With Republicans angling to disenfranchise voters and decimate voting rights across America, Democrats are fighting mad and coming to the rescue.
Politics
Last week, the GOP-controlled Georgia legislature passed a law making it much more difficult to cast a ballot in the peach state. They took aim at early voting, limited the amount of dropbox locations, created the ability for any legitimate voter (read: White) to challenge the eligibility of anyone (read: Black or Brown) who appeared “suspicious” while waiting to vote, and even made it a crime to give food or water to anyone standing in line at the polls.
Well, Democrats didn’t take the news lying down and are planning a counter-attack of their own.
While in control of the House, the Senate, and The White House, Democrats are prepared to throw compromise to the wind and usher through a voting rights bill that will mandate automatic voter registration nationwide, expand early and mail-in voting, end the practice of gerrymandering (which redraws congressional districts in a way that slants elections in favor of Republicans), and curtail the influence of money in politics.
With Republicans having introduced 250 bills to restrict voting in 43 states and continuing to spread Donald Trump’s false narrative that the 2020 election was rife with fraud and impropriety, the Democrats’ actions to salvage voting rights is coming not a moment too soon.
“Any American who thinks that the fight for a full and fair democracy is over is sadly and sorely mistaken,” Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. “Today, in the 21st century, there is a concerted, nationwide effort to limit the rights of citizens to vote and to truly have a voice in their own government.”
Sen. Schumer proved actions speak louder than words by making a rare appearance at the committee meeting where national voting rights laws were being debated. When GOP committee members discussed their plan to roll back voting laws in dozens of states including Georgia, Iowa, and Arizona, Schumer chanted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and called the scheme an “existential threat to our democracy” reminiscent of the Jim Crow segregationist laws of the past.
Senate Democrats, have characterized what they have deemed the “For the People Act” as the civil rights movement of modern times. Republicans are doing everything within their power to cheat their way to victory by twisting the rules in their favor — and Democrats are standing firm and having NONE of it.
If nothing else, this voting rights showdown is proof positive that elections do indeed have consequences.
The Hill: But while Democrats are fearful that the new laws could make it more difficult for their constituents to vote, they believe the issue will keep the liberal base energized heading into an election cycle that is historically difficult for the new president’s party. They’re also happy to keep Georgia as ground zero in the battle over voting rights, believing the groundwork laid by Stacy Abrams has positioned the party to build on the gains they made in 2020, when Biden carried the state and Democrats swept both Senate races on their way to winning a majority in the upper chamber. Democrats believe that if the GOP’s Georgia elections reform bill had been passed before the 2020 election, the outcome might have been different. “The most reliable issue set for turnout, particularly among minority voters, is voter suppression,” said Howard Franklin, a Democratic operative in Atlanta. “We have a… Read more »