A knock-down, drag-out battle over voting rights – and the future of our Democracy – is being waged this year between Republicans who still control many state legislatures and Democrats who control Congress … but by the slimmest of margins.
Say you didn’t know? That’s no surprise. We’re all being “gaslighted” by a well-oiled GOP smoke machine into thinking that our Republican friends simply seek to tidy up ballot box security following a one-time easing of rules to accommodate voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s a lie – a whopper almost as big as the Big Lie that you-know-who would have been reelected last November but for massive vote fraud in key states. Like the easily fooled wife of a murderous husband in the old Gaslight play and movie, we’re being asked to see one thing but believe another.
The best analysis of what’s actually going on is laid out in a report titled A Democracy Crisis in the Making recently issued by Law Forward, a non-profit watchdog reachable at https://lawforward.org/.
Here’s their description of what’s hidden within the “reforms” being promoted and passed by various state legislatures:
“Among this group, one set of consequential proposals has flown under the radar. They involve efforts to alter basic principles about how elections should be administered and put highly partisan elected officeholders in charge of basic decisions about our elections.”
“In 2021, state legislatures across the country – through at least 148 bills filed in 36 states – are moving to muscle their way into election administration, as they attempt to dislodge or unsettle the executive branch and/or local election officials, who traditionally, have run our voting systems. This attempted consolidation would give state legislatures the power to disrupt election administration and the reporting of results beyond any such power they had in 2020 or indeed throughout much of the last century.”
“These are substantial changes that if enacted could make elections unworkable, render results far more difficult to finalize, and in the worst cased scenario, allow state legislatures to substitute their preferred candidate for those chosen by the voters. American democracy relies on the losers of elections respecting the results and participating in a peaceful transition of power. If instead, the losing party tries to override the will of the voters, that would be the death knell for our system of government.”
It’s All About Black Votes…
Paul Krugman’s recent op-ed in the New York Times seconds this analysis in a column headlined The Banality of Democratic Collapse. “However it plays out,” Krugman concluded, “the GOP will try to ensure a permanent lock on power and do all it can to suppress dissent.”
This GOP offensive is more than Looney Tunes out of the Trump music mayhem manual. How did we get here and how do Black people survive and prosper while white America goes through an identity crisis? Another question that baffles me is Where are the GOP’s good guys? Is Mitt Romney alone?
Make no mistake. It was 2020’s historic, kick-ass magic pulled off by Black voters in Georgia and other key “swing” states that is causing Republicans to change the rules, or at least try. What Stacy Abrams and her crew did in getting the first Black Senator elected’ and in capturing both Georgia Senate seats is, well, unbelievable. Black turnout also pulled Michigan and Pennsylvania over the finish line for Joe Biden.
Do The Math…
Black Americans represented 50% of all Democratic voters in Georgia but are just 33% of that state’s population. Stacy Abrams, who ran for Georgia Governor in 2018 and received more votes than any Democrat in Georgia history parlayed that energy to bring home the bacon for Biden. In Michigan, 20% of Democratic voters were Black though only 14% of the population. In Pennsylvania we were 21% of all Democratic voters though just 12% of that state’s population, reports Rashawn Ray of the Brookings Institution. In response to these victories secured by unprecedented Black voter turnout, the backlash from Republican-led states has been equally unthinkable.
Under the pretense of voter fraud and election cheating, various lawmakers in 47 states have introduced over 360 bills with restrictive provisions. Arkansas, for example, advances two bills that tightened the state’s voter ID requirement. The old voter ID law allowed voters who arrived at their polling place without valid identification to vote a provisional ballot if they signed a sworn statement attesting that they were registered to vote. The proposed bill eliminates this option and requires voters who show up without identification to return to the county clerks’ office by the Monday following the election with qualifying identification to have their vote counted. Georgia, Iowa. Arizona, New Hampshire, Texas. Florida and Michigan are also pushing such restrictive rules. There are 28 such bills of this type in 18 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. www.brennancenter.org.
Federal Pushbacks…
On the bright side, Democrats in Congress have crafted HR 1 (For the People Act) and HR 4 (The John Lewis Act) to counter these state legislative assaults against Black voting. HR 4 attempts to reverse the 2013 Supreme Court rulings that limited the 1965 Voting Rights Act. HR 4 reestablishes pre-clearance by the Federal government for states showing discriminatory voting rules. HR 1 would roll back many laws suppressing Black votes. The 818-page bill would affect gerrymandering, campaign spending, and the release of ten years of tax returns for president and vice president candidates.
But HR 1 is running into broad opposition. It is a well-intentioned effort but has little chance of passing as written, a case of trying to do too much in too little time. Its Gerrymandering section is opposed even by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Because there is little chance the bill will pass in its current form, Democrats face a clear choice. They can wage what might be a symbolic fight for all the changes they would like. Or they can confront the acute crisis at hand by crafting a more focused bill, one that aims squarely at ensuring all eligible Americans can vote and that those votes will be counted.
The New York Times Editorial Board agrees, “If Democrats can find 50 votes for reform, they should not postpone necessary interventions in the illusory hope of a bipartisan breakthrough, nor allow Republicans to filibuster. American history is sometimes narrated as a gradual expansion of participatory democracy as workers and women, and Black people gained the right to vote. Unfortunately, the reality is less flattering. Participation has expanded, and it has contracted. Democracy has strengthened and waned. The gains in the second half of the 20thh century are now eroding. As a result, there is a narrow window of opportunity to intervene.”
It’s All About The Benjamins…
Why does all this voting suppression matter in our current space, here in Illinois, where Democratic majorities reign supreme? Let us count the ways. If you have a family in Chicago, the violence visited in our neighborhoods is combated by funds flowing from the state and Federal governments. If you’re a parent with children in public schools, federal policies and funding affect their education. And so on with Black business, which is dependent on the responsiveness and funding from federal agencies ranging from the Small Business Administration to the Department of Health and Human Services. So your vote matters down here on the ground, and it’s in our best interests to understand the issues and play solid DEFENSE against this onslaught leveled at the Black vote.
Like the Watergate tapes that caught Nixon, a leaked conference call has shed light on the GOP’s overall strategy. Jane Mayer of The New Yorker magazine tells us “a private conference call on January 8th between a policy advisor to Senator Mitch McConnell and the leaders of several prominent conservative groups including one by the Koch Brothers network—reveals the participants ‘worry that the proposed (Congressional) election reforms garner wide support not just from liberals but from conservative voters too.”
Aha! The behemoth bucks of the Koch brothers appear to be aligned with others to fight against the For the People Act. It’s not clear that they care one whit about Black people. They want to protect the anonymity of their financial contributions and continue having Mitch McConnell and even quasi-Democrat Joe Manchin follow their directions. Mayer further recalls that “Nick Surgey, executive director of Documented, a progressive watchdog group that investigates corporate money in politics, told me that it made sense that McConnell’s staffer was on the call because the proposed legislation “poses a genuine threat to McConnell’s source of power within the Republican Party, which has always been fundraising.”
Watch This One…
The New Yorker piece by Jane Mayer warns what kinds of “gaslighting” loom ahead. “Kyle McKenzie of the Koch Brothers “conceded the legislation’s opponents would likely have to rely on Republicans in the Senate, where the bill is now under debate, to use “under the dome type strategies,” meaning legislative maneuvers beneath Congress’s roof such as the filibuster to stop the bill because turning public opinion against it would be incredibly difficult.”
That makes sense because average workaday Democrats and Republicans are both against billionaires buying elections. Thus we have it. The Koch Brothers et al. are backing Republican opposition to HR 1 and HR 4 to protect their billions of “benjamins“. The New Yorker does us a huge service to expose this portentous political partnership.
The laws that enable Black people to fight voter suppression, increase turnout, and repeat the stunning victories in Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are in jeopardy! The Koch brothers and other financial behemoths would sacrifice these rights to maintain their dark money status and sway Republican lawmakers. But their “under the dome” strategy will not work against the will of an informed and active Black population. Gaslighting may be a tried-and-true form of psychological manipulation, but if we spot the reason and reach of this anti-Black attack on our vote, we will not be bamboozled. We will vote.
Action Items…
1. Push for Election Day Registration. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have enacted some form of same-day registration.
2. Redistricting starts later this year. Get involved in understanding the maps at the local level.
3. Register others and volunteer to get out the vote.
4. Protect eligible voters from improper purges from the voter rolls.
5. Protect against deceptive election practices.
6. Research your local election dates and guidelines and distribute them manually and online.
7. Double check your voter registration status.
8. If you plan to vote by mail, request your ballot immediately.
9. Host a Virtual Voting Party to go over ballot measures.
10. Consider working the polls.
11. Make sure everyone in your household has a ride.
12. Stay in line and avoid insults and taunts.
The above rare recommendations from the ACLU and the Brennan Center. However, #9 has application and urgency in between elections. A virtual meeting to discuss where we are and how to support and defend the Black vote is necessary.
Boycott? The Koch Brothers own the makers and suppliers of products and services we buy every week. Investigate products manufactured or distributed by the Koch Brothers and consider boycotting them as long as they attack Black votes.
Hot Off The Phone…
Congressman Danny Davis has agreed to host a virtual Town Hall meeting to discuss the status of HR 1 and HR 4 in both the House and Senate. He will also recommend actions to educate our community about who’s behind opposition to these needed bills and what we can do to defend the gains we have made over the last 50 years. So stay tuned for more information. Meantime, ignore the gaslight. Save the vote!
Paul King is a construction consultant and member of Chicago’s Business Leadership Council.
