New GOP efforts to make it harder to vote

hislegacy said:

80% Of Americans Support Voter ID Rules—But Fewer Worried About Fraud, Poll Finds

An overwhelming majority (81%) of respondents also said they support voters being required to show ID in order to vote, including 62% of Democrats, even as critics contend voter ID laws suppress turnout and unfairly discriminate against groups like low-income, elderly and minority voters.
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https://www.realclearpolitics.com/a...ack_leaders_support_voter_id_laws_145598.html

To the contrary, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that 69% of Blacks and 82% of nonwhite minorities support voter ID. Another poll taken even more recently by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that a full two-thirds of Blacks in Georgia support voter ID. The data seems clear: A majority of Black Americans support voter ID laws.
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Who exactly is against Voter ID? It certainly is not the vast majority of Americans - or even the vast majority of non whites.

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TLK Valentine said:

Arizona bill would allow legislature to overturn election results

Making it easier or harder to vote is irrelevant when the legislature can toss it all out and declare their own winner.

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hislegacy said:

From your own link:

Fillmore’s legislation is unlikely to gain much traction,
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IOW all this drama about a big nothing going nowhere at anytime.

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TLK Valentine said:

That's what everyone said in 2015 about Donald's presidential campaign.

Black swan theory - Wikipedia

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essentialsaltes said:

In a previous thread, we discussed various GOP efforts to make the election less Democratic (and therefore less democratic) in the run-up to the 2020 elections. Given the outcome of the election, it's clear that not enough votes were suppressed to satisfy the Republican Party, so new efforts are underway in various states.

In another symptom of the Republican Party's internal divisions, the Trumpiest members of the party are trying ever bolder ways of reducing the vote, while more moderate GOP members are wondering if this might make them look bad.

State GOP lawmakers propose flurry of voting restrictions to placate Trump supporters, spurring fears of a backlash

GOP state lawmakers across the country have proposed a flurry of voting restrictions that they say are needed to restore confidence in U.S. elections, an effort intended to placate supporters of former president Donald Trump who believe his false claims that the 2020 outcome was rigged.

But the effort is dividing Republicans, some of whom are warning that it will tar the GOP as the party of voter suppression and give Democrats ammunition to mobilize their supporters ahead of the 2022 midterms.

One bill in Georgia would block early voting on Sundays, which critics quickly labeled a flagrant attempt to thwart Souls to the Polls, the Democratic turnout effort that targets Black churchgoers on the final Sunday before an election.

After Fleming unveiled a sweeping proposal Thursday with provisions such as tough new identification requirements when requesting an absentee ballot and a prohibition on “line-warming” by nonpartisan groups — including such activities as distributing water in warm weather or blankets in the cold — Democrats and voting rights advocates pounced.

Is there really a valid reason to make voting some kind of endurance sport? In what way would this ensure the validity of the election? And we know from experience where the long lines in Georgia are going to be.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a civil rights think tank, lawmakers in 33 states have crafted more than 165 bills to restrict voting so far this year — more than four times the number in last year’s legislative sessions. The group attributed the surge to “a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud” and accused lawmakers of a “backlash to historic voter turnout” last year.

Historic levels of democratic engagement and participation? Can't have that!

Some Republicans have made clear that they don’t think enacting voting restrictions is smart politics. In Georgia, House Speaker David Ralston and the Senate’s presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, have both announced that they will not support legislation that curtails eligibility to vote by mail, as some lawmakers there and in other states have proposed.

Those actions reflect the growing realization among Republicans that catering to a narrow core of party activists who remain fiercely loyal to Trump is an increasingly perilous path.

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Aldebaran said:

One thing different about American government is that the people vote for their leaders. In the days of Kings, it wasn't done that way. Some became leaders through conquest, some through family bloodlines, etc. Those are called monarchies. The American government isn't that type of government.

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Aldebaran said:

And the reign of Hitler--how do we apply those verses to that situation?

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cow451 said:

IOW, sometimes crazy stuff just happens.

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Aldebaran said:

And the reign of Hitler--how do we apply those verses to that situation?

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wing2000 said:

From the Arizona State legislature this week -- "we need to get back to 1958-style voting"

"Newly introduced bills include House Bill 2596, which would let Legislature reject the results of a state election and order a new one, along with a multitude of other fundamental changes to election law.

It incorporates several features demanded by election conspiracy theorists, like limiting all voting to Election Day, requiring all voting be in-person and mandating that officials count all the ballots by hand within 24 hours. It also states that the Legislature "shall call itself into session" to review the ballot-counting process "and on review shall accept or reject the election results."

If lawmakers reject the results, any voter could sue in county Superior Court to request a new election. It was introduced by Rep. John Fillmore, R-Apache Junction and 15 other co-sponsors in the House and Senate.

“We need to get back to 1958-style voting," Fillmore said in a committee hearing on Wednesday.

The federal Civil Rights Act passed only one year prior to 1958, and Arizona — with a population of 1.2 million at the time — still had strict literacy tests for voter registration that had enormous impacts on Black, Latino and Indigenous voters.

The Arizona Republic

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wing2000 said:

As longtime Capitol reporter, Arizona Mirror’s Jeremy Duda, put it:
“I've never seen a speaker or Senate president kneecap a bill as aggressively as this," he tweeted. "Triple-assignments? Sure. Been there. But this is Bowers killing the bill, chopping it up, setting the pieces on fire, then digging up the ashes and throwing them into the ocean.”

AHouse speaker just killed Arizona's most outrageous election 'reform'

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