Tag: Voting Rights Act

The bogus claim that Democrats seek to register ‘illegal aliens’ to vote

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“Democrats also want to register illegal aliens [to vote].”

— Voice-over in an ad placed by Heritage Action for America, March 23

Heritage Action for America, a conservative group affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, is spending $750,000 on television ads in Arizona targeted at convincing two Democratic senators — Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly — to vote against an elections bill called S.B. 1.

A virtually similar bill, H.R. 1, has already passed the House of Representatives on a party-line vote. The bill, among its provisions, would create uniform national voting standards, overhaul campaign finance laws and outlaw partisan redistricting.

Both senators are co-sponsors of the companion Senate legislation, so the odds are slim that the ad will have an effect. (The ad also looks like it was produced with a minimal budget.) But perhaps it might convince voters that the Democrats are supporting what the ad calls a “partisan power grab.” Continue reading.

Opinion: Republicans’ rhetoric on H.R. 1 is apocalyptic. Are they that afraid of democracy?

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TO HEAR Republicans tell it, a bill that the House passed late Wednesday night would spell the end of the republic. It is “unconstitutional, reckless, and anti-democratic,” former vice president Mike Pence proclaimed. The bill is “the most divisive, unconstitutional and destructive piece of legislation of my time in Congress,” Rep. Garland “Andy” Barr (R-Ky.) railed. “It would effectively make it legal to cheat.”

The bill that has these politicians frothing is H.R. 1, a long piece of legislation with a noble purpose: making it easier for Americans to vote and encouraging the government to be more responsive to the people. Republicans’ apocalyptic rhetoric is so wildly disproportionate to the contents of the bill, one must wonder what they are really worried about.

Conservatives complain that the bill would mandate early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, provisional ballots for people who accidentally vote out-of-precinct, same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration. So? There is nothing scary or even unusual about these reforms, which many states have embraced without seeing the pervasive fraud Republicans predict and claim falsely has occurred. Continue reading.

Obama calls filibuster ‘Jim Crow relic,’ backs new Voting Rights Act bill

The Hill logoFormer President Obama on Thursday called the Senate filibuster rule a “Jim Crow relic” and said it should be ended to help pass legislation that would restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Obama made the remarks while delivering a eulogy for civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who died earlier this month at the age of 80. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act would make it harder for states to enact racially suspect voting restrictions.

“Once we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching,” Obama said. “And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster — another Jim Crow relic — in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do.” Continue reading.

House Passes Voting Rights Bill Despite Near Unanimous Republican Opposition

New York Times logoThe legislation restores the core of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights statute to guard against racial discrimination in elections.

WASHINGTON — The House voted on Friday to reinstate federal oversight of state election law, moving to bolster protections against racial discrimination enshrined in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights statute whose central provision was struck down by the Supreme Court.

Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, who was beaten in 1965 while demonstrating for voting rights in Alabama, banged the gavel to herald approval of the measure, to applause from his colleagues on the House floor. It passed by a vote of 228 to 187 nearly along party lines, with all but one Republican opposed.

The bill has little chance of becoming law given opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate and by President Trump, whose aides issued a veto threat against it this week.

Continue reading

Minnesota House Approves Measure to Uphold Voting Rights Act

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House approved Rep. Samantha Vang’s provision in the State Government budget bill, which would lift a ban on assisting voters at polling places. Under current state law, no one can help more than three people fill out their ballots. The restriction has a disproportionate impact on communities with disabilities and English proficiency challenges.

“Language barriers don’t stop at the ballot box. If we are going to have a truly representative democracy, we need to make sure all eligible voters can cast their ballots,” said Rep. Samantha Vang (DFL- Brooklyn Center). “Under current law, I can’t bring my own parents and grandparents to vote.”

Current state law may be in violation of the Voting Rights Act, which was established to ensure historically marginalized communities don’t have legal barriers at the local level to vote. This provision will ensure that a disability or language barrier doesn’t prevent eligible voters from being counted.

Aside from Minnesota, only Arkansas and Georgia limit the number of voters each person can help.

Brett Kavanaugh Threatens Americans’ Fundamental Right to Vote

The following article by Connor Maxwell was posted on the Center for American Progress website August 9, 2018:

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh poses for photographs in front of a painting of President Ronald Reagan, July 17, 2018. Credit: Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images

This week marked the 53rd anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). In the years since the VRA’s enactment, however, its protections have not gone unchallenged. In a 2013 decision in Shelby v. Holder, a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court gutted Section 5 of the VRA, a provision that prevented certain jurisdictions from unilaterally manipulating their voting policies and procedures. This ruling allowed legislators to enact discriminatory laws that make voting more difficult for both people of color and low-income Americans. With the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy this past July, it is essential that the Senate demand a fair, independent nominee who will defend the fundamental rights of Americans.

Brett M. Kavanaugh is not that nominee. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a willingness to turn a blind eye to voter suppression and racial discrimination. If Kavanaugh is confirmed, Americans will almost certainly face further erosion of their voting rights.

Kavanaugh’s record shows a willingness to diminish the voices of marginalized groups

As counsel of record for Kirkland and Ellis in 1999, Kavanaugh defended efforts to strip away the rights of Native Hawaiians in choosing the state official responsible for protecting the rights and culture of Hawaii’s indigenous peoples. Kavanaugh argued that giving this choice to Native Hawaiians, instead of all Hawaiian voters, constituted racial separatism rather than an effort to support a community that suffered historic injusticesat the hands of the U.S. government. This demonstrates not only his ignorance of the systems that perpetuate inequality but also his willingness to diminish the voices of marginalized groups for political gain. In the wake of the case, Kavanaugh criticized the Clinton administration in The Wall Street Journal for its support of voting rights for Native Hawaiians. After the election of President George W. Bush, Kavanaugh was hired as an associate by the White House counsel, Alberto Gonzalez. Later, he was nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit.

View the complete article here.