Greg Abbott didn’t call special session after 23 murdered by white supremacist in El Paso or after 700 died when power grid failed but GOP holding special session to make it harder to vote after finding only 16 false addresses on registration forms out of 11 million votes in 2020
Texas already hardest state to vote in. GOP voter suppression bill would make far worse
“This election bill would take it to a place so far removed from democracy it would beg the question: What kind of form of government would we have?” says @BetoORourkemotherjones.com/politics/2021/…
This is how voter suppression works in Texas:
-can vote with gun permit but not student ID
-no online voter registration
-must be deputized to register voters
-voters under 65 can’t use fear of covid to vote by mail
-750 polling places closed since SCOTUS gutted VRA
Dems running out of time to pass federal legislation protecting voting rights
“It’s matter of weeks or maybe a couple of months that are left to us before it becomes hard to preserve free & fair elections in 2022 election cycle throughout much of the country” says @BetoORourke
Texas GOP killed two-thirds requirement to bring up bills in state senate to pass voter ID law in 2011
But Senate Dems won’t eliminate 60 vote requirement to pass voting rights bills
"There has been an asymmetry in terms of tactics" says @RafaelAnchia
DNC spending $25 million to expand voting is important but Biden must advocate reforming filibuster to pass voting rights bills
“There seems to be some hesitation to pull out all the stops to protect our right to vote,” says @RafaelAnchia. “In Texas, we can’t wait much longer.”
"Texas is toughest state in country to vote in. You can vote with a gun permit but not a student ID. They closed 750 polling places since Supreme Court gutted Voting Rights Act...Now they're making voting even tougher" @NicolleDWallace@DeadlineWH
Texas has 3 MILLION unregistered voters, larger than total population of 17 states
Dems estimate 2 million would vote D if registered, enough to flip state blue
Policies like automatic voter registration included in For the People Act would be game-changer in Texas
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Huge case before SCOTUS today: Republicans want to reinstate extreme gerrymander in NC giving GOP 71-78% of House seats in state where Trump got 49.9% of vote & grant state legislatures unprecedented power to pass new gerrymanders & voter suppression laws motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Leonard Leo & Federalist Society engineered right-wing takeover of SCOTUS. Now they want court to give state legislatures king-like power to rig state & national elections. One anti-democratic system entrenching the other
A ruling that state legislatures could not be constrained by state courts or constitutions would eviscerate checks & balances, give heavily gerrymandered legislatures huge power to rig state & national politics & embolden them to attempt to overturn future election results
SCOOP w/ @RyanLittleE: Georgia voters 45 times more likely to have mail ballot applications rejected & not vote in Nov 2021 vs 2020 after GOP passed new voting restrictions
“States are not engaging in trying to suppress voters whatsoever” Mitch McConnell claimed last year
Here are facts: "During municipal elections in Nov, Georgia voters were 45 times more likely to have their mail ballot applications rejected—and not vote as a result—than in 2020"
Before he sided with GOP to kill voting rights bills Joe Manchin said: “We act like we’re going to obstruct people from voting. That’s not going to happen.”
4500% increase in rejected mail ballot applications in Georgia & 700% increase in Texas shows he is very wrong
Stunning stat: 48 Democrats who supported reforming filibuster to pass voting rights bills represent 34 MILLION more Americans than 52 senators (all Republicans + Sinema/Manchin) who opposed it
48 senators who voted to reform filibuster represent 182 million Americans, 55% of US
52 senators who upheld filibuster represent 148 million Americans, 45% of US
“Manchin & Sinema allowed 41 GOP senators representing just 21% of country to block a bill they both supported that would protect voting rights for tens of millions of Americans, reinforcing how filibuster has historically been used to block civil rights” motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Sinema & Manchin represent 2.8% of US population but allowing 41 GOP senators representing just 21% of country to block voting rights bills supported by 70% of Americans that would protect voting access for tens of millions. US political system completely broken
“Sinema, by refusing to support changes to the filibuster, is now giving the anti-democratic party veto power over protecting democracy. She is saying it would be divisive and partisan to respond to a divisive and partisan effort to weaken democracy” motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
GOP states have passed new voter suppression laws, gerrymandered maps & election subversion bills through simple majority, party-line votes yet Sinema & Manchin demand bipartisan supermajority to protect voting rights. This is how coup succeeds motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
This week is one of most pivotal in history of American democracy. If Dems don’t pass federal legislation now to stop voter suppression, extreme gerrymandering & election subversion, GOP will make it impossible to have fair elections going forward motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Republicans not just suppressing votes & subverting fair elections, but trying to enshrine anti-democratic system where they hold power no matter the views of a majority of voters
“They are basically signing off on a political apartheid system” says @ericholder
It makes no sense that Republicans can pass voter suppression laws at state level with simple majority vote & confirm right-wing judges to uphold those laws with simple majority vote but Dems can’t protect voting rights with simple majority vote
Under extreme gerrymandered Texas US House & state legislative maps:
Whites 40% population but control 60% districts
Latinos 39% of population but control 20% districts
Blacks 12% of population but control 2% districts
Asians 5% of population but control 0% districts
95% of population growth in Texas from communities of color during last decade but gerrymandered GOP maps increase # of majority white districts & decrease # of majority Latino/Black districts. Incredibly brazen racial gerrymandering motherjones.com/politics/2021/…