Anti-voting bills are springing up everywhere. They’re like improv classes. They pop
up everywhere and rarely end well. - A controversial early voting bill
is now law in Iowa. - The law cuts down
the early voting period, reduces the time absentee ballots can be requested,
and closes polls an hour earlier on election day. - In Arkansas, state lawmakers passed a bill
changing how provisional ballots and voter identities will be verified.
- Senate Bill 90 includes more oversight of ballot drop boxes, stricter voter ID requirements,
prohibits mass mailing of ballots, and bans so-called “ballot harvesting.”
Sadly, Florida's law ignores the now-unemployed farmers who sow and harvest those ballots by hand.
We’ve seen Republicans play this game for decades, just as Democrats did under Jim Crow.
- Jim Crow wasn’t a set of laws that said Black people can’t vote. What it was was
a set of restrictions and regulations on voting and on the ballot that, when overlapped together,
ended up removing most African Americans. Right. You make laws that primarily affect
African Americans without explicitly mentioning them, and then pass it off as an accidental
“Oops! All white voters” election. So what can we do about states trying to “oops” the vote?
First, we can sue their nuts off, which is already happening. And then there’s that
bill the Chamber of Commerce is fighting. - H.R. 1: the For the People Act. This bill
would put no-excuse absentee voting—basically easy absentee voting—and two weeks of early voting in
place in every state in this country for federal elections. It would also take on gerrymandering by
putting independent commissions in place in every state. It would also force disclosure of top
dark money donors. It would start some new public campaign financing ideas.
This bill does everything. It even replaces the I Voted sticker with an I Voted tattoo.
But Democrats have a tricky path to passing the bill. The filibuster requires them to
get support from at least ten Republican senators, who seem a little tentative.
- H.R. 1 is the biggest power grab in the history of the country.
- This is all designed to facilitate fraud. - Everything about this bill is rotten
to the core. This is a bill, as if written in hell by the devil himself.
Does Mike Lee really think the devil would spend his time writing legislation? I’m pretty sure
he’d write something more in his voice, like young adult romance novels where one of the kids dies.
While convincing the Republicans to pass H.R. 1 may seem insurmountable, Democrats could call
their bluff with a more narrowly focused bill: the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. From 1965 to 2013,
states with the worst history of racist voting restrictions had to get federal clearance before
making changes that might make it harder for Black people to vote. But then the Supreme Court said
“no more pre- clearance until you can prove racism still exists,” which the John Lewis Act would do.
Unfortunately, Republicans are saying, “Racism doesn’t exist anymore, so we’re against any bill
that gives Black people equal rights.” Which is like your boyfriend saying “you’re not pregnant,
so I’m throwing out the condoms.” So where does this leave voting rights? Congress won’t save us.
Big business won’t save us. Spider-Man won’t save us. I asked. He’s busy. No one can save us but us.
We have to keep fighting, which means protesting in the streets and voting every chance we get,
especially in state legislative elections. Look, I know, it sucks that the answer to
voter suppression is to work harder to vote. And it sucks to constantly think about voting.
I’ve spent the last four years asking you to vote, and frankly, I’m even sick of myself. But
we change our laws by changing the people who make our laws. John Lewis fought for the right to vote,
and his words still ring true. - The right to vote
is precious, almost sacred, and one of the most important blessings of our democracy. The vote is
the most powerful nonviolent tool and instrument we have in a democratic society. If we allow our
power to be taken away, we will be facing the need for another movement, a new nonviolent
revolution in America, to retake the same ground we won almost 50 years ago. We must fight back.