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A NOTE FROM FRED
Today, one year after the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol, our democracy faces its greatest internal threat since the Civil War.
Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him may well be the most dangerous con job ever perpetrated on the American people. Repeated incessantly by Trump and his followers throughout the past year, the Big Lie has had enormous impact.
It is the basis for the January 6 insurrection … for the tidal wave of voter suppression and election sabotage laws passed by Republican state legislatures in 2021, with more to come this year … and for the obstructionist Republican filibusters in the Senate to protect these destructive, un-democratic laws by blocking essential voting rights measures.
Trump’s Big Lie is the basis for recent polls that show nearly three-quarters of Republicans still believe this demagogic lie, even though neither he nor anyone else has presented a shred of credible evidence to justify his false claim.
Another poll finds that an astonishing 52 percent of Republicans believe that those involved in the January 6 vicious attack on the Capitol were “protecting democracy.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced this week that “the Senate will debate and consider changes to Senate rules on or before January 17.” The rules changes are expected to allow the pending voting rights bills to overcome a filibuster and pass by majority vote.
The right to vote and honest elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. Without them, democracy disappears.
Republican state and national officeholders have wreaked havoc on the ability of eligible Americans to vote and to have their votes properly counted, all based on Trump’s Big Lie.
Under new state voter suppression laws, it is expected that millions of Americans will lose their ability to vote. These laws are not random. They specifically target Black and brown voters, other minorities, the disabled, and urban voters. The laws limit voting by mail, ballot drop boxes, and early voting – major factors that contributed to record turnouts in 2020 without any evidence of meaningful voter fraud.
In addition, new state election subversion laws give state officeholders the ability to politicize the appointment of election administrators and empower partisan election officials to manipulate and rig election tabulation results.
The Freedom to Vote Act, currently being blocked by a Republican filibuster, would provide voting standards for federal elections that would override these laws.
Among other things, the measure would allow no-excuse voting by mail for every eligible voter, make it easy to return ballots through drop boxes and other means, make early voting easily accessible, improve access for voters with disabilities, and provide for automatic voter registration and same day registration.
The Act also provides protections against election officials being dismissed without cause and provides the ability to challenge in the courts any rigged tabulation of votes.
This week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the lead opponent of the voting rights bills, announced it might make sense to look at reforming the Electoral Count Act (ECA). The ECA provides rules for the functioning of the Electoral College and for congressional handling of votes for President cast by the Electoral College.
This is a McConnell bait-and-switch gambit to allow Senate Republicans and their allies in the media to argue that legislation to protect voting rights and the integrity of elections should be abandoned and that ECA reform should be considered instead. While reforms to the ECA are necessary, they are no substitute for addressing the larger assault on voting and fair elections facing our nation.
At stake today is whether the most dangerous Big Lie in U.S. political history will prevail. At stake is whether Congress will protect the right to vote and the integrity of our elections. At stake is whether the filibuster rules will be revised to repair a dysfunctional Senate.
At stake is whether our democracy is going to be saved.
The Senate must act now to preserve our democracy and protect the right to vote.
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D21 NEWS
Fixing The Electoral Count Act Is No Substitute For Real Election Reform
No one should fall for the Electoral Count Act “bait & switch. … We need voting rights reforms first and foremost,” opinion from D21 President Fred Wertheimer and Norman Eisen, former ethics czar to President Obama, via The Washington Post.
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THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE JAN. 6 INSURRECTION
"Those who stormed this Capitol, and those who instigated and incited, and those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy.”
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THE MOMENT OF TRUTH ON VOTING RIGHTS
Schumer Tees Up Vote On Rules Change If Voting Rights Legislation Is Blocked
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY): “We must adapt. The Senate must evolve, like it has many times before,” via National Public Radio.
How To Get Real Accountability For Jan. 6
E.J. Dionne Jr.: “Of course we should reform the Electoral Count Act [but] there is little point in having a nice, orderly count of the electoral college votes if the elections that produce its members (and those in the House and Senate) are marred by efforts to make it more difficult for citizens to vote and by the systematic exclusion of some groups from casting ballots,” opinion via The Washington Post.
Echoes Of Jan. 6 Underscore Need To Pass The Freedom To Vote Act
“The intention of the insurrection was to disenfranchise millions of voters by preventing the certifications of several states’ electors. Repairing the broken windows of the building is not enough to safeguard against future tyranny — we must reinforce the strength of our voting protections by passing the Freedom to Vote Act,” opinon via The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Why Democrats Haven’t Given Up On Joe Manchin And Voting Rights, via CNN.
States Prepare For New Round Of Voting Wars As Midterms Approach, via The Hill.
A Look Back At Attacks On Voting Rights In 2021 — And What Could Be Next, via National Public Radio.
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🚨 WARNING OF THE WEEK 🚨
A Year After The Capitol Attack, Democracy Itself Is On Every Ballot
The lesson Trump and his enablers seem to have learned from 2020: “If they couldn’t get the Georgia secretary of state to ‘find’ 11,780 votes that didn’t exist in 2020, they will make sure to have someone in that position and others in 2024 who will.
“They will prevent people from voting if they can. If that does not succeed, they will prepare the ground to overturn the next election. Never, in our lifetimes, has the threat to our democracy been so grave. We thought democracy to be inexorable. We were wrong.”
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ONE YEAR LATER ...
Every Day Is Jan. 6 Now
“Over the past year, Republican lawmakers in 41 states have been trying to advance the goals of the Jan. 6 rioters — not by breaking laws but by making them. […] Thus the Capitol riot continues in statehouses across the country, in a bloodless, legalized form that no police officer can arrest and that no prosecutor can try in court,” via The New York Times editorial board
Peter Navarro: Trump Distributed Bogus Election Fraud Research To “Every” Congressional Republican
Navarro discusses how he briefed Trump on election fraud and helped hatch a scheme to block the vote certification on Jan. 6. “There were over 100 Congressmen ready to implement the plan,” Navarro says, via Rolling Stone.
How Republicans Became The Party Of Trump’s Election Lie After Jan. 6, via The Washington Post.
Inside The “Stop The Steal” Movement Amid Concerns Over Midterm Elections
“After the attack on the Capitol, there was a sense that the violent shock would put an end to the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ movement. Instead the opposite has happened, with the conspiracy theory growing stronger inside the Republican Party,” via NBC News.
In The Capitol’s Shadow, The Jan. 6 Panel Quietly Ramps Up Its Inquiry, via The New York Times.
Election Objectors Are Among The GOP’s Highest Fundraisers Ahead Of Jan. 6 Anniversary, via OpenSecrets.
They Stormed The Capitol. Now They’re Running For Office.
“At least 57 individuals who played a role in the day’s events — including some who were arrested on charges related to the Capitol attack — are running for office in 2022,” via Politico.
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