Re: Voting Rights
Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2023 12:27 pm
The word I used was "hindered...." And, as I like words, I used that word deliberately. You should read more carefully, assuming you read at all. GOP Legislatures across the country are using the legislative process to create hurdles to voting, disincentives to vote, and to helping people get to the polls, and the like. You have a tendency to rail about things that, as it happens, you often know nothing about.cradleandshoot wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 9:22 amDespite all of your floundering around to the contrary can you name one person who was determined to vote and was denied that right? Your argument always meanders into the land of hypothetical. If they wanted to vote and were eligible to vote then they were able to vote. The one exception of documented voter intimidation I'm aware of happened outside a polling place in Philly. Your basic premise is absurd at face value. Any eligible voters that want to vote and are determined to so will not be denied.Had there been even one documented example of anyone being denied their right to vote the good folks at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC would have latched on to it like a pitbull on a letter carriers leg.Seacoaster(1) wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 8:33 am Respectfully, piously asserting that a things are a "far cry from what it used to be" and invocation of part of the Gettysburg Address is not much solace to the many thousands of poor souls whose ability to vote is hindered or the value of whose vote is diluted to nothing via gerrymandering.
Good movie though.
Here's a selection from 2021, courtesy of the Brennan Center for Democracy:
"Florida Senate Bill 90: Broad restrictions on mail voting
After an election where Black voters in Florida cast mail ballots at a rate higher than in recent years, Florida enacted S.B. 90, which imposes a long list of new constraints on mail voting. The law severely limits the availability and accessibility of mail ballot drop boxes and requires voters to put their state ID number or Social Security Number on their mail ballot application without providing an alternative for voters who lack such information. It also limits who can assist voters with returning their mail ballots.
Georgia S.B. 202: A ban on food and water, plus subtle attacks on mail voting and local election officials
Georgia S.B. 202 gained national attention by making it a crime to distribute water or snacks to voters waiting in line, a response to a practice many voter participation groups use in this state with notoriously long wait times in some elections. While the food and water provision is the most blatantly outlandish, the law contains less obvious aspects that pose serious threats. It allows any voter to come to a county clerk’s office and challenge the voter registrations of as many people as they would like. And, after an election when Black voters voted by mail at a rate higher than ever before, it makes it more difficult to vote by mail in several ways. The law also sets up a process that could be used to remove professional election officials and replace them with more partisan actors.
Iowa Senate File 413: Criminalizing election officials for protecting voters
Iowa helped to start a national trend of laws targeting election officials with criminal penalties for expanding voting access by enacting S.F. 413. The law imposes a number of new penalties and restrictions on election officials, including a provision that refers county election officials for criminal prosecution if they do not implement the law’s aggressive new voter-roll purge provisions.
Montana House Bill 176: Ending a popular policy for partisan reasons
Montana H.B. 176 eliminated Election Day registration, a popular and effective policy that Montana voters have relied on for years. During debate over the law, a Republican state representative openly stated that he wanted to end election day registration because he believed it was used by young people who were “not on our side of the aisle.”
Texas S.B. 1: Targeting Election Workers and Restricting Mail Voting
After a lengthy legislative process that involved the speaker of the House asking legislators not to use the word “racism” when debating on the floor, Texas passed S.B. 1, a law so restrictive that is is being challenged it in court.
Some of its most aggressive provisions target election officials and workers and make it harder to vote by mail. The law threatens election officials and workers with new criminal penalties for expanding voter access or even simply encouraging eligible voters to request mail ballots. For mail voting, it imposes new identification number requirements and new obstacles for voter assistance. It also empowers partisan poll watchers to harass voters and election workers. The changes have already reportedly led to astounding mail ballot rejection rates in some counties."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/22/politics ... index.html
"Lawmakers in 32 states across the US have introduced or pre-filed at least 150 bills aimed at making it harder to vote, according to a new analysis from the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school.
The report, which covers legislative activity through January 25, 2023, was released Wednesday morning. The number of proposed bills represents an uptick in comparison to bills introduced at the same time in 2022 and 2021.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean that the country will have a record number of new restrictive voting laws by year’s end, but the high number of bills is an indicator that many legislators are still focused on making it harder to vote,” Jasleen Singh, counsel in the Brennan Center’s democracy program, told CNN.
The restrictive voting bills are part of an ongoing Republican-led push to change election laws following record turnout in the 2020 presidential election and unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
Proposals in two states would open new doors for election results to be overturned.
One bill proposed in Texas would allow presidential electors to set aside election results if passed.
In Virginia, one piece of proposed legislation aims to allow citizens to demand forensic audits of results, which would then be presented to a jury of “randomly selected residents,” who could vote to invalidate the election.
Of the 150 bills, more than half aim to limit access to mail-in voting which gained popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the bills also propose increasing or imposing voter ID requirements for in-person voting and registration. Of the bills, 32 would require voters to present a photo ID at the polls. Opponents of voter ID laws say they disproportionately impact minorities, people with disabilities and those from low-income backgrounds who may not have the necessary forms of identification.
The report notes that no bills aimed at restricting access have been proposed in Georgia where a controversial election law was passed in 2021.
The push to restrict voting access has been met with legislative efforts to expand access to voting. Thirty-four states pre-filed or introduced 274 expansive voting bills since new legislative sessions began, according to the Brennan Center report.
Should any of the bills aimed at restricting or increasing voter access pass and be signed into law, they would go into effect ahead of the 2024 presidential primaries and election."