An assault on American voters is underway

[mistertim]

On 5/31/2021 at 2:34 PM, Cooked Crack said:

 

Defunding your majority to own the libs.

 

I wonder if he'll write in Sharpie "This veto only applies to Democrats"

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

It's almost as if this was the reason they did it. 🤔

[China]

Statement of Concern: The Threats to American Democracy and the Need for National Voting and Election Administration Standards

 

We, the undersigned, are scholars of democracy who have watched the recent deterioration of U.S. elections and liberal democracy with growing alarm. Specifically, we have watched with deep concern as Republican-led state legislatures across the country have in recent months proposed or implemented what we consider radical changes to core electoral procedures in response to unproven and intentionally destructive allegations of a stolen election. Collectively, these initiatives are transforming several states into political systems that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections. Hence, our entire democracy is now at risk.

 

When democracy breaks down, it typically takes many years, often decades, to reverse the downward spiral. In the process, violence and corruption typically flourish, and talent and wealth flee to more stable countries, undermining national prosperity. It is not just our venerated institutions and norms that are at risk—it is our future national standing, strength, and ability to compete globally.

 

Statutory changes in large key electoral battleground states are dangerously politicizing the process of electoral administration, with Republican-controlled legislatures giving themselves the power to override electoral outcomes on unproven allegations should Democrats win more votes. They are seeking to restrict access to the ballot, the most basic principle underlying the right of all adult American citizens to participate in our democracy. They are also putting in place criminal sentences and fines meant to intimidate and scare away poll workers and nonpartisan administrators. State legislatures have advanced initiatives that curtail voting methods now preferred by Democratic-leaning constituencies, such as early voting and mail voting. Republican lawmakers have openly talked about ensuring the “purity” and “quality” of the vote, echoing arguments widely used across the Jim Crow South as reasons for restricting the Black vote.

 

State legislators supporting these changes have cited the urgency of “electoral integrity” and the need to ensure that elections are secure and free of fraud. But by multiple expert judgments, the 2020 election was extremely secure and free of fraud. The reason that Republican voters have concerns is because many Republican officials, led by former President Donald Trump, have manufactured false claims of fraud, claims that have been repeatedly rejected by courts of law, and which Trump’s own lawyers have acknowledged were mere speculation when they testified about them before judges.

 

In future elections, these laws politicizing the administration and certification of elections could enable some state legislatures or partisan election officials to do what they failed to do in 2020: reverse the outcome of a free and fair election. Further, these laws could entrench extended minority rule, violating the basic and longstanding democratic principle that parties that get the most votes should win elections.

 

Democracy rests on certain elemental institutional and normative conditions. Elections must be neutrally and fairly administered. They must be free of manipulation. Every citizen who is qualified must have an equal right to vote, unhindered by obstruction. And when they lose elections, political parties and their candidates and supporters must be willing to accept defeat and acknowledge the legitimacy of the outcome. The refusal of prominent Republicans to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, and the anti-democratic laws adopted (or approaching adoption) in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Montana and Texas—and under serious consideration in other Republican-controlled states—violate these principles. More profoundly, these actions call into question whether the United States will remain a democracy. As scholars of democracy, we condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms as a betrayal of our precious democratic heritage.

 

Click on the link for the rest

[Long n Left]

^^ Can already predict how this will be spun in the right-wing community: “Aw, it’s all them ultra progressive, liberal, socialist, commie, college professors. They don’t know, or speak for us common people.”

 

Yeah, God forbid we allow the smart people to run the country.

[NoCalMike]

It's kind of crazy we even let states set their own voting rules to begin with.  With voting being such a fundamental tenant of ensuring Democracy remains alive & well, you'd think there would be a minimum national standard requirement for making voting convenient. 

[China]

Texas Republican Claims Provision to Limit Voting on Sunday Was ‘Scrivener’s Error’

 

A top negotiator behind a Texas voting law backed by Republicans claimed that the text of the bill limited voting hours on Sundays because of a “scrivener’s error,” in an interview with NPR on Tuesday.

 

Among other provisions, the bill, known as S.B. 7, would have limited voting on the final Sunday before an election from 1 to 9 p.m. Texas Democrats claimed the provision was aimed at limiting Souls to the Polls, initiatives among black churches to encourage voting, and blocked the attempted passage of the bill on Sunday by walking out of the State House and denying a quorum of lawmakers.

 

However, Republican State Representative Travis Clardy said that the limit on voting was based on an error.

 

“Call it a scrivener’s error, whatever you want to,” Clardy told NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Tuesday. “I think there was a—you know, call it a mistake if you want to. What should have been 11 was actually printed up as one….So it’s actually providing for extended hours in most locations.”

 

The bill’s sponsor, State Representative Briscoe Cain, backed Clardy’s remarks. No Republican raised the issue over the weekend before the attempt to pass the bill, the Texas Tribune reported.

 

S.B. 7 would also place limits on absentee voting, including additional identification requirements for voting by mail, and prohibit state officials from sending mail-in ballot applications to voters who did not request them.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Texas AG Admits Trump Would’ve Lost the State Without Blocking Mail-In Voting

 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has admitted that Donald Trump would have lost the Lone Star State in the 2020 presidential election if Texans had been allowed to vote by mail.

 

Appearing on fellow MAGA Brain Trust Member Steve Bannon’s show, Paxton, who’s had his own legal issues over the years and helped Trump try to overturn election results in several swing states, essentially bragged that it was their obstruction that helped Trump squeak out a win in the state, which ultimately still did nothing to help him in the overall national election.

 

“Yeah, I think it’s certainly critical to my state and that’s why we fought off these twelve lawsuits,” Paxton told Bannon. “We had them in Houston, we had them in San Antonio, we had them in Austin — we had them in the counties where you have the most liberal judges. And it was a concerted effort, nationally, with lots of money going into it.”

 

“And just knowing that we had twelve lawsuits that we had to win. And if we had lost one of them, if we’d lost Harris County — Trump won by 620,000 votes in Texas. Harris County mail-in ballots that they wanted to send out were 2.5 million, those were all illegal and we were able to stop every one of them,” he explained.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Are we sure this guy's a Democrat?

 

Manchin says he won't vote for Democrats' sweeping election reform bill

 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wrote in a Charleston Gazette-Mail op-ed Sunday that he will not support congressional Democrats' expansive election and anti-corruption bill, suggesting the measure is partisan.

 

Why it matters: Manchin's opposition to H.R. 1, known as the For the People Act, puts the bill in tenuous footing in the evenly split Senate. The West Virginia senator said any elections-related legislation should be the result of both parties coming together.

 

“I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening blinds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For The People Act," Manchin wrote.
"The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen."

Flashback: The House passed the For the People Act in a 220-210 in March with no Republican support, it now awaits a vote in the Senate.

 

The bill's reforms include allowing voters to register securely online or on Election Day, and preventing voter purges from registration records. It would also restore voting rights for felons, expand early and absentee voting and set national standards for early voting and registration.

Manchin said he would support another reform bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would effectively reinstate key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

Note to Manchin:  

 

The fact that not one single Republican will vote in favor of fair elections does not make elections "partisan".  

[tshile]

Joe manchin is a plant

[88Comrade2000]

2 hours ago, tshile said:

Joe manchin is a plant

Joe's been there since Robert Byrd died in 2010.  Hardly a plant. He's just really more of a Republican than what the Dems are now.

[The Sisko]

Manchin is a Dixiecrat. They need to get rid of him as soon as it's feasible. In the meantime, I'd make sure WV pays a price. Hell, they don't want socialist Fed funding anyway.

[NoCalMike]

I am all for Machin being gone in theory, the problem is that in practice, can an actual Democrat win that seat in WV?

[Simmsy]

35 minutes ago, NoCalMike said:

I am all for Machin being gone in theory, the problem is that in practice, can an actual Democrat win that seat in WV?

I think so, the biggest problem lies with the DNC. Instead of picking an actually good candidate in states like West Virginia and Arizona, they pick who they think can win. Same thing the GOP did with Trump, but they could at lest wrangle the doofus in enough to sign all their legislation. There is a guy named Richard Ojeda who was in the spotlight in WV a few years ago, I think he would be a great Dem candidate (I didn't vet him).

 

Primary Manchin, he isn't any use to the Dems when it comes to anything worthwhile, so he isn't worthwhile. Even if you lose the seat, to keep him on after everything he's done would be rewarding his behavior. Focus your efforts on picking up those vulnerable seats and get the numbers you need, going to be hard without voter reform, but it can be done.

[NoCalMike]

11 minutes ago, Simmsy said:

I think so, the biggest problem lies with the DNC. Instead of picking an actually good candidate in states like West Virginia and Arizona, they pick who they think can win. Same thing the GOP did with Trump, but they could at lest wrangle the doofus in enough to sign all their legislation. There is a guy named Richard Ojeda who was in the spotlight in WV a few years ago, I think he would be a great Dem candidate (I didn't vet him).

 

Primary Manchin, he isn't any use to the Dems when it comes to anything worthwhile, so he isn't worthwhile. Even if you lose the seat, to keep him on after everything he's done would be rewarding his behavior. Focus your efforts on picking up those vulnerable seats and get the numbers you need, going to be hard without voter reform, but it can be done.

 

Yeah because I understand on some issues why Manchin might want to tow a more careful line according to constituents but as far as the voter's rights stuff his explanation makes no sense.  Voting rights, taking measures to ensure as many people can vote with the least amount of hurdles possible should not even be considered a partisan issue in the first place except to those who don't feel their platform appeals to the most voters, THAT is where the partisanship enters the discussion and in that case that is on the GOP pretty much exclusively so that is what Manchin should be leaning on, the fact that there should be nothing that is considered "left" or "dividing" about the right to vote.

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 hour ago, NoCalMike said:

 

Yeah because I understand on some issues why Manchin might want to tow a more careful line according to constituents but as far as the voter's rights stuff his explanation makes no sense.  Voting rights, taking measures to ensure as many people can vote with the least amount of hurdles possible should not even be considered a partisan issue in the first place except to those who don't feel their platform appeals to the most voters, THAT is where the partisanship enters the discussion and in that case that is on the GOP pretty much exclusively so that is what Manchin should be leaning on, the fact that there should be nothing that is considered "left" or "dividing" about the right to vote.

Anyone researched the parts of the election bill that Manchin doesn’t support?  I heard something on the radio while driving yesterday and there were definitely parts that made me raise an eyebrow but of course I can’t think of any of them right now.

[The Evil Genius]

2 hours ago, NoCalMike said:

I am all for Machin being gone in theory, the problem is that in practice, can an actual Democrat win that seat in WV?

 

No. Manchin is the closest thing you get now at the US level in WV. 

 

With a median age older than Florida, a population whiter than Idaho, and an economy tied to a long dying coal industry with a huge yearly population loss (%), the GOP will continue to run that state further into the ground for decades. 

[The Sisko]

7 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said:

 

No. Manchin is the closest thing you get now at the US level in WV. 

 

With a median age older than Florida, a population whiter than Idaho, and an economy tied to a long dying coal industry with a huge yearly population loss (%), the GOP will continue to run that state further into the ground for decades. 

The only reason I'd continue to give him any run right now is so that he doesn't defect. Keep him on board until the Grand Oligarch's Party has their candidate lined up, then kick him off all committees, kill any financial support and donate to the GOP candidate if necessary. Then, block anything that state needs. We were stupid to support the coal miner's pension bailout. If they want the Grand Oligarch's Party to run things, let them have their "freedom".

[tshile]

So I’m probably the last person to know anything about WVA politics but regardless of how this is handled the political map going forward, for strategy purposes, needs to not count on wva for anything. 

it doesn’t matter if it’s blue on the map if the votes don’t come with it. 
 

I don’t consider anyone who observes what’s going on and doesn’t put their foot down in the name of democracy to support protecting and expanding voting rights, to get worth wild. The strategy needs to reflect that even if manchin wins and puts a D after his name, he doesn’t count. Need to win other seats. 
 

also, voting rights aside, as a Virginian, **** that state 

 

 

[LD0506]

[China]

Stacey Abrams-led group launches campaign to mobilize young voters of color around voting rights bill

 

The voting rights group Fair Fight Action, headed by activist and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, is announcing a month-long campaign to help mobilize young voters of color around the For the People Act, also known as S. 1, for the Senate version of the extensive voting rights bill championed by Democratic lawmakers. 

 

The campaign, called Hot Call Summer, will last throughout June, and will feature virtual events, a paid media campaign and plans to text at least 10 million voters in 2022 battleground states that have seen controversial voting legislation move in state legislatures. 

 

"We can't wait any longer for Congress to protect Americans' freedom to vote, which is why we need Senators to pass the For The People Act (HR1/S1)," Abrams said in an email to supporters first obtained by CBS News. "With voting rights under attack in 48 out of 50 state legislatures across the country, the moment has never been more urgent, and it will take all of us to ensure that Congress passes the voting rights protections our country and democracy desperately need."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[LD0506]

[China]

Republicans are out to create the rigged voting system they claim to be victims of

 

Our entire democracy is now at risk.” That was the note of alarm sounded last week by a group of prominent intellectuals on both the left and the right. The source of their concern are the Republican efforts, underway across the nation, to operationalize the “big lie”: the bogus claim that a vast conspiracy of fraud cost Trump the 2020 election.

 

Consider the audit recently ordered by the Republican-controlled state senate in Arizona of the 2.1m votes cast in Maricopa county in the 2020 presidential contest. Lest the audit confirm what has already been proven ad nauseam – that the count was accurate and free of fraud – the senate chose an obscure company called Cyber Ninjas to conduct the recount. Based out of Florida, Cyber Ninjas has no record of ever having conducted an election audit and neglected to even submit a bid for the Arizona job. But the tiny firm did have one thing going for it: its CEO, Doug Logan, a self-proclaimed “follower of Jesus Christ” and proud father of 11, was on record attacking the 2020 election as riddled with fraud.

 

Inspired by the Arizona case, Republicans in Georgia have demanded that their state undertake a similar “forensic” audit of the 2020 presidential count. And last Wednesday, a group of Republican state lawmakers from Pennsylvania paid a visit to the Arizona audit site, demanding that their home state conduct a like review.

 

The aim of these efforts is not to overturn the result of the 2020 election, despite Donald Trump’s fantasies to the contrary. Evidently the former president anticipates his reinstatement in the White House roughly two months from now, and his coming rallies will no doubt give him the opportunity to grandly cast himself as a latter-day Napoleon returning triumphantly to power from his palmy exile. But the audits are not designed to stamp Trump a ticket back to DC – at least not at present. The goal is not to oust Biden now, but to conspire against his reelection in 2024.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

14 GOP-Controlled States Have Passed Laws to Impede Free Elections

 

Donald Trump will not be “reinstated” as president by August, as some of his supporters and allegedly the former president himself seem to believe. But Republicans are rushing to change the rules to make it easier for their party to overturn the will of the voters in future elections.

 

While GOP-controlled legislatures rush to make it harder for Democratic constituencies to vote, they are also intensifying their control over how elections are run and how votes are counted, after Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results. Twenty-four new laws have been passed in 14 states this year that will allow state legislatures to “politicize, criminalize, and interfere in election administration,” according to a report released Thursday by three voting rights groups, States United Democracy Center, Law Forward, and Protect Democracy. Overall, 216 bills have been introduced in 41 states to achieve these ends. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[The Evil Genius]