Here in Luzerne County, PA, there was a push to get the Board of Elections to refuse to certify our 2020 results. There is currently a committe looking into changes to the current law that the county council should recommend to the state. The chair of the legislative committee is adamantly oposed to no-excuse mail-in ballots and thinks all the 'problems' will be solved if they are eliminated. (Full disclosure: I am a Democrat on the Board of Elections who was booed when I voted to certify. I know whereof I speak.)
Universal voting is not a constitutional right. Every state is able to set its own rules. The short term solution is to through legislation. But the minute the next QOP president takes over, that legislation will be tossed. The long term solution is a constitutional amendment that finally establishes that all citizens have the right to vote.
The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution prevents states from denying the right to vote on grounds of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits states and federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old.
Each state being able to set its own racist, sexist, ageist rules for voting is unconstitutional, but some states still do it. In many states, the GOP are attempting to create even more restrictions using the lie of election fraud, which has been repeatedly disproven.
Since some states aren't willing to adhere to the Constitution, this needs to be addressed. Willful disregard of the Constitution just so one party can win must have serious consequences. If there's only liberty and justice for SOME people, there's liberty and justice for NO ONE. Your rights or mine could be next.
Republicans know that when turnout is high, they are less likely to succeed. These anti-democratic pieces of legislation must be highlighted publicly and fought tooth-and-nail.
End the filibuster. Democrats need to immediately push through legislation to re-enact/reinforce the principles of the voters rights act. The Democrats will not get anything done in these first 2 years with the filibuster in place. Then it'll be GOP obstruction as usual.
The GOP believes in minority rule Period. Question.
Can a federal mandate be created to usurp this type of voter surpression? Or is this just a state electoral job with all the power in the hands of primarily Republican state legislatures?
Question
Isn't Congress pussyfootin' around a number of gerrymandering bills?
To add on to this: I know HR1 seeks to expand voting rights and improve accessibility to vote. If it passed as its currently written, would it help to curb any of these anti-democratic state laws? Would reinstating the Voting Rights act help put a stop to this? Even if neither did, the Democrats really need to utilize all of their political capital to not only get these two aforementioned pieces of legislation written into the books, but also be implementing similar voter engagement/advocacy programs like we saw with Stacey Abrams in Georgia, but applied to every state. It would all be a huge undertaking, but these republican state lawmakers are showing just how fragile democracy is, and we can't afford to slip back into authoritarian rule in 2024, let alone lose our thin majority in the midterms.
The GOP used to be the party of the middle class and small business, but during the 1980 election, it became clear to Republicans that demographics in America were inexorably shifting, and that the GOP would soon no longer be able to win elections based on donations from small business and the middle class. So. They sold out to the super-rich and corporations, decided to suppress education, to court the evangelical vote, and other anti-democratic activities, just to retain power for old white men. Over 40 years they created the mess of ignorance and hatred that is their base today. And they are finding now that they must follow those insane votes down into Hell. And taking the country with them.
I sincerely hope democrats will use whatever advantage they currently hold to do some serious election systems clean-up and install hard-core voting rights and election security, which should obviously do away with "proprietory" voting software AS A START, because our situation right now is simply ridiculous.
All these fake patriots claiming to love the country while simultaneously waging war on democracy is something I just can't understand. I will never vote Republican in my entire life.
The Republicans have been restricting voting for years. They do not represent a majority of Americans and often the majority in the states they control. They are getting more desperate each year. Until this Republicans versus Democrats hatred ends, Americans will not win. And there is hatred on both sides, but it heavily leans towards the Republicans because that is they only way campaign - fear & hatred. We need to get back to elected officials acting in the best interest of the people they represent.
You can smell the stench of trumpublican flop sweat of desperation in all of this rotten legislation that may or may not be upheld by the rank judges that McConnell got installed. Forget t****. We have all found out that civic engagement is the only way out of this morass we are finding ourselves in currently. Judd, you help mightily by keeping the spotlight aimed at the dark corners where this stuff is hatched. We cannot give up now. Keep the pedal to the metal.
Okay, so that's what the Republicans are doing. This is what they do because they are smart enough to know that they can't win an election based on policies. So, the question then becomes, what (if anything) are the Democrats doing to fight back?????
I'd love a follow-up n this, too. After the insurrection, many corporations made a big show of dropping political contributions to Republicans who voted to overthrow the election and who refused to certify official electoral votes. As of today, I'm only aware of Microsoft still adhering to this policy (at least until 2022). Verizon, Lyft, Comcast and ATT have also joined Microsoft in this.
Facebook, Google, and other companies' PACs, including those from Airbnb, Amazon and Intel, also suspended contributions after the insurrection attempt, but historically, tech PACs have donated to both Democrats and Republicans. I have no idea if they have taken this further to defund seditionist Republicans.
Here in Luzerne County, PA, there was a push to get the Board of Elections to refuse to certify our 2020 results. There is currently a committe looking into changes to the current law that the county council should recommend to the state. The chair of the legislative committee is adamantly oposed to no-excuse mail-in ballots and thinks all the 'problems' will be solved if they are eliminated. (Full disclosure: I am a Democrat on the Board of Elections who was booed when I voted to certify. I know whereof I speak.)
thank you for your service. Hope the anti-democratic vote suppression tactics of the QOP fail in Luzerne county.
Universal voting is not a constitutional right. Every state is able to set its own rules. The short term solution is to through legislation. But the minute the next QOP president takes over, that legislation will be tossed. The long term solution is a constitutional amendment that finally establishes that all citizens have the right to vote.
Now is the time for a couple of amendments-emoluments also merits an amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution prevents states from denying the right to vote on grounds of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits states and federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old.
Each state being able to set its own racist, sexist, ageist rules for voting is unconstitutional, but some states still do it. In many states, the GOP are attempting to create even more restrictions using the lie of election fraud, which has been repeatedly disproven.
Since some states aren't willing to adhere to the Constitution, this needs to be addressed. Willful disregard of the Constitution just so one party can win must have serious consequences. If there's only liberty and justice for SOME people, there's liberty and justice for NO ONE. Your rights or mine could be next.
Republicans know that when turnout is high, they are less likely to succeed. These anti-democratic pieces of legislation must be highlighted publicly and fought tooth-and-nail.
End the filibuster. Democrats need to immediately push through legislation to re-enact/reinforce the principles of the voters rights act. The Democrats will not get anything done in these first 2 years with the filibuster in place. Then it'll be GOP obstruction as usual.
The GOP believes in minority rule Period. Question.
Can a federal mandate be created to usurp this type of voter surpression? Or is this just a state electoral job with all the power in the hands of primarily Republican state legislatures?
Question
Isn't Congress pussyfootin' around a number of gerrymandering bills?
Thank you for this info, Judd.
To add on to this: I know HR1 seeks to expand voting rights and improve accessibility to vote. If it passed as its currently written, would it help to curb any of these anti-democratic state laws? Would reinstating the Voting Rights act help put a stop to this? Even if neither did, the Democrats really need to utilize all of their political capital to not only get these two aforementioned pieces of legislation written into the books, but also be implementing similar voter engagement/advocacy programs like we saw with Stacey Abrams in Georgia, but applied to every state. It would all be a huge undertaking, but these republican state lawmakers are showing just how fragile democracy is, and we can't afford to slip back into authoritarian rule in 2024, let alone lose our thin majority in the midterms.
Totally agree. Email the Dems in Congress from your state. They need to move on this and quickly.
The GOP used to be the party of the middle class and small business, but during the 1980 election, it became clear to Republicans that demographics in America were inexorably shifting, and that the GOP would soon no longer be able to win elections based on donations from small business and the middle class. So. They sold out to the super-rich and corporations, decided to suppress education, to court the evangelical vote, and other anti-democratic activities, just to retain power for old white men. Over 40 years they created the mess of ignorance and hatred that is their base today. And they are finding now that they must follow those insane votes down into Hell. And taking the country with them.
I sincerely hope democrats will use whatever advantage they currently hold to do some serious election systems clean-up and install hard-core voting rights and election security, which should obviously do away with "proprietory" voting software AS A START, because our situation right now is simply ridiculous.
All these fake patriots claiming to love the country while simultaneously waging war on democracy is something I just can't understand. I will never vote Republican in my entire life.
Love your work! Here's my take on impeachment of President Loophole https://dianefrancis.substack.com/p/president-loophole-on-trial
Now subscribed!
Thank you, Diane. I’ve subscribed. I’ve been pointing out the Roy Cohn connection for years. Greg O'Lear published this a while back:
Trump owned by Moscow for 25 years, owned by FBI/CIA before that
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/give-me-secrecy-and-give-me-death
The Republicans have been restricting voting for years. They do not represent a majority of Americans and often the majority in the states they control. They are getting more desperate each year. Until this Republicans versus Democrats hatred ends, Americans will not win. And there is hatred on both sides, but it heavily leans towards the Republicans because that is they only way campaign - fear & hatred. We need to get back to elected officials acting in the best interest of the people they represent.
You can smell the stench of trumpublican flop sweat of desperation in all of this rotten legislation that may or may not be upheld by the rank judges that McConnell got installed. Forget t****. We have all found out that civic engagement is the only way out of this morass we are finding ourselves in currently. Judd, you help mightily by keeping the spotlight aimed at the dark corners where this stuff is hatched. We cannot give up now. Keep the pedal to the metal.
Okay, so that's what the Republicans are doing. This is what they do because they are smart enough to know that they can't win an election based on policies. So, the question then becomes, what (if anything) are the Democrats doing to fight back?????
I would love to have a call list or email list of the other companies that have not committed to supporting democracy and the certified election.
I'd love a follow-up n this, too. After the insurrection, many corporations made a big show of dropping political contributions to Republicans who voted to overthrow the election and who refused to certify official electoral votes. As of today, I'm only aware of Microsoft still adhering to this policy (at least until 2022). Verizon, Lyft, Comcast and ATT have also joined Microsoft in this.
Facebook, Google, and other companies' PACs, including those from Airbnb, Amazon and Intel, also suspended contributions after the insurrection attempt, but historically, tech PACs have donated to both Democrats and Republicans. I have no idea if they have taken this further to defund seditionist Republicans.
Hey Judd. Check out the Lincoln Project’s latest video, “BRANDED”.