Demographic Tsunami Forces Republicans to Cheat
Decision making by the majority of voters is the principle and practice recognized as constitutionally legitimate in the United States. Despite that broadly accepted statement, Republicans are making radical, wholesale efforts to restrict voting by certain people, in certain neighborhoods, typically belonging to a certain political party. Beyond voter restrictions, it is now possible for State officials in certain states to simply ignore the popular presidential vote by naming a slate of personally chosen electors.
Abraham Lincoln in his March 4, 1861 inaugural address: “The rule of a minority as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible." Even Saint Ronald, in signing the 1982 extension of the Voting Rights Act, said “The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties and we will not see its luster diminished.”
The question we voters must decide right now is whether the “power of decision” should continue to rest with the majority, or will we cede that power to the minority.
There are three voting rights bills stalled in Congress by Republican filibuster. HR4 (“The John Lewis Voting Rights Act”) focuses on restoring many protections the Supreme Court eviscerated with its 2013 Shelby v Holder ruling. HR1 / S1: a massive voting rights package is being blocked by Republican senators during 8 roll-call votes. HR1/S1 would obviate many tactics and barriers detailed below. Also, the Vote at Home Act would harmonize mail-in voting rules nationwide.
The only way to insure our right to vote in a free and fair election is to pass those bills by eliminating the filibuster. Without a polling process that is free of targeted restrictions, there is no hope for a continued representative government.
Find your state and federal reps using your address at this site: https://www.legalconsumer.com/democracy/elected-officials.php
For most of Northeast Ohio, Dave Joyce is our US House District 14 rep. Statehouse reps are radically gerrymandered in Ohio district maps so you might need to use your address to find your state rep.
· Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan: sd24@ohiosenate.gov,
· Ohio State District 6 Representative Phil Robinson: rep06@ohiohouse.gov,
On a related note, despite that lip service to majority rule, the reality is that minority rule is now enshrined by the filibuster. When one NO vote is worth two YES votes, the democratic process is gutted and the minority can rule. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 22 (1787): “But its real operation is to embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of the government, and to substitute the pleasure, caprice, or artifices of an insignificant, turbulent, or corrupt junto, to the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority.”
Background:
Nineteen states passed 34 restrictive laws between January 1 and December 7, 2021. The Ohio Statehouse politicians legislate more and more barriers to easy voting in their efforts to suppress or minimize the effect of the votes of poor people, people of color, students, and ethnic minorities. Governor DeWine approved one of the most shamefully gerrymandered US House District maps in the entire United States.
The precedent was set in 2011 when that 2011 gerrymandered map was ruled unconstitutional in a three-judge district court opinion. We in the Buckeye State have known for a long time that the state’s maps, then and now, are extreme partisan gerrymanders, one that has diminished our democracy. The 2021 map has been disputed in court and the Republican lawyers plan to delay, sue, and appeal the expected “unconstitutional” decision from the Ohio Supreme Court. Statehouse Republicans will do anything, take any steps to insure another ten-year monopoly in Ohio.
In addition to district gerrymandering and prison gerrymandering that give Ohio Republicans a 2:1 advantage in the House of Representatives, our Ohio Statehouse members use their power to create a list of tactics that suppress or deny equal voting:
Obstructing citizen initiatives through onerous rules,
“Use it or Lose it” procedures purge voter rolls imprecisely, exacerbated by
burdensome address requirements to eliminate those with housing instability,
a massive number of evictions among those of lesser means,
Impeding student voting with restrictive residency requirements,
30-day voter residency delay, plus 30-day registration delay, no same day registration,
Opt-in motor voter rule, vs opt-out,
Absentee ballot applications must now be requested, delivered and returned in a newly mandated, very narrow time window. In order to mail the actual vote, the voter must pay what is essentially a poll tax by affixing two stamps to the oversized ballot envelope, versus the previous pre-franked envelope. Voting should be free.
Notoriously inaccurate signature challenges on mail-in ballots. An Ohio lawsuit maintains that 97% of rejected voters were likely to be wrongly disenfranchised,
Inadequate early voting options,
Insufficient number of polling places,
Insufficient number of voting machines,
Insufficient ballot dropboxes, limited to one per county, HB 209 to add more boxes is stalled in Republican-led committee,
Attempt to kill predominantly black "Souls to the Polls" by simply eliminating Sunday voting,
Disinformation via robocalls, fliers, ads and paid social media,
Ohio representatives challenge electoral college votes:
Jim Jordan, Urbana,
Bill Johnson, Marietta
Bob Gibbs, Lakeville,
Warren Davidson, Troy,
Steve Chabot, Westwood