On April 23, 2021 at 9:56:29 PM, Rich Cornwell (richcornwell@me.com) wrote:
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From: On the Docket <info@democracydocket.com> Date: April 23, 2021 at 5:01:43 AM MST To: Rich Cornwell <richcornwell@me.com> Subject: Republicans Can’t Win—So They’re Changing the Rules Reply-To: info@democracydocket.com
The Republican attack on voting rights continues. So far there have been over 360 new voter suppression bills proposed in state legislatures so far in 2021. That’s a staggering number. Meanwhile the media continues to struggle with how to cover both the scale of the effort as well as the most critical pieces of the various laws being proposed and enacted. For example, while Georgia’s new law has been the focus of prime time coverage on CNN, MSNBC and on the front pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, these outlets, and others, have too often missed vital and powerful provisions in the law that could change the state’s elections forever. In my new piece, “The Worst Provision of a Very Bad Law,” I highlight what I believe to be the worst provision of the new law—one that has received virtually no news coverage. Through this new law, Republicans in Georgia are securing their ability to challenge 100s of thousands of votes indiscriminately and require each voter to appear in person to defend the validity of their ballot. This technique has been used by Republicans elsewhere to target lists of Black and brown voters and intimidate or inconvenience them out of having their voices heard. Georgia’s law will encourage this on an entirely new scale. We can’t let such a damaging and effective voter suppression tool go unchallenged. Read “The Worst Provision of a Very Bad Law” on Democracy Docket now, and get up to speed on the true depth of Republican efforts to destroy our democracy. Let’s keep up the fight, Marc In the States: Republicans Write Their Own Rules Texas: The For the People Act has not even passed the Senate yet, but Republicans are already hard at work undermining the legislation’s protections for voters. In Texas, lawmakers are considering a two-tier registration system so they can avoid enforcing provisions in federal voting rights legislation that would protect access to the ballot. A bill under consideration, HB 4507, creates two separate voter registration processes for Texans—one for federal elections, and one for state elections. The former would comply with any provisions of the For the People Act, such as automatic voter registration, that protect and enhance voters’ rights. The latter, Republicans claim, could ignore these federal requirements and instead follow the Texas Election Code, which establishes much more exclusionary requirements on who can register to vote and how. Any Texas voter registering to vote in federal elections would have to go through a separate additional process to register for state and local elections, and meet the much stricter and more inaccessible requirements set by the Texas Election Code. If you’re confused reading about this process, that’s the point: Texas Republicans want to enact confounding, unintuitive processes to disenfranchise as many voters as possible. They’re bending over backwards to reverse the historic progress on voting rights that could be made at the federal level this year. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this as the bill moves through the legislature. Arizona: The hypocrisy abounds in Arizona, where Senate Republicans are pushing forward with an unnecessary partisan election audit. As they pursue this imaginary fraud, Arizona Republicans are showing their true colors: they don’t care about actually strengthening and securing our elections by funding and supporting election administrators who, in the face of a global pandemic, ran smooth and fair elections. If they did, they would fund them; instead, election administrators across the country relied on private donations from philanthropists and nonprofits to provide the basic supplies needed to run polling places, provide PPE and more last November. With Republican legislatures unwilling to spend money to help election officials prepare for voting, private donations made up the difference for many local election administrators struggling to protect voters. Now, the new Republican bill HB 2569 would ban these donations, despite the fact that there is no evidence they were used in a partisan manner. Republicans do not value our electoral process—they refuse to sufficiently fund the election administrators that make it possible, and they ban donations from nonprofits hoping to help. Republicans justify this decision by saying that elections are the responsibility of the government, and outside groups shouldn’t be involved; however, they apparently waive this belief when it comes to their own partisan interests. Arizona Republicans are accepting private donations to help fund their performative, potentially unconstitutional audit of Maricopa County. The source of these funds and what they are used for may never be disclosed. Senate President Karen Fann (R), who is leading the audit effort, has admitted the money she and other GOP allies are helping raise may go directly to the private firms hired for the audit—meaning no government paper trail of the funds and their disbursement would ever exist. Ohio: Republicans in the Buckeye State are determined not to be left behind as their colleagues across the country push to suppress voters. A draft of Ohio Republicans’ first major voter suppression legislation in 2021 has been leaked, and the 150-page bill takes its inspiration from some of the worst laws passed this year in Georgia and Iowa. So far, Ohio remains one of only 3 states that has not yet considered major voter suppression legislation this year—but Republican leadership has spent that time putting together a sweeping attack on multiple aspects of the voting process, including requiring two forms of ID when voting absentee or early, eliminating drop boxes, limiting early voting, banning pre-paid postage on absentee ballots, and more. The draft of the bill, which was obtained by More Perfect Union, caused enough uproar when it was leaked that Republican leadership has insisted on the record that this version of the bill is not what they will introduce in the state house. They refused to share any more details on what a revised version of the legislation could look like—but we’re willing to bet it will be ambitious in its efforts to suppress voters, just like its counterparts across the country. We’ll be keeping you updated. And More: Arkansas: Republicans in the legislature have sent five voting bills to the Governor’s desk, including one that would move the absentee ballot return deadline up to the Friday before Election Day. Read the bills here: SB 498, SB 557, SB 549, SB 643, SB 644. Washington, D.C.: The House passed H.R. 51, the bill to grant D.C. statehood. The White House has come out in support of the legislation—it now moves to the Senate. Florida: SB 90 passed the Senate Rules Committee, with all Democrats and one Republican opposing it. The bill would create new limitations on absentee voting and empower partisan observers during vote counting. Michigan: Redistricting begins, with the Michigan Secretary of State requesting a deadline extension for completing new maps before the 2022 election. We’ll have more on redistricting very soon. Is there a new law in your state that attempts to restrict voting access? Let us know—report voter suppression laws on our website here! In the Courts: Another State Sued over Voter Suppression Montana: The list of states that have enacted voter suppression legislation grew by one this week. Montana is the third state to pass and be sued over new voting restrictions, after Republican Governor Gianforte signed two bills, HB 176 and SB 169, into law on Monday. As the youth vote soared in 2020, Republicans are now targeting policies that helped young voters have their voices heard. These two bills would eliminate Election Day registration, a policy that has been in place since 2006 and is disproportionately utilized by young voters, and impose new voter ID requirements that would require many people, including students, to show two forms of ID when registering and voting. Under the new laws, photo IDs issued by Montana colleges or universities would not count as valid, single-use IDs—a change that would impose significant barriers on the state’s student population as they try to make their voices heard. On Monday night, the Montana Democratic Party filed a complaint against the Montana Secretary of State, alleging that the newly signed bills impose an undue burden on the right to suffrage, an infringement on rights of free speech and expression, and an illegal limitation on the right to vote due to age. We’ll be keeping up with this case as it moves forward on our dedicated Cases page here. What We’re Doing 3 things to do today to stay engaged in the fight! We’re taking action: Want to get involved in grassroots organizing on the ground in your state? Use this handy catalogue of grassroots voting groups and find an opportunity to help fight back against voter suppression in your home state! We’re listening: Join Marc for an exclusive chat on Twitter Spaces, today at 1:00 PM ET! He’ll be answering your questions live, so come prepared to talk about all things voter protection. Tune in by heading over to @marceelias on Twitter on your iPhone or Android at 1:00 PM ET. We’re reading: Judd Legum delves into the first quarter FEC reports of major corporations—and discovers which companies that claimed to support voting rights are still donating to the Republicans trying to suppress voters. Spotlight: The Redistricting Fight Starts Now This week, our Spotlight features Kelly Ward Burton, the President of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. In her piece, “The Redistricting Fight Starts Now,” she lays out what’s at stake as we enter the redistricting process, and the ways in which Republicans are preparing to draw the lines of our democracy in their favor. Voting rights groups and advocates are already hard at work, in the courts, on the ground and in our legislatures, ensuring that the redistricting process is fair and equitable, and holding Republicans who game the system to entrench their own power accountable. Read “The Redistricting Fight Starts Now” on Democracy Docket here! Ask Marc Each week, we pick a few reader questions about all things elections and share Marc’s answers. Got a question? Submit it here! Mary asks: Will we ever recover from the Trump presidency? Marc: This is a question I think about often. Trump did enormous damage to the institutions of democracy and the norms of how we expect elected officials to behave. We are in a period now where those institutions and norms need to be rebuilt. I don’t expect that they will be the same as before nor will this be done quickly. I am not even sure that we will succeed. But we have to do everything in our power to try. Carol asks: The best reason for Democrats to get rid of the filibuster is “Why Mitch McConnell Didn’t Kill the Filibuster” by David Litt. Can it be read on the floor of the Senate for all to hear? Marc: Well, it can certainly be read by any subscribers of On the Docket who are interested in the compelling case for abolishing the filibuster. Read David Litt’s piece here. Lori asks: Please explain what real power HR1 will have, considering that each state handles their own voting? Marc: Federal laws can be a powerful way to protect voting rights and prevent states from disenfranchising their citizens. The For the People Act would set minimum requirements for voting rights and voting access that states could not go below. It would act as guardrails for democracy and voter participation and would ban or block most of the 360+ current voter suppression bills pending in state legislatures right now. What Bode’s Barking About “Horse-race reporting might be focused on who’s winning and losing in these early months of the Biden administration. But if Republicans win their voter suppression campaigns, the biggest loser of all will be American democracy.” The Washington Post “For companies to make a difference, they need to take tangible action — not just voice support in newspaper ads and press releases.” CNN
“If companies have gone “woke,” they haven’t yet told their lobbyists…After the riot, some said they’d halt political contributions to the GOP, or to politicians altogether. But those shifts look temporary.” Roll Call
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