The war on voting rights

[Rewind]

During a June 4 virtual gathering of business leaders at the Economic Club of Chicago, former President Barack Obama excoriated Republicans for "faiing to condemn” the Capitol insurrection, "embracing a patently false narrative about the election being stolen” and instituting "voter suppression methods" through state legislatures. "That's the kind of dangerous behavior we are going to have to push back on," Obama said. “This really has to do with the basic rules we all have agreed to, to keep this diverse multiracial democracy functioning. Are we going to stick to those rules or are we going to start rigging the game in a way that breaks it?" Sadly, the "win-at-all-costs" Retrumplicans no longer care about democracy.

Republican state legislatures are winning their war on American democracy
2021 is on pace to be the worst year for US voter suppression laws since 2011 and activists are worried that Democrats aren’t responding aggressively enough.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/repub...b04b216be68ce6

[Rewind]

Two Democratic Senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, are siding with Retrumplicans in opposing the For The People Act which would protect Americans' right to vote. The "win-at-all-costs" Retrumplicans are doing everything they can to make casting a ballot much more difficult for minorities and the elderly.

Mitch McConnell opposes voting measure sought by Joe Manchin
Manchin’s opposition to a sweeping package of voting reforms has left Democrats scrambling to figure out a path forward on protecting voting rights.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/votin...b0db85704eb36d

[Rewind]

Manchin is opposed to H.R.1, the For The People Act. The only "people" he seems to be supporting right now are the Retrumplicans who are determined to make voting much more difficult for minorities and the elderly.

West Virginia black leaders warn Joe Manchin his voting rights opposition could cost their support
“African-Americans in West Virginia could be his Achilles’ heel,” said Owens Brown, president of state's NAACP.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-m...b0e6bab7a52b42

[Rewind]

During the Trump administration, the Department of Justice served Donald Trump and did his bidding, including dropping several voting rights lawsuits. In the Biden administration, the Department of Justice serves the American people and is determined to protect every American's right to vote, despite Retrumplicans' efforts to make voting more difficult for minorities and the elderly.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland vows to aggressively defend voting rights

https://www.reuters.com/legal/govern...ts-2021-06-11/

[Rewind]

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger – a Republican – announced today that 101,789 names will be purged from the state's voter registration.files. I would love to know what percentage of those voters are Democrats. To his credit, though, Raffensperger rejected Donald's Trump's demand that he "find" enough votes to give Trump a victory in Georgia, a state which Biden won by 11,779 votes.

Fed up with Congress, Democratic activists worried about state voter restrictions take matters into their own hands
Activists are redoubling their efforts to register voters, educating them about new regulations pushed by GOP-led legislatures.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/19/polit...ess/index.html

[Rewind]

As expected, every Senate Retrumplican voted against allowing a debate on the Democrats' proposed legislation which would protect Americans' voting rights. Retrumplicans are doing everything they can to make it harder for Americans – especially minorities and the elderly – to cast a ballot. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed Republicans for their "indefensible" opposition to voting rights. He denounced Republican legislatures for "voter suppression laws, phony audits and partisan takeovers of local election boards," moves which are "capitalizing on, and catalyzed by, Donald Trump's Big Lie." The win-at-all-costs Retrumplicans will of course ignore Schumer's comments. They have no shame.

Senate Republicans block signature Democratic election bill in key test vote

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/22/polit...ill/index.html

[Rewind]

In several states, the win-at-all-costs Retrumplicans are working on legislation that will allow them to challenge – and even overturn – election results that they disagree with. In other words, any election won by a Democrat.

Arizona House passes legislation that weakens Secretary of State
CNN, Jun 25 2021 6:23 PM ET

In the key battleground state of Arizona, Republican legislators this week moved to weaken the authority of Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, by limiting her ability to defend election lawsuits. Late Thursday, the Arizona House passed a series of GOP-backed election measures, which were included in budget legislation that had passed the state Senate on Wednesday. It now heads to the desk of GOP Governor Doug Ducey, who is expected to sign the legislation.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/25/polit...ate/index.html

[Rewind]

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is a typical Retrumplican. He insists legislation making it much harder for minorities to vote is for the sole purpose of maintaining "election integrity." Legal experts say this lawsuit faces long odds in court. The Justice Department will have to prove that Georgia's voting restrictions constitute intentional racial discrimination under the Voting Rights Act. Kemp is accusing the Biden administration of "weaponizing" the Justice Department to "carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity." No, Governor, you are the one who is undermining election integrity. You are a typical win-at-all-costs Retrumplican. You have no shame.

Justice Department suing Georgia over state’s new voting restrictions

https://apnews.com/article/ga-state-...eea595177bc4b5

[Rewind]

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Section 2 prohibits voting rules that have the effect of making it harder for minority voters to cast a ballot that will count. David Cole, the ACLU's national legal director, lamented, “What's most disturbing about the decision is how the majority has essentially rewritten Section 2, broadly, to make it more difficult in all future cases to challenge voter suppression methods.”

Supreme Court deals blow to American democracy

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/01/opini...las/index.html

[Norge]

It's easier to vote than it is to cash a check, buy a pack of smokes, get on an airplane or buy a bottle of wine. Quit the false narrative and rhetoric. Nobody is buying it. Every LEGAL vote should count.