Voting Law Proposals and Voting Rights Efforts (1 Viewer)

This is, IMO, going to be a big topic in the coming year. Republicans have stated their aim to make voting more restrictive in just about every state where they have the means to do so. Democrats would like to pass the Voting Rights Bill named after John Lewis. I’m going to go look up the map of all the states which have pending legislation to restrict voting. Now that we have the election in the rear view, I thought we could try to make this a general discussion thread, where people who have concerns about voting abuses can post as well and we can discuss it from both sides. Please keep memes out of this thread and put them in the boards where we go to talk about the other side, lol.

Here is the map I remember. It’s from Democracy Docket, a Democratic effort to protect voting rights, and it is states where they have identified ongoing efforts to restrict voting.

here is the link, it’s an interactive map where you can click on each state and see what they are doing.

I saw one proposal today that has stuck with me a bit. In Atlanta, black churches have a tradition called “Souls to the Polls” that they do during the early voting period. After church, they get as many as they can (bus or cars or whatnot) and go down and vote together as a church. It’s a nice community-building exercise of their civic duty.

Read today that there is a bill put forth by the GA State GOP that would mandate that all poll locations be closed on Sundays during the early voting period. Seems pretty laser focused to me, but I am open to hearing others’ opinions.

Yep, a lot of GA (R) are not happy and I expect them to try to pass even more voter suppression laws in short order. I'm still in shock Stacey Abrams managed to do what what she did and helped win those 2 senate races for (D), b/c the odds certainly were not in their favor

That was part of a huge omnibus bill that they unveiled today. GA GOP wants to make sure that many black people can never vote again.

In a state that Trump won no less.

GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday proposed an array of voting changes, while state lawmakers have introduced legislation that makes it harder to vote by mail. To explain the efforts, Florida Republicans point not to evidence of problems but to the potential for voter fraud and suspicion about the process.

“We want everyone to vote, but we don’t want anyone to cheat,” DeSantis said Friday.

zztop said:

In a state that Trump won no less.

Florida is a model for voting. The GOP wants change anyway.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida was a model citizen when it came to elections in 2020. The state showed off its years of voting reforms.

apnews.com

GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday proposed an array of voting changes, while state lawmakers have introduced legislation that makes it harder to vote by mail. To explain the efforts, Florida Republicans point not to evidence of problems but to the potential for voter fraud and suspicion about the process.

“We want everyone to vote, but we don’t want anyone to cheat,” DeSantis said Friday.

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You'd think there would be evidence of cheating before changing the rules because of cheating, right?

They are changing the rules in Indiana as well. Guess what I learned? Indiana was one of the states where the governor and/or election board made changes to the rules in order to accommodate voting in a freaking global pandemic.

I could have sworn the only states where that happened it was so the democrats could commit massive voter fraud and that all those states had their electoral votes contested. Wonder why the Kraken never sued Indiana for their massive voter fraud?

MT15 said:

This is, IMO, going to be a big topic in the coming year. Republicans have stated their aim to make voting more restrictive in just about every state where they have the means to do so. Democrats would like to pass the Voting Rights Bill named after John Lewis. I’m going to go look up the map of all the states which have pending legislation to restrict voting. Now that we have the election in the rear view, I thought we could try to make this a general discussion thread, where people who have concerns about voting abuses can post as well and we can discuss it from both sides. Please keep memes out of this thread and put them in the boards where we go to talk about the other side, lol.

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Biden and the Democrats have less than two years to counter these fascist Repug voter suppression efforts. Schumer MUST abolish the filibuster in the Senate and pass the new Voting Rights Bill. If the Democrats are too stupid and naive to address this issue while they still have a chance, then they will never hold power again.

The Democrats simply suck at hardball politics. They proved it yet again during the impeachment trial and their refusal to call witnesses. Who cares if the Democrats still don't get a conviction, they should have paraded witnesses on the stand and embarrassed and humiliated Trump and the Republicans for weeks.

Why don't you try actually playing politics once in awhile, Democrats? Why don't you try punching bullies in the face for once, Democrats? This is your last chance to save this country from the fascist white supremacist QAnon Republican Party.

Kerry Won Ohio said:

Biden and the Democrats have less than two years to counter these fascist Repug voter suppression efforts. Schumer MUST abolish the filibuster in the Senate and pass the new Voting Rights Bill. If the Democrats are too stupid and naive to address this issue while they still have a chance, then they will never hold power again.

The Democrats simply suck at hardball politics. They proved it yet again during the impeachment trial and their refusal to call witnesses. Who cares if the Democrats still don't get a conviction, they should have paraded witnesses on the stand and embarrassed and humiliated Trump and the Republicans for weeks.

Why don't you try actually playing politics once in awhile, Democrats? Why don't you try punching bullies in the face for once, Democrats? This is your last chance to save this country from the fascist white supremacist QAnon Republican Party.

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I think this had more to do with Biden’s nominations getting appointed. If they would have split the impeachment into morning or afternoons only, probably wouldn’t be a problem. They were going to lose and a few weeks of delays would prevent the admins work.

Nebaghead said:

I think this had more to do with Biden’s nominations getting appointed. If they would have split the impeachment into morning or afternoons only, probably wouldn’t be a problem. They were going to lose and a few weeks of delays would prevent the admins work.

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That's a good excuse, but I don't buy it. The Democrats should have dragged Trump and the Republican Senator traitors through a meat grinder of embarrassment and humiliation for weeks. After all, that's what McConnell would do to Democrats if the shoe was on the other foot. Look at what the Repugs did to Hillary Clinton over forking Benghazi.

The Democrats should have put some of the Trump insurrectionists on the stand, like that QAnon Shaman idiot, and had him testify against Trump, which he was willing to do. Who cares about a conviction. Just make the impeachment as painful and humiliating as possible for Trump and those Repug traitors.

The Democrats can't say that Jan 6th, 2021 was unprecedented and a day that will live in infamy and then have a 4 day trial. That's hypocrisy. And knowing our luck, the entire country will end up regretting letting Trump off the hook so easily.

Kerry Won Ohio said:

That's a good excuse, but I don't buy it. The Democrats should have dragged Trump and the Republican Senator traitors through a meat grinder of embarrassment and humiliation for weeks. After all, that's what McConnell would do to Democrats if the shoe was on the other foot. Look at what the Repugs did to Hillary Clinton over forking Benghazi.

The Democrats should have put some of the Trump insurrectionists on the stand, like that QAnon Shaman idiot, and had him testify against Trump, which he was willing to do. Who cares about a conviction. Just make the impeachment as painful and humiliating as possible for Trump and those Repug traitors.

The Democrats can't say that Jan 6th, 2021 was unprecedented and a day that will live in infamy and then have a 4 day trial. That's hypocrisy. And knowing our luck, the entire country will end up regretting letting Trump off the hook so easily.

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People are literally dying and need help. Nothing was going to happen. Americans don’t remember what happened 2 weeks ago. Nothing would have come of this except for a delay in getting aid out to the people hurting.
You know damn well the GOP would have used the Dems playing politics while delaying the stimulus even though none of them will vote for it.

Nebaghead said:

People are literally dying and need help. Nothing was going to happen. Americans don’t remember what happened 2 weeks ago. Nothing would have come of this except for a delay in getting aid out to the people hurting.
You know damn well the GOP would have used the Dems playing politics while delaying the stimulus even though none of them will vote for it.

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A prolonged impeachment trial wasn't going to delay COVID aid. The bill is ready for a vote. There is no negotiation with seditious Republicans required.

Americans will never forget what happened on 6 January 2021. At least not real Americans. As for the seditious traitors that make up the Repug Party, fork them.

Kerry Won Ohio said:

A prolonged impeachment trial wasn't going to delay COVID aid. The bill is ready for a vote. There is no negotiation with seditious Republicans required.

Americans will never forget what happened on 6 January 2021. At least not real Americans. As for the seditious traitors that make up the Repug Party, fork them.

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Well, it's not that simple. You have the confirmation hearings, Manchin who could easily flip and oppose some Democrat led legislation, and while the Covid relief bill can pass with a simple majority, most other legislation will require enough votes to get cloture and avoid avoid filibuster.

I agree with the sentiment, but there are a lot more moving parts than just getting 51 votes in the Senate.

I also read where due to some rule, all it would take is one senator to object and they couldn’t do any other business during the impeachment trial. They had to make that decision.

MT15 said:

I also read where due to some rule, all it would take is one senator to object and they couldn’t do any other business during the impeachment trial. They had to make that decision.

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Yeah, i believe that's the unanimous consent rule, which applies in certain parliamentary procedures.

MT15 said:

I also read where due to some rule, all it would take is one senator to object and they couldn’t do any other business during the impeachment trial. They had to make that decision.

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I don't think I can go along with "they had to make that decision". If some Republican Senator pulls that childish stunt, then I say you call their bluff and you continue full steam ahead with the impeachment trial with tons of witnesses over the next couple of months. Most Americans will know who is to blame for that.

We are now fighting for the survival of democracy. The game is over if the Republicans control Congress or the White House in 2022 or 2024. 140 Republicans voted to overturn the election results on January 6th, for fork's sake. The Democrats should have pursued this impeachment with a vengeance worthy of the most vile slimy arse Republican.

Kerry Won Ohio said:

I don't think I can go along with "they had to make that decision". If some Republican Senator pulls that childish stunt, then I say you call their bluff and you continue full steam ahead with the impeachment trial with tons of witnesses over the next couple of months. Most Americans will know who is to blame for that.

We are now fighting for the survival of democracy. The game is over if the Republicans control Congress or the White House in 2022 or 2024. 140 Republicans voted to overturn the election results on January 6th, for fork's sake. The Democrats should have pursued this impeachment with a vengeance worthy of the most vile slimy arse Republican.

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I want the light shined on that trash as much as you do, but the GOP would have taken the senate hostage and absolutely nothing would have been done for covid relief long after unemployment and other relief from the last package expired. You don’t think Yurtle the Turtle would pontificate about how the Dems are causing the relief to be delayed and act like they had nothing to do with it when they would be the ones to object.
I think their will be a commission on the 1/6 insurrection and from that charges are likely to be made. They will drag him through the dirt and they can call all the witnesses they want. Do it around the next election so voters will remember how complicit the GOP was in this and help keep the house and senate.