you own a car that can't get past 50 on the good day

Also it would cover a "Wisconsin" that after another 2010 type takeover ushers in a new Scott Walker with a bunch of right wingers and starts enacting a bunch of these laws

They were not covered by the old formula and would not have been at the time and still would not be covered by this "25 year rule"

Exactly. At the time the original voting rights act was drafted, voter suppression was not a strategy nationwide. It is long past time to.apply pressure nationally because clearly it is a national issue.

 

[b.c.]

THE FIX IS IN​

Two Trump-Appointed Judges Rejected Calls To Step Aside From A Florida Voting Rights Fight

11th Circuit Judges Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck disputed that they were disqualified from a case because they participated in a related case as state supreme court judges.

MEANWHILE:

California rejected 100,000 ballots postmarked too late, and Trump wants it to be worse in November

Donald Trump is doing everything he can to kneecap the U.S. Postal Service, and the American Postal Workers Union wants to be sure everyone knows how high the stakes are.

The Postal Service is not just responsible for prescriptions and letters from grandparents during a pandemic and basically every damn thing people in rural areas need shipped to them; American democracy itself is at stake.

Reports are spreading that Trump’s new postmaster general is issuing direct orders that would slow down the mail,

while in at least one state, postal workers say their state postmaster is going even further to create delays. This all comes against a backdrop of Trump saying things like “The Postal Service is a joke” and making clear that he thinks voting by mail would make him lose in November.

Trump’s hatred of the Postal Service isn’t just about vote by mail, though, and it isn’t just Trump.

The Republican Party has long wanted to destroy the USPS for multiple reasons, chief among them that it’s an example of government working well for even the little people (and wildly popular as a result) and that postal jobs have been a critical part of building a Black middle class in the U.S. for generations.

Republicans—with too little pushback from most Democrats, it must be said—badly weakened the USPS.

Coronavirus has been a major blow, and instead of helping to boost this incredibly important public good, congressional Republicans have followed Trump in blocking aid.

That they can weaken safe access to the vote in November is just a bonus to the Republican way of thinking.

.​

 

[b.c.]

Obama Makes Sweeping Call To Action On Voting Rights In John Lewis Eulogy | HuffPost​

Former President Barack Obama issued a sweeping call to action on voting rights in his eulogy for civil rights icon and longtime Georgia congressman John Lewis, calling for an end to the filibuster, automatic voter registration, allowing formerly incarcerated people to vote, expanding early voting and making Election Day a national holiday.​

“If you want to honor John, let’s honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for,” Obama said, calling out the hypocrisy of politicians who posted tributes to Lewis while dedicating their careers to enacting voting restrictions and trying to dismantle and gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“And, by the way, naming it the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, that is a fine tribute. But John wouldn’t want us to stop there, just trying to get back to where we already were. Once we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching to make it even better.”​

Obama’s eulogy was an implicit rebuke of ... Donald Trump as well as Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the Supreme Court opinion that gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 and whose defining achievement on the bench has been the erosion of voting rights.

It was only fitting for the first Black president to take center stage at Thursday’s memorial service for Lewis. The civil rights titan died of cancer on July 17.

“I’ve come here today because I, like so many Americans, owe a great debt to John Lewis and his forceful vision of freedom,” Obama began. ​

The former president traced the entire arc of Lewis’ long and storied career, which began when Lewis was on the front lines of the civil rights movement as a college student.

“Sometimes we act as if this was inevitable. Imagine two people, Malia’s age, younger than my oldest daughter, on their own, to challenge an entire infrastructure of oppression,” Obama said. ​

“John was only 20 years old, but he pushed all 20 of those years to the center of the table, betting everything, all of it, that his example could challenge centuries of convention and generations of brutal violence and countless daily indignities suffered by African Americans.”​

/