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A NOTE FROM FRED
Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him was used last year as phony justification for GOP-controlled state legislatures around the country to enact destructive voter suppression laws. These laws are aimed at Black, brown, and other minority voters, urban residents, the elderly, and the disabled.
The goal of these laws is clear: Provide major partisan advantage for Republican candidates by making it much harder for Democratic supporters to vote.
Texas, which enacted one of the worst of these laws last year, has given us a sneak preview into the deluge of voter suppression that will occur in 2022.
In the light-turnout Texas primary on March 1, about 13 percent of the mailed ballots cast were rejected, according to Associated Press. This compares with a rejection rate in past years of between one and two percent.
More than 18,000 voters, or 15 percent, had their mail-in ballots rejected in the state’s most populous counties, according to a New York Times analysis. To put this in perspective, nearly one million absentee ballots were cast in all of Texas in the 2020 election and just 9,000 – approximately one percent – were rejected.
The Times analysis found that the ballot rejections had the largest impact in Black communities – with Black residents making up the largest racial group in six of the nine zip codes that had the most rejections in Harris county, the state’s most populous county.
According to a Harris County Elections spokesperson, “The new voting laws brought on by Senate Bill 1 are leading to the disenfranchisement of Harris County’s most vulnerable populations, including communities of color, the elderly, and voters with disabilities.”
According to El Paso Matters, the new law “disenfranchised 15% of El Paso’s absentee voters, who are some of El Paso’s longest-tenured and most active voters.” Their analysis found that 70 percent of El Paso’s rejected ballots were from voters who registered more than 25 years ago; 17 percent registered 50 or more years ago.
Even Texas legend Willie Nelson and his wife Annie D’Angelo-Nelson had their mailed ballots rejected. According to D’Angelo-Nelson, “We’ve voted by mail before. All of a sudden, this time it was ridiculously difficult.”
D’Angelo-Nelson said, “If they’re doing it to Willie Nelson, what happens to an 89-year-old woman at home without a lot of help? I’m 65, and I’m fairly technologically capable, and I can find ways. But what happens to all those people? It’s just not fair.”
The Texas law accomplished precisely what it was meant to do and its damaging impact on voting warns of a major threat ahead to the right of all eligible Americans to vote.
The new Texas voting law and the other voter suppression laws enacted around the country would have been overridden in federal elections by the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act if an effort to modify the Senate filibuster rules had succeeded.
That effort was blocked in January by 50 Senate Republicans and two Senate Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Joe Manchin (WV).
These Senators apparently couldn’t care less if potentially millions of Americans – Black, brown, Native, disabled, elderly, and urban voters – lose their right to vote.
The 2020 national election had a record turnout and was “the most secure in American history,” according to top security officials in the Trump Administration.
Now, because of voter suppression laws and the decision of 52 Senators, the 2022 congressional elections are headed for voter chaos. These anti-democracy Republican state officeholders and the Senators who blocked reform have chosen voter suppression over voter participation.
Our democracy will pay a heavy price for their decision.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Judge David Carter’s decision on Monday, finding Trump ‘more likely than not’ committed crimes, sets out a road map for finally imposing consequences for the big lie. … That matters for the sake of holding Trump and his enablers accountable, for stopping the ongoing big lie crime spree of the MAGA faction of the GOP, and for protecting our democracy itself.”
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VOTING RIGHTS & ELECTIONS UNDER FIRE
Supreme Court Ruling On Wisconsin Legislative Map Puts Voting Rights Advocates On High Alert
“Further limits on the Voting Rights Act ‘could in practice narrow it out of existence,’ said one advocate,” via NBC News.
Private Funding Saved The 2020 Election. Now, Some GOP-Led States Are Banning It, via National Public Radio.
“Throwback To Jim Crow”: New Texas Voting Law Means Black Voters’ Ballots Get Tossed, via Salon.
Arizona Republicans Enact Controversial Proof-Of-Citizenship Voting Law, via National Public Radio.
How Alabama’s Gerrymander Could Hurt Black Political Power Across The Country, via FiveThirtyEight.
Native Americans Face More Barriers In Voting, via National Public Radio.
Why Redistricting Has Stalled In 4 Unfinished States, via Politico.
Revealed: The Biggest Voter Suppressor You’ve Never Heard Of, via Center For Media And Democracy.
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TRUMPWATCH
Justice Dept Expands Jan. 6 Probe To Look At Rally Prep, Financing, via The Washington Post.
Jan. 6 Panel Makes Case For Contempt Charges For 2 Former Trump Aides, via The New York Times.
“The Illegality Of The Plan Was Obvious.”— A Federal Judge Just Told The Truth About Trump
Federal Judge David Carter’s “insistence on the head-slapping obviousness of the former president’s wrongness and culpability is a victory for reality,” via The Atlantic.
Three Big Takeaways From Trump’s Missing Jan. 6 Phone Logs, opinion via The Washington Post.
What Trump Is Hiding
“Seven hours and 37 minutes of missing phone records on January 6 suggest consciousness of guilt,” via The Atlantic.
Trump Asks For Putin’s Help — Again, analysis via The Washington Post.
Legal Scholars Are Shocked By Ginni Thomas’s “Stop The Steal” Texts, via The New Yorker.
Questions Abound As Trump Raises – And Hoards – Huge Sums Of 2024 Cash, via The Guardian.
Trump’s Shameless Self-Promotion With Taxpayer Funds Is “Unsavory” But On-Brand For Someone Committed To “Profiting Off Of Absolutely Everything,” Ethics Professor Says, via Insider.
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DEEP DIVE OF THE WEEK
How Joe Manchin Aided Coal, And Earned Millions
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MONEY, MIDTERMS, & MORE
Sen. Mitch McConnell Has Made It His Personal Mission To Keep The Dark Money Spigot Open
“The GOP’s hypocrisy on donor transparency has been on full display since President Biden announced Ketanji Brown Jackson as his Supreme Court justice nominee,” opinion via NBC Think.
Biden Budget Seeks $10 Billion Over Decade To Improve Elections, Make Ballots Postage-Free, via Roll Call.
A Democratic Super PAC’s Ad Buy Shows Widening Battle For House Control, via The New York Times.
Trump-Loving Nevada Republican Preparing “Voter Fraud” Challenges — 220 Days Before Election
Adam Laxalt is trying “to overturn this election before a single ballot has been cast,” says opponent, via Salon.
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