Stop Republicans’ Attacks On Voting

By FRANK LINGO

The most coordinated shutdown on rights of voters in American history is going at breakneck pace in legislatures nationwide.

That is not news. It has been going on slowly for decades but after the 2020 election it kicked into high gear.

The perpetrators: the Republican Party.

Furious at Trump’s loss and the U.S. Senate going to Democrats’ control (thanks to a miraculous double victory in Georgia), Republicans abandoned all pretense of caring about keeping elections fair and free.

The Big Lie that Trump spread about voter fraud led Republicans to pass appalling new laws in some states that make voting difficult, especially for citizens in minority districts, and could allow state officials to overturn results of elections they disagree with.

We’re in fascist territory here and that’s no exaggeration. Hitler accused his opposition of the vicious tactics that he himself was using, and it worked. The Nazis burned down the German congress building, eliminated their rivals and quickly turned Germany from democracy to dictatorship.

Until recently, we wouldn’t have thought of our representative democracy as delicate. That was before we elected a psychotic traitor who would commit multiple felonies and foment an insurrection to keep himself in power. We were naive about how many millions of people would eagerly swallow the preposterous poison Trump dished up.

The only remedy for all this voter suppression is a federal law prohibiting it. Since Congress can supersede state laws, Democrats have a fleeting chance at saving the United States from authoritarian rule.

The House of Representatives passed such a bill. It was dead on arrival in the Senate.

But now Senator Joe Manchin, who has been an obstructer, has teamed up with Senator Amy Klobuchar to introduce the Freedom To Vote Act, a decent compromise.

It would enable all voters to request mail-in ballots and ensure that drop boxes are available to all voters. States would have to offer 15 days of in-person early voting and Election Day would be a national holiday.

Among the bill’s other provisions are requirements for paper ballots to ensure accuracy in recounts, and making grant money available to election officials for secure voting machines. It would also curtail gerrymandering that causes disproportionate representation, and it would reduce “dark money” that gives unfair advantages to the rich.

This new bill lacks some safeguards, such as protecting minorities from new state laws. So there is also The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would be a comprehensive replacement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Supreme Court has gutted that landmark law so it needs to be re-legislated.

Still, the Klobuchar-Manchin bill is far better than nothing. As of this writing in early October, Congress is obsessed with infrastructure bills and the debt ceiling. Under normal circumstances, these issues would be quite important, but with our democracy facing its most dangerous peril since the Civil War, it is urgent that Congress protect voting rights of all citizens now.

It’s either that or get used to saying Heil Trump in 2024.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2021

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