Georgia Republicans passed a terrible law under the guise of “election integrity”, all based on Trump’s Big Lie that he and his enablers continue to repeat today.  Said Republicans in Georgia, and in other states, ignored overwhelming testimony and public opinion that these law are ill conceived, hurt voters, are anti-democracy, and anti-American.  They did it for one reason and one reason only, and that is to cling to power because they know they can’t win in a fair fight.  Rather than celebrating our two century old tradition of voting for those individuals we want to represent us in our state and national capitols, I’ve heard Republican supporters paint a dark picture of voting locations being war zones where, “by God if you’re going to vote, pack in your own supplies and be prepared for long waits; don’t you dare help anyone else, and people who do should go to jail.”  AND, “don’t you dare speak out against Republican policies or we will come after you.”

That very scenario is playing out in Georgia.  Atlanta based Delta Airlines, trying to go along to get along, at first had a milquetoast response to the law in Georgia, displeasing many, including voting rights activists, who then called out the company.  In a response, Delta strengthened its response condemning the law, even saying that the law was “based on a lie” that there was widespread voter fraud which was simply not true.  Republicans didn’t like that dose of truth, and retaliated last night in the Georgia House voting to revoke Delta’s fuel tax credit that helps the airline be more competitive.   The measure died in the Georgia Senate, but the message was clear…it is, “Don’t disagree with us or we will come after you and damage your business.”  The GOP has now become the Mafia.  It is transactional, based on quid pro quo and most certainly a protection racket.  They’ll hand out gimmes to companies to attract them, but if those companies don’t toe the line, they’ll mete out punishment and quickly.

This is the twenty-first century, but many states are controlled by a party that are playing by 19th century rules.  Repubs scream about “woke” leftists and “cancel culture” even while they are muscling everyone who may disagree with them.  They’re the real cancel culture.

In the Texas election last year, turnout was 6.6 percent higher than in 2016.  In my view, there were two reasons for this:

1. Voters not normally engaged in public policy were alarmed by the disaster that was Trump’s infestation of the White House.  Trump’s childish attacks on social media, continuous stream of outrageous lies, and soaring Covid cases and deaths finally broke through the fog of disinformation pouring out of right wing media and drove people to the polls.
2. Efforts by local officials to make it easier to vote, especially after Trump’s new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, intentionally sabotaged the Post Office and undermined voters’ confidence that their mail in ballots would be counted.

The turnout was bipartisan.  Even though Biden decisively won the national election, Republicans maintained their iron grip on Texas and made gains in the US House (I’m ignoring gerrymandering at this moment.)  Turnout us up across the country this last election, so the response from GOP controlled statehouses around the country was predictable – make sweeping changes to make it harder for Americans to votes.  Over 250 bills in 43 states are being rammed through state legislatures as I write this.

In fact, last night while we were all asleep, the Texas Senate voted to advance Senate Bill 7, that places additional sweeping restrictions on voting including reducing early voting days and hours, eliminating highly successful and popular drive-through voting, and making it illegal for local officials to send mail in ballot applications to those who don’t request them, even though they are qualified.  They are ramming this bill through as fast as possible, even though the majority of testimony in Senate hearings opposed these laws as unnecessary and just more voter suppression.  The House could vote on this bill by the Texas House and signed by Abbott as early as next week.  It’s passage is as certain as the sunrise tomorrow.

This anti-American undemocratic bill is being passed so the GOP, controlled by old pot-bellied rednecks can cling to power for another cycle.  Elections have consequences.  When the bad guys win, bad things happen.  Welcome to “democracy” in the 21st century.  Any more of this kind of “democracy” our status as a failed state will be cemented for decades.

Jennifer Rubin has a good piece in the Washington Post today addressing the GOP’s ham handed election integrity Jim Crow 2.0 bill signed in a secret ceremony last week.  The bill, which is a solution in search of a problem, is one of the most cruel bills introduced this year intended not for security but to make it harder to vote.  Why make it harder to vote?  To trim off a few points by reducing turnout.  Ironically, one of the cruelest provisions in the bill may cause its undoing.  This provision makes it illegal to bring food or water to anyone standing in line.  Really?  Illegal to serve water to people standing in long lines (caused by Republicans, too)?  Rubin suggests, and I agree with her, that this provision, which has NOTHING to do with “election integrity” and everything to do with the Georgia GOP just being assholes.  There’s already a lawsuit filed to stop the bill, and hopefully it will be struck down because of this blatant attempt at voter suppression.  Fingers crossed.

I understand the gravity of eliminating the filibuster for when the Dems lose the Senate again, but if they don’t, they’ll lose the House and Senate in 2022, and risk never winning again in our lifetimes.  Having lost the WH, the House and the Senate during  the last 4 years, Republicans have launched a full frontal assault on voting  in 43 states, filing over 250 bills with the goal of making it harder to vote.  These bills include new laws that reduce voting hours, shorten early voting days, purge mail voter lists, limit polling locations, reduce drop box locations, require printed voter ID in mail in ballots, severely restrict eligibility for absentee voting, and in Arizona, allow the Legislature to overturn election results by simple majority.  If successful, Republicans will have such a locked in advantage that it will be impossible for voters to control their own destiny in the states, and therefore the US Congress.

These Republicans are lying, of course, that their intent is to “restore faith” in the election system after they joined Trump in claiming non-existent voting fraud, CAUSING that loss of faith.  One politician even said it out loud this week; he’s Arizona Rep John Kavanaugh, who chairs the Government and Elections Committee in the Arizona House.  Talking about the 24 bills filed to suppress voter turnout, Kavanaugh said,

“There’s a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans.  Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud. Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote — but everybody shouldn’t be voting.”

“Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they’re totally uninformed on the issues.  Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.”

The translation of Kavanaugh’s statement from GOPish to English is, “We only want people who agree with us to vote.”  It’s that simple, and it is a desperate last ditch attempt to keep power even if it means trampling all over the rights of millions and millions of Americans.  There should be no doubt in all Americans’ minds the seriousness of this issue.  Having a cemented in a gerrymandered advantage, these laws could achieve what Tom DeLay and Turd Blossom sought twenty years ago, a permanent majority for the GOP.  These laws, if passed and not stopped in the courts, would mark the end of democracy in the US.  With the Roberts Court’s record of laying waste to the Voting Rights Act and other anti-democratic opinions, I have zero confidence that, with a 6-3 majority, the court will suddenly regain its sanity and overturn these new laws.

The Congress must pass a new Voting Rights Act 2.0 that reinstates federal oversight to changes in voting laws by Jim Crow states that went nuts after the tragic 2013 Shelby ruling and went right back to doing precisely what Roberts said they wouldn’t do, suppressing minority voting rights.  They also need to make non-partisan redistricting a federal law and to standardize voting systems to protect the rights of all voters.  The Congress can only do this by eliminating the filibuster and passing these laws as quickly as possible before the 2022 elections.  Not doing so could have disastrous consequences for American voters, and fulfilling DeLay’s and Turd Blossom’s dream of a permanent majority.

HEARING IS TOMORROW MORNING AT 10:30 AM.

If you live in Harris County, Texas, and cast your vote in a drive through location this election, your vote, along with almost 130,000 other votes, is in jeopardy.  Radical Republican operatives have filed yet another lawsuit against drive through voting, this time in an effort to actually invalidate all of those votes.  The Texas Supreme Court dismissed a similar suit a couple of weeks ago, but this one, filed in federal court, is before Andrew Hanen, a GWB appointee, who is known as one of the most ultra-conservative judges in the federal system.  The threat of almost 130,000 Harris County residents losing their vote is real.  If this lawsuit succeeds, it will throw the Texas elections into chaos.

Larry Veselka, a well known Houston attorney, is intervening in the case tomorrow and will represent any Harris County voter who cast their vote in a drive through location.  He has provided a Google Doc intervenor form (link below).  If you voted in a drive through location in Harris County, please fill out this form to make your voice heard.

Drive-Through Voter and Intervenor Sign-Up and Consent.