Last night in Kansas the voters spoke up about the right for women to make their own healthcare decisions without interference from politicians.  Turning out like never before, voters struck down Republican efforts to strike abortion rights from the state constitution and impose a strict ban that would cost lives.  This election was the bell cow for other states that were trying to do the same thing.  Had pro-choice efforts failed here, it would have cast a dark cloud over vast areas of the entire country as ideologues imposed their religion and dogma over tens of millions of women and their families.

More significant, Republican legislators cheated their asses off to get the result they wanted, making their loss even more sweet. Kansas Republicans had already put this measure onto the ballot for the PRIMARY election where no Democrats were running, hoping that they could ban abortion under the radar in a low turnout election.  After the SCOTUS stupidly and wrongly struck down Roe, that strategy went out the window, and Kansas became the focus of national attention.  That attention drew a turnout estimated at 54%, almost 20% higher than typical primaries, and more important, the measure was struck down in red areas of the state by almost 20% higher than Trump received in 2020.  What this tells us is that not only are abortion rights strongly supported by those who vote Democratic, it’s also supported by Republicans.

What happened last night is the logical result of gross overreach which always happens when politics are dominated by one party.  The Republicans should learn a lesson from this (but they won’t) that overplaying your hand can be costly.  With issues as important as Constitutional rights under threat, Americans who are normally asleep at the wheel wake up and actually vote.  We saw that during the Viet Nam war, after Watergate, after Bush’s foray into Iraq, with veteran’s healthcare just this week, and now women’s right to choose.

Hopefully this motivation to the polls sticks for the November mid-terms and beyond.  The only way our government works is for elected representatives to be held accountable to the voters for corruption and power grabs.  The GOP has proven itself to be irresponsible and callous to the needs of its voters.  It’s long past time for local, state, and federal governments to be brought back to actually representing the people.  ALL the people.

OK, kids, the game plan is now as obvious as my pointy toed cowboy boots on the beach.  The Texas GOP’s voter suppression efforts are now in overdrive, throwing up lawsuit after lawsuit (led by Abbott and Paxton) to stop drive-in voting, and eliminate thousands of mail in ballot drop boxes around the state.  And, this is happening all over the country.  Why, you ask?  Here’s why.

It’s become clear that Republicans have now realized that, even with their usual voter suppression tactics (removing polling locations, strict ID laws, complex and confusing mail-in ballot procedures, shifting times and places for early voting, etc.) are not going to be enough to eek out a win.  Turnout in 2018, and now in 2020 is unprecedented.  There well over 1 million more voter registrations this year than in 2016.  Biden is leading nationally by double digits and in all of the battleground states, though by only a few points in NC and FL.  The normal point shaving that is a trademark Republican tactic won’t be enough.

So, the new tactic?  Attempting to invalidate millions of votes.  It started last June when Trump’s new Postmaster General started sabotaging the Post Office by eliminating overtime, removing hundreds of mail sorting machines from primarily Democratic districts, and issuing ominous warnings to states that the Post Office my not be able to deliver mail-in ballots on time.  It’s now moved to the courts, starting with Abbott’s order to eliminate all but one mail-in ballot dropbox per county.  That order is now winding through the courts with Paxton leading the way.  NOW, Republicans have sued counties that have implemented drive through voting, calling all votes obtained with that method as “illegal”.

So here’s how it’s going to go – because of the huge turnout, Biden has a chance to win Texas by a narrow margin.  That win will be challenged by Republicans claiming that votes delivered to drop boxes and votes through drive in voting locations are “illegal” and therefore invalid.  They will seek to invalidate MILLIONS of votes to keep Texas in the red column for Trump.  Why?  Texas has 38 electoral votes.  If Biden wins Texas, it’s game over for Trump, and that could happen on election night.

That is what Republicans are trying to stop.  Even though I’m eligible to vote by mail, I’m going to drag my happy ass down to a polling location to vote in person.  I’ll do that with a big middle finger to Abbott and the rest of the criminals enabling him.

From the US Vote Foundation:

When you don’t vote, THESE PEOPLE, who do vote, get to determine how the rest of us live.

Lesson?  VOTE.  Get your neighbor to VOTE.  VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

There’s a place for anger, and THIS is it.