The #SupremeCourt on Thurs allowed the use of a #SC congressional map that a lower court said “exiled” thousands of #BlackVoters to carve out a district safer for a #WhiteRepublican incumbent.
The decision was a victory for #Republicans not only because it clears the way for a map that is favorable to the #GOP. It also sets a high bar for determining when a map can be considered a #RacialGerrymander, rather than a #partisan one. #SCOTUS has previously found the #Constitution bars racial #gerrymandering but that federal courts cannot police partisan gerrymandering.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel #Alito noted many predominantly #Black precincts in #Charleston were moved out of one district & into another. But “because of the tight correlation between race & partisan preferences, this fact does little to show that #race, not #politics drove the legislature’s choice,” he wrote.
It’s one of the most important resolutions on the docket. Without our voting rights fascism is all but a sure thing. Voter suppression is rooted in racism.
A #constitutionalamendment may seem impossible in this era of hyperpartisanship but ultimately it will benefit everyone. If it isn’t possible to enact it nationally, we should begin the process at the state level.
Does your state constitution guarantee voting rights?
Rs say they'll mobilize >100K ppl in battleground states. When Black or Hispanic voters show up to vote -Task Force officers are there to stop them before they enter the polling place, asking to see their voter reg. card & ID *with implied violence of police power.
RW extremist groups: QAnon, Proud Boys, Boogaloos & so-called militia grps, have all called for a physical presence at polling places-.
#Republicans appear committed to politically dying on a number of hills that time has passed by. Their commitment to gutting voting rolls and restricting #votingRights, their obsession with women’s reproductive abilities, and their hatred of #regulations and #democracy in the workplace are increasingly seen by average American voters as out-of-touch and out-of-date.
This is not a Red Nation. This is a nation that was built on progressive social ideals. The idea of a community that takes care of itself. That was what Tocqueville wrote about America. We take care of ourselves. We are the great progressive nation — let's not forget it. And when people get the chance to vote, they vote right.
Suppressing the vote has been the goal of GOP leaders for decades. Their efforts are working:
Polling locations are supposed to be accessible to all voters -but ~1 in 5 polling locations is a church, -religious entities are exempt from the Disabilities Act. The prevalence of inaccessible polling places -alarming for disabled & aging ppl in states that have moved to quash mail-in voting—incl. OK & AK -churches make up >50% of voting locations.
"Here’s a Clever Way to Uncover America’s Voting Deserts:
Mathematicians are using topological abstractions to find places poorly served by polling stations."
Sure, this is clever. But you know what's even more clever? Eliminating polling places entirely and switching to 100% vote-by-mail like in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Vermont, and Hawaii.
(With some in-person polling places as needed for accessibilty reasons)
Recently there've been a series of lawsuits aimed at undoing protections for election workers.
NV enacted a new Election Worker Protection Law to combat the⬆️ threats faced by election workers. Shortly after it was enacted: a failed R AG cand. filed a lawsuit to block the law.
AZ: RW orgs, incl. America First Policy Inst., are suing to block the anti-harassment provisions of AZ's Election Procedures Manual from going into effect.
3rd Circuit rules in favor of U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Andy Kim and keeps New Jersey's "county line" ballot design blocked for the Democratic primary. The blocked design puts candidates endorsed by county party leadership in a preferred column.
Republicans win by cheating -disproportionally harms POC.
So, to win elections across the country this fall & secure the WH for #TFG, they’re removing millions of mostly Black & Brown voters from the rolls -started in a big way with GA/TX, but the practice has now metastasized to nearly 30 R-controlled states across the country.
Rep Raskin points out -at least 135 countries in the world have written an affirmative right to vote into their constitutions-.
And in Louisiana, a federal court determined that GOP-created maps violated the Voting Rights Act by weakening the power of Black voters. The state was ordered to finalize a new map
early this year.
Recently in Alabama, the Republican legislature refused to comply with a federal judge’s order to create fair voting maps that better represented Black voters. It had to be enforced by court order.