General Discussion

TomCADem

(17,390 posts) Sat May 30, 2020, 10:21 AM May 2020

Does Voter Suppression Lead to Violence?

Consider that on the right, you had people willing to ignore a pandemic and take up arms in protest due to fears of tyranny based on stay at home orders, you can only imagine how protesters of police killings fill when the President on down seem to cheer police brutality directed toward minorities as effective law enforcement.

Yet, what answers can we give protesters? Don't boo, vote? The right has systemically tried to restrict the right to vote. Look at Republican efforts to prevent states from allowing vote by mail in response to the pandemic.

Finally, compare how polite and restrained police are in response to reopen protesters compared to how militarized they respond to reopen protesters. With reopen protesters, you have Trump showing empathy and support for their cause. With African American protesters, you see the President encouraging police to shoot them.

Link to tweet

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https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/voter-suppression-how-bad-pretty-bad

For the first time in decades, voters in nearly half the country will find it harder to cast a ballot in the upcoming elections. Voters in 22 states will face tougher rules than in the last midterms. In 15 states, 2014 is slated to be the first major election with new voting restrictions in place.

These changes are the product of a concerted push to restrict voting by legislative majorities that swept into office in 2010. They represent a sharp reversal for a country whose historical trajectory has been to expand voting rights and make the process more convenient and accessible.

Although some of these new laws are harsher than others, and some are still being fought in the courts, they have already dramatically altered the landscape for 2014. The outcomes of some of the tightest races this year could turn on the application of controversial new voting rules. Strict voter ID laws have gotten most of the attention, but are only part of the story. Cutbacks to early voting and voter registration opportunities, and other idiosyncratic changes to voting rules, have the potential to do just as much damage.

Why is this happening? Where are the most damaging new laws? What impact could they have in this year’s elections? And how effective are the efforts by voters to push back?

3 replies

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Does Voter Suppression Lead to Violence? (Original Post) TomCADem May 2020 OP

There are many pathways that lead to violence. Certainly voter supression is one, but all the abqtommy May 2020 #1

Right now, voters in 34 states, plus DC, can vote by mail. Other states only have to make Hoyt May 2020 #2

Texas Voters Are Caught In The Middle Of A Battle Over Mail-In Voting TomCADem May 2020 #3

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)

1. There are many pathways that lead to violence. Certainly voter supression is one, but all the

Reply to TomCADem (Original post)

Sat May 30, 2020, 11:05 AM

May 2020

pathways lead back to the treason of tRUMP, reTHUGS and cultists. To use a well-known biblical
metaphor, they have sown the wind and will now reap the whirlwind. How do you like me/us now?
Buckle up since "I'm/we are" just getting started!

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)

2. Right now, voters in 34 states, plus DC, can vote by mail. Other states only have to make

Reply to TomCADem (Original post)

Sat May 30, 2020, 11:26 AM

May 2020

"pandemic" a valid excuse to vote absentee by mail.

https://ballotpedia.org/Absentee_voting

TomCADem

(17,390 posts)

3. Texas Voters Are Caught In The Middle Of A Battle Over Mail-In Voting

Reply to Hoyt (Reply #2)

Sat May 30, 2020, 11:31 AM

May 2020

Yet, Republicans are opening a new front in the war to suppress voting by declaring war on VBM.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/864143739/texas-voters-are-caught-in-the-middle-of-a-battle-over-mail-in-voting

In an effort to keep voters safe, states of all political complexions are finding ways to expand access to mail-in ballots as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Then there's Texas.

The state has some of the most restrictive laws limiting vote by mail in the country. Under Texas law, the program is open only to people who are 65 or older, people who will be out of the county during the election, people who are in jail and not convicted, and people who are disabled.

And after a series of often-contradictory court orders over the past month, it's still unclear whether more Texans will be able to use mail-in ballots during upcoming elections in July and November.

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