WWW.VOTERSUPPRESSION.GOV
WWW.VOTERSUPPRESSION.GOV
Ted Cruz got to flee to Cancún in the winter, but Texas Dems have to flee to Washington D.C. in the summer???? That's almost as fucked up as all 389 of this year's proposed voter suppression bills!!!
Who would have thought, four months later, we’d be right back here talking about voter suppression once again?
Of course, we’ve had enough time in between for some exciting new twists and turns involving outlaws, arrests, and murder (aka whatever animal died on Ted Cruz’s face).
This week, I talked to the Queen of Voting (sorry Stacey) Alexis Greenblatt about this year’s dramatic increase in proposed voter suppression bills, what’s going on in the Texas state legislature, and why we need to stop framing voting as an every-four-years issue.
Alexis is a recent graduate of Emory who served as the President of our campus's Fair Fight U chapter and was on the board of the Young Democrats. Through these organizations, she registered hundreds of students to vote and made the DeKalb County Office of Voter Registration and Elections her second home. She currently works as a Digital Organizer with Georgia Conservation Voters and is so happy to still live in Atlanta and stay involved with politics there.
America’s Hottest Conspiracy Is…
As someone who loves both voting rights and drama, the Big Lie is one of my favorite new trends. This conspiracy theory has everything: body-swapping, vengeful Italians, MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell. And don’t look now: Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell are holding another press conference.
So, of course, I had to ask Alexis:
Emily: What is your favorite voting conspiracy to come out of the Big Lie?
Alexis: How could I pick just one??? Maybe that Italy meddled in our election, or that Biden was going to be taken away in handcuffs at his inauguration, or that Trump is going to be reinstated in August, or that thousands of ballots “showed up” in random with no traceable evidence of who they’re from….. we are in way too deep. It’s time to start everything over from scratch.
Started From 2018, Now We’re Here
E4P’s most dedicated readers will remember we discussed GA House Bill 531 and the general state of Georgia’s political climate with Alex Chanen back in March. As crazy as that voter suppression bill seemed then, the number of other crazy voter suppression bills have only grown: according to the Brennan Center’s State Voting Bill tracker, 389 bills with restrictive provisions having been proposed in 48 states as of May 14, 2021, and 22 of those bills have already been enacted.
Excuse me, what????
Certainly, voting is incredibly important but 389 bills to make it harder to cast a ballot??? Isn’t that a little too dramatic??? (And that’s coming from me!) Moreover, voting rights have increasingly become a partisan issue with Republicans almost solely leading the charge for proposing bills that restrict voting rights.
I wanted to know how significant the threat level against voting rights was, and if the issue is really that partisan:
Emily: What first got you interested in voting rights? What do you see as the biggest threat to them currently?
Alexis: I think what got me interested in voting rights was initially Stacey Abrams’ election. I really believed (and still do) that if everyone who should’ve been able to vote was actually able to do so in that election, she would’ve won in a landslide— and we have the proof: grassroots organizers in Georgia went HARD registering people to vote leading up to the 2020 election, and we voted in Biden, Warnock, and Ossoff.
Once I saw how close Stacey Abrams’ election was, I began to realize more and more just how much our country actively disenfranchises voters all the time —especially lower income people and people of color— and the impact is much more widespread than just one election.
When people are disenfranchised, politicians who don’t authentically represent their constituents are controlling our laws, taxes, and so much more. People in this country literally aren’t being represented fairly and accurately, and it would be easy to fix if the people in power would just let us do it.
In my opinion, the biggest threat to voting rights currently is the Republican Party. They’ve just made it abundantly clear that they will do literally anything to keep their power, which means straight up preventing people who disagree with them (or don’t look like them) from voting.
Another huge threat to voting rights currently is the facade of bipartisanship. Trying to appease Republicans in a way to get them on board with voting protections is not going to be effective, and it’s preventing Democrats from passing any substantial legislation.
Emily: Is voting rights as partisan of an issue as it seems to be?
Alexis: Voting rights are only partisan because the people who are threatened by expanding voting protections are Republicans, so they’ve made it a partisan issue. On the surface, everyone should want everyone to be able to vote, but when everyone votes, Republicans tend to lose.
Well, those are two hard pills to swallow.
The ironic part of Republican efforts to create stronger voting regulations is that it is rooted in an outdated mindset that “Republicans thrive in elections with lower turnout and Democrats in ones with more voters.” Although Alexis is right to say that Democrats are more likely to win when everyone who wants to vote has the ability to do so —with the perfect example being Georgia in this most recent election— that outcome is not a guarantee. With Georgia still in mind as the example, President Biden only won the state by 0.23% of the vote.
A study conducted in Texas (as they did not change their mail-in voting requirements at all last year) proved that there was no partisan benefit from mail-in voting in the 2020 elections. While expanding voting rights may help Democratic candidates —as individuals and voting blocs who are often targeted by suppression bills tend to vote for Democrats— that does not equal a guarantee they will automatically win every election. And if you need further proof of this, it’s that we still have Republican officials elected to office every single year.
In fact, in his recent report of the 2020 election, political scientist Alan Abramowitz concluded that
“Efforts by Republican legislators in a number of states to roll back eased absentee voting rules and make it more difficult for voters to take advantage of absentee voting in the future are unlikely to benefit GOP candidates.”
With that in mind, I asked Alexis:
Emily: Should Republicans be a little bit more subtle with proposing all of these bills? Like we can all see what they're doing.
Alexis: I’m glad they’re not because it’s making it easier for us to fight them back!
Please Mess with Texas
Last week, the country focused on the state that won Most Likely to Secede in high school following the 1-2 punch of news that Texas Governor Greg Abbott had called a special legislative session to focus on an 11 item policy agenda —which included a House and Senate version of the same voter suppression bill proposed back in May— and that Texas Democrats had fled the state to block the vote.
In order to understand what exactly happened and why, I asked Alexis the very poignant and profound question:
Emily: What is going on in Texas?
Alexis: State legislatures typically only meet once or twice a year for a short amount of time, and that’s when they pass literally all of their legislation for the year. This is a topic for a whole other newsletter because it’s insane that this is how state legislatures function.
The Texas legislative session ended in May, but their governor called a special legislative session to pass “election security” measures. The bills that were brought to the table have a bunch of proposals like establishing two different voter registration processes for federal and state elections (why???), taking away 24-hour voting locations that help people who work unconventional hours to vote when they’re able, and requiring people who vote by mail to submit their thumbprint as a form of identity verification, amongst a few other proposals.
You don’t have to know that much about elections to realize that every single one of these requirements would directly disadvantage lower income people. They’re not even trying to hide it at this point
In retaliation, more than 50 Democrats in the state house fled Texas to go to Washington DC, where they’ve been protesting in Congress asking for them to pass comprehensive voting rights protections like the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
The State House and Senate need a certain amount of members present to even vote on legislation, and this move “broke quorum” in the House, effectively putting everything on hold. However, the State Senate still had enough members present, and voted (predictably) to pass the bill that bans drive-thru & 24-hour voting options, prohibits election officials from sending out unsolicited applications to request mail-in ballots, and includes more voter ID requirements for absentee voters.
However, because the House couldn’t vote due to the Democrats being absent, the bill can’t move to the governor to be signed into law yet, which is good!
Emily: Is there any way for Texas Democrats to permanently defeat these two bills?
Alexis: I’m honestly not sure.
I know that the members who fled Texas said they intend to stay in DC until August 6th, which is when the session ends, which would effectively defeat these bills…. until the next legislative session.
There also might be ways that the TX government can arrest the members who fled, and the governor has threatened to just keep calling special sessions until these bills get passed. So the only true way to completely permanently 100% defeat these bills and others like them is for Congress to pass nationwide voting protections, ASAP.
A Farewell to VRA
Now, you may be thinking —as I did prior to this week’s newsletter— that the Voting Rights Act must offer some protection against blatant suppression. And we would all be wrong.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of voting restrictions in Arizona, a decision which NPR noted: “gutted most of what remains of the landmark Voting Rights Act.” I wanted to know what this meant and if the VRA still had anything left to give us.
Emily: What happened in the voting rights case in Arizona that made it to the Supreme Court and how did SCOTUS's decision chip away at the Voting Rights Act?
Alexis: The very brief rundown is that there are two laws in Arizona that are blatant voter suppression. The state was sued over these laws, the case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where SCOTUS ruled that the laws are in fact not voter suppression.
This is bad because it sets a precedent for other cases against bad voting laws to be decided similarly in the future which is again why we need federal protections!!!
Emily: The Voting Rights Act seems to be not be guaranteeing voting rights really well. Can you speak on the history of the act since it was signed into law in 1965 and where it stands today?
Alexis: After decades of voter suppression and then the Civil Rights movement in the 50s/60s, the Voting Rights Act effectively got rid of obvious voter suppression in America (it was still definitely happening, but at much lower rates and much more subtly).
Importantly, Section 5 of the VRA was the “preclearance clause,” which placed certain locations around the US with a history of voter suppression under a stipulation that all of their new voting laws needed to be approved by the federal government before being signed into law.
In 2013, Shelby County Alabama filed a suit against Attorney General Eric Holder stating that the preclearance clause was unconstitutional because it only applied to a few states and cities, which was therefore discriminatory. The Supreme Court agreed, and the preclearance clause was lifted. States immediately started passing restrictive voting laws because they were no longer subject to approval from the federal government.
Today, Congress is trying to pass a bill that would reinstate this preclearance clause so that certain states can’t get away with doing this anymore.
The reason why the push for the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is so strong is because there are now essentially no federal voter protection laws on the books anymore, which is why so many states have been able to get away with proposing their 389 suppression bills.1
These acts are not essential because they aim to expand voting rights; they’re essential because they offer protection against suppression.
HOPE?????
The fight against voter suppression does not only take place in our legal and legislative systems. In an era of disinformation, dispelling harmful falsehoods and bad faith talking points does wonders. I asked Alexis:
Emily: What is the number one misconception about voting or voting rights that you want to dispel?
Alexis: Voter IDs.
Republicans think that Democrats don’t believe in showing ID when you go to vote. Of course, it’s common sense for someone to have to prove they are who they’re saying they are when they go to vote, but it just shouldn’t be so damn hard!!!
There are places in America where you can use your hunting license as an ID to vote, but you can’t use your ID given to you when you live in public government-funded housing. Or there are some places that require a drivers license to vote, but the only DMV is 50 miles away and not accessible by public transportation. Or in Georgia, you can use a public college student ID to vote, but not a private school ID— so a UGA ID would be valid but not an Emory ID.
If the government is going to require you to show ID to go vote, they need to make it easy and free to get one. This shouldn’t be controversial.
Emily: Is it fair to say that voting is an everyday issue rather than an every two or four years issue?
Alexis: Yes!!! Elections happen every year, sometimes even multiple times a year. November 2021 is actually going to be HUGE for municipal elections (like mayors and city councils) and this will have a really big impact on your community.
Find some candidates you support and donate your time to their efforts if you can! These people can make a much bigger difference in your daily life than your senator or the president.
Because I’m not a heartless monster hell-bent on causing terror by reminding everyone of the low-grade constant panic that comes with being an American in this day and age, I asked Alexis a more positive, forward-looking question:
Emily: How can people get involved in protecting voting rights even when it is not a big election year?
Alexis: Number 1: Call your representatives!
Fair Fight is doing an awesome campaign called Hot Call Summer where they’re making it super easy to get in touch with your senators and ask them to pass this legislation. It’s important to not wait until there’s an election to speak up, because by then it’s too late! NOW is the time to be taking action.
Number 2: Literally just talk to your friends and family about this!
You’d be surprised at how few people know about America’s history and ongoing perpetuation of voter suppression. It’s really not that subtle and hidden when you start to read more, and it’s pretty baffling. A good starting point— read Dr. Carol Anderson’s One Person, No Vote and Stacey Abrams’s Our Time is Now.
YOUR TO-DO LIST
To check and see if there is an upcoming election this fall in your state or in your local area, follow this link, or Google “[your town/state name] election 2021.”
To confirm you’re registered to vote, follow this link.
To find your state’s current voting laws and registration requirements, Google “[your state] voting.”
Last week marked the one-year anniversary of Representative John Lewis’s death. A figurehead for both equal voting rights and being a really good person, Lewis left too large of a hole in American politics far too soon.
I wanted to end today’s newsletter on a high note, so I asked Alexis:
Emily: What's one way you're trying to honor Rep. Lewis in the years moving forward to keep carrying on the fight for equal voting rights?
Alexis: Embracing his value of good trouble.
We have to remind ourselves that just because there are laws and rules in place, it doesn’t mean they are just or fair. Breaking the rules is not always a bad thing, especially when it brings good to your community.
Thank you so much to Alexis for answering these questions and for literally being one of the coolest and smartest voting rights activists I know!!!
Mr. Biden: let her rewrite the Constitution. She’s got some cool ideas.
This past week, Representative Joyce Beatty (D-OH) was arrested while peacefully protesting on behalf of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. She recently published a piece about the incident with Elle that highlights how significant voting rights and the two proposed bills are to voters of color who are so often the most affected by suppression bills. Read her piece here.