What’s next for Voting Rights?
Now that House Resolution 1 has failed in the Senate so Democrats should get serious about election reform. The changes to elections at the state level that they are focused on like giving food in water to people in line are problematic but aren’t the worst parts of changes. The changes they are making to overrule the Secretary of State and local areas within the state are. So what can we do about that? Reform the John Lewis Voting rights act, adding in some of Manchin’s reforms.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act is focused on correcting the Supreme Court decision that gutted The original Voting Rights Act. The case found section B of the voting rights act was unconstitutional. The decision relaxed scrutiny over areas that are changing voting laws. The passage of this bill is an attempt to update that formula, but honestly, that’s not enough to protect voting rights. The goal is to paint elections as fraudulent targeting minority areas is two-pronged and thus should be addressed and added to this bill.
Manchin addresses it by adding two things compromising to protect the vote, national early voting and voter identification. Voter ID is popular, as is early voting, if Democrats want to address the issues of minority voters, and expand their base they should give in on both. I’ve worked with the NAACP and the League of Women voters a few cycles and the biggest concern of low propensity voters is if their votes will be counted. The way to do that is to nationalize the identification process, he suggests several IDs State ID, Drivers, Bill, Paystub, or so on. This gives aid to Americans by simplifying the process of what’s needed to ensure their votes are counted. That’s one part of it though the other is early voting, long lines in cities decrease voter turnout, the best way to deal with that is early voting.
Addressing voter ID, adding Early voting, and correcting the Voting rights act to cover our entire system to ensure the rights of Americans to vote are protected is what has to be the focus of this bill. Starting here prevents the ability of the states that are using voter fraud as a guise to overturn elections to do so. Democrats need to address not only the issues they are focused on protecting, and expanding the franchise but also stoping the attempts by Republicans to overturn their elections with fake election fraud claims by cleaning up any discrepancies. Voters can meet ID requirements, early vote requirements, and more with outreach but can’t fight the GOP’s attempt to rig by throwing out legal votes. As long as Republicans have the talking point they will use it to try to cast doubt on the legitimacy of votes we can’t allow that and need to combat that by mobilizing and educating voters.
John Lewis Voting Rights Act
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4263
John Lewis Voting Rights Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_Voting_Rights_Act#Shelby_County_v._Holder
Manchin’s proposal on HR/SB 1
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-manchins-sweeping-new-voting-rights-proposal-explained/ar-AAL9imk
Shelby County v Holder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder#cite_note-1
Polls on Voter ID, and Early Voting
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/21/monmouth-poll-americans-back-both-early-voting-voter-id-requirements/7774904002/
Summary of GOP Election bills
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bills-targeting-local-officials-who-resisted-trump-could-allow-gop-to-overturn-election-results/ar-BB1fZVan
Stacey Abram’s Fair Fight
https://fairfight.com
NAACP voter resources
https://naacp.org/find-resources/know-your-rights