Fighting for our right to vote
Republicans hate when everyone votes. When we do, it usually does not turn out well for them. Instead of doing something about it by appealing to the masses, they decided to stop as many of us from voting as possible. This will be an ongoing fight. They make their new rules, which the vast majority see as voter suppression, and they pick out one portion of their new bill that they claim “enhances” voting rights. Georgia is a great example. They recently ran a commercial denigrating Coca Cola because of the company’s support of voters. Georgia suggests that Coca Cola stop “poisoning our children” and “contributing to obesity” in children. Funny, they never said any such thing about Coca Cola before. Besides, dealing with obesity begins at home. Just because someone makes a product does not mean you have to buy and consume it.
The truth is that Georgia’s voting law will impact 3.5% or 7.8 million Georgia voters, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (“AJC”). This is AJC’s estimate of the number of registered voters who do not have a driver’s license or state identification number, which will prevent them from voting absentee. According to AJC, this rule disproportionately impacts Blacks who live in Democratic-leaning counties. Worse, many do have identification, but it is not linked to their voter registration, which means they have no identification under the new law. AJC spoke with one absentee voter who has been a registered voter for 21 years, but because she last renewed her license in 2015, she “has no identification.”
In Texas, where the new law is even worse, Democrats walked out of the vote Washington Post reported. Now, they are being accused by Governor Abbott of “not doing their jobs.” They most certainly were. They were representing their constituents by walking out on this ridiculous law, which includes such ludicrous things as felony penalties imposed on state officials who offer an application without being asked for one, strict signature comparison (likely, by non-handwriting experts), new identification requirements for mail ballots, and allowing partisan poll watchers to get close enough to voters to “see and hear.” All for the sake of a lie.
Democrats are not the only ones who see the problems with these news laws. According to Huffington Post, more than 100 scholars have issued a warning letter that Republicans are putting our democracy in danger. No kidding. They correctly point out that these new laws were implemented “in response to unproven and intentionally destructive allegations of a stolen election.” Indeed, the media reported that Trump thinks he is going to be reinstated as president by August. Good luck with that. Trump is a lunatic, and alleged representatives who rewrite perfectly good laws because of anything he says are similarly crazy. The problem, however, is that we are living with that crazy. If you live in a state that will require you to jump through hoops to vote, get to jumping. We must do everything in our power to retain our right to vote.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years