Efforts to Support Voter Rights Bill Focus on Senator Feinstein
San Diego, activists organized by Indivisible chapters, will gather in front of Feinstein’s office at 880 Front Street on Monday at noon in support of S.1, the For The People Act.
With each passing day additional aspects of a nationwide effort to limit voter participation are coming to light.
Californians are being summoned to take action to stem this anti-democratic tide through physically distanced protests aimed at encouraging Senator Diane Feinstein to abandon her reluctance to reform the filibuster, allowing federal legislation that would override these efforts to pass in the Senate.
Yesterday the Brennan Center for Justice released more data on legislation being introduced to restrict voting rights; there are 361 bills to restrict voting rights introduced in 47 states as of March 24. That’s up from 253 restrictive bills as of Feb 19, a 43% increase in a month. Fifty five bills in 24 states are advancing through legislatures. Five of these restrictive bills have already been signed into law.
Republicans pushing these efforts at restricting voting rights are intensifying their efforts.
Five of these bills, in addition to the notorious Georgia act, have been signed into law. Iowa signed a law to make early voting harder, saying it would help prevent voter fraud, while noting that Iowa hasn't had any problems with voter fraud. Arkansas passed two bills that "tightens" voter ID rules, and Utah passed a bill that is certain to create faulty voter purges.
In Georgia Republicans tore up voting laws (that they had originally enacted) passing a 98 page bill responding to baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities. Now they’re out trying to sell these odious “reforms” as an effort to “expand” voter participation.
The New York Times analyzed Georgia’s new law, identifying 16 key provisions limiting ballot access, potentially confusing voters and giving more power to Republican lawmakers.
As an increasing number of corporations are responding to public pressure to condemn voter suppression efforts. Republican elected officials in Georgia threatened to eliminate tax breaks for Delta Airlines after its CEO issued a statement opposed to restricting voter access.
In Texas, American Airlines, Dell, AT&T, Southwest Airlines and Microsoft have all issued statements supportive of increased voter participation in response to 49 bills sponsored by GOP legislators.
A letter, signed by 72 Black executives, called on corporations to publicly oppose Republican-proposed restrictions across the country.
Given the sheer number of legislative proposals and Republican antipathy toward increased turnout by the ‘wrong kind’ of voters, it’s clear that Congress needs to step in and exercise its Constitutionally authorized right to set rules for casting ballots. (Voting is one of the areas of authority not granted to states by the founding fathers.)
Congressional passage of S.1, the For the People Act, is the antidote for efforts to suppress citizen participation in the democratic processes.
It addresses long-festering problems by making it easier to register and to vote, by removing dark money from political campaigns, and by strengthening ethics rules for elected and appointed officials. It calls for an end to partisan gerrymandering by state legislatures. It puts limits on the purging of voter rolls, a practice that has been abused in order to suppress the votes of minorities.
On Monday, April 5, California Indivisible groups representing 11,700 members are taking the lead fighting for passage of S.1.
While Senator Diane Feinstein has expressed support for the For the People Act, she will need to participate in addressing the barrier posed by the filibuster. Unanimous Republican opposition in the Senate will be enough to keep the bill from becoming law unless procedures for passage are changed.
In San Diego, activists will gather in front of Feinstein’s office at 880 Front Street on Monday at noon. The Senator’s offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles will also see protests.
You can sign up for the local rally at this link.
https://twitter.com/republicatrisk/status/1376710646130180097?s=20
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Lead Image Credit: Doug Chayka