Voting

Fascism’s ‘Legal Phase’ Has Begun

January 30, 2022 William Horne, Truthout. Strategize! Extreme Right, Facism, Voting, White Supremacy

When Republicans blocked the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act on January 19, 2022, they removed the last safety net preventing the U.S.’s plummet toward authoritarianism. As a result, we are at this moment in a state of free-fall, the culmination of a state-level Legislative And Enforcement Landscape that directly mirrors Jim Crow — or as fascism scholar Jason Stanley recently put it, “America is now in fascism’s legal phase.” Although we do have ways of fighting back, the situation is dire. We often hear that the U.S.’s founding documents, courts and institutions make it immune to despotism, but this claim is simply false and erases our country’s troubling history with white supremacy — one the GOP is poised to reinvigorate.

The Disintegrating Façade Of US Democracy

January 20, 2022 Netfa Freeman, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Democracy, Electoral Politics, Voting

A poll taken in December 2021 reflecting that a majority of “Americans” now “believe that democracy in the United State is in danger of disappearing” accommodates the bipartisan erasure of those colonized by US settler colonialism. Several US news outlets have reported that the Schoen Cooperman Research poll on “U.S. Perceptions of Government” reflects the opinions and concerns of “Americans” at large. The poll reflects that 51-percent of respondents agree with the statement that democracy in the US is at risk of extinction, a position shared almost equally between party affiliations. The sentiment is most acute among the younger generation. However, there is a deeply flawed premise in not just the poll itself but likely in the respondents to it as well.

NYC Enacts Law Allowing Over 800,000 Immigrants To Vote In Local Elections

January 10, 2022 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. Create! Immigrants, Local Elections, New York City (NYC), Voting

A New York City law granting more than 800,000 lawful permanent residents the right to vote in local elections took effect Sunday after the recently elected mayor, Democrat Eric Adams, declined to veto it. The New York City Council had voted 33-14—with two abstentions—for the measure to allow noncitizens who have resided in the city for at least 30 days to vote for mayor, council members, and other municipal offices beginning next year. "The New York City Council is making history," declared Ydanis Rodríguez, the former council member who sponsored the bill, last month. "New York City must be seen as a shining example for other progressive cities to follow." Rodríguez—an immigrant and naturalized citizen from the Dominican Republic who is now the city's Department of Transportation commissioner—added Sunday that "we build a stronger democracy when we include the voices of immigrants."

Detroit Voters OK Launching Reparations Commission

November 3, 2021 Candice Williams, The Detroit News. Create! Detroit, Psychedelics, Reparations, Voting

Detroit voters favored launching a reparations commission Tuesday, and a proposal to decriminalize psychedelic plants passed by a wide margin. Another, Proposal S, failed with 53.9% voting no to amending a section of the city charter to allow voters to push ordinances that include appropriating money. More than 80% of voters said yes to Proposal R, which calls for the launching of a reparations commission, while 61% of voters said yes to decriminalizing psychedelic plants. Another ballot proposal to amend the city charter to allow for citizen-driven ballot initiatives tied to city spending, Proposal S found no support among nearly 54% of voters, while 46% voted yes. Proposal R asked whether Michigan’s largest city should form a committee to consider reparations for residents, 77% of whom are Black.

Minneapolis Voters Could Change How The City Approaches Public Safety

November 2, 2021 Anoa Changa, NewsOne. Create! Minneapolis, Police, Public safety, Voting

Last year after George Floyd’s murder, community organizers spurred a national conversation on the role of policing and public safety. The collective outrage and sustained protests led to democracy in action. In Tuesday’s election, Minneapolis voters have a chance to change the way the city handles public safety. Organizers like Miski Noor want voters to embrace the opportunity to change how the city deals with public safety and vote in favor of the public safety amendment known as Question 2. Noor, an organizer with Black Visions, spoke with NewsOne over the weekend in between get out the vote events. Reflecting on the energy of early voters in line to cast their ballots Saturday, Noor says Minneapolis has been waiting for this change.

North Carolina: More Felony Offenders Can Now Vote

August 24, 2021 Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press. Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Law, North Carolina, Voting

Raleigh, NC — Tens of thousands of North Carolina residents convicted of felonies but whose current punishments don’t include prison time can register to vote and cast ballots, a judicial panel declared Monday. Several civil rights groups and ex-offenders who sued legislative leaders and state officials in 2019 argue the current 1973 law is unconstitutional by denying the right vote to people who have completed their active sentences or received no such sentence, such as people on probation. They said the rules disproportionately affect Black residents and originated from an era of white supremacy in the 19th century. In a brief hearing following a trial last week challenging the state’s voting restrictions upon felons, Superior Court Judge Lisa Bell said two judges on the three-judge panel have agreed they would issue a formal order soon allowing more felony offenders to register.

The Legacy Of White Liberals Exploiting The Black Vote

March 18, 2020 By Solomon Comissiong, Blackagendareport.com Educate! Black Working Class, Electoral Politics, Voting

On March 3, 2020, former Vice President, Joe Biden, to the euphoric pleasure of Democratic Party elites, was brought back from near political death. After terrible showings in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, Biden was on the verge of receiving his "last rights" as a corporate politician.

You Can Be Free To Vote, Even Behind Bars

March 14, 2020 By Kenyetta Rich, Otherwords.org Create! Electoral Politics, Incarcerated workers, Mass Incarceration, Prisons, Voting

Birmingham, Alabama is a landmark city for the American civil rights movement. Even today, it’s ground zero for a vital fight over voting rights. I visited Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham recently to deliver inmates a simple message: you are free to vote, even if you don’t know it. And now is the time for you to claim and exercise this right. I was there with volunteers from The Ordinary People Society (TOPS), the League of Women Voters...

Court: Florida Can’t Bar Felons From Vote Over Fines, Fees

February 20, 2020 BobCaina Calvan and Curt Anderson, AP News. Educate! Elections, Florida, Prisoner rights, Voting

Tallahassee, FL — Florida cannot, for now, bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Tallahassee federal judge’s preliminary injunction that a state law implementing Amendment 4 amounted to an unfair poll tax that would disenfranchise many of the released felons. “We disagree with the ruling,” said Helen Ferre, chief spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. She said the state would immediately ask the entire 11th Circuit to reconsider. The case is one of several now before judges amid high-stakes legal skirmishes over Florida elections, which have drawn national scrutiny because of the state’s perennial status as a political battleground and the razor-thin margins deciding some high-profile contests.

The Push To Overturn Felony Disenfranchisement In Southern States

December 17, 2019 By Benjamin Barber, Facingsouth.org Strategize! Electoral Politics, Reform, Voting

In the last U.S. presidential election in 2016, 6.1 million Americans could not vote because of laws that disenfranchise people with past felony convictions. In all, 32 states permanently disfranchise at least some people with felony convictions, while Kentucky and Iowa permanently disenfranchise everyone who's committed a felony. In six Southern states — Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia — more than 7 percent of the adult population is disenfranchised because of such laws, which have disproportionate impacts on minorities and the poor.

Georgia Groups Move To Block Use Of Unverifiable Voting Machines

August 19, 2019 Garland Favorito, Popular Resistance. Resist! Computerized voting, Voting

One day after the U.S. District Court of North Georgia banned the current Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting system beginning in 2020, plaintiffs in the case motioned to block a proposed new unverifiable BMD voting system. The motion was filed on the grounds it impairs Georgia voters’ Constitutional right to vote because the voting system is not verifiable to the voters and evidence in the DRE trial has proven the state incapable of running electronic-based elections of any kind.

Voter Purge Rates Remain High, Analysis Finds

August 5, 2019 Kevin Morris, Brennancenter.org Educate! Electoral Politics, Voting

New data reveal that counties with a history of voter discrimination have continued purging people from the rolls at elevated rates. Using data released by the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in June, a new Brennan Center analysis has found that between 2016 and 2018, counties with a history of voter discrimination have continued purging people from the rolls at much higher rates than other counties. This phenomenon began after the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, a decision that severely weakened the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Return Of The Poll Tax

July 13, 2019 By Robert P. Alvarez, Otherwords.org Educate! Electoral Politics, Reform, Taxes, Voting

The poll tax Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just signed into law may cost his state $365 million a year — indefinitely. DeSantis and the GOP-led Florida legislature recently made quick work of dismantling Amendment 4, a voter-approved ballot initiative that would’ve restored the right to vote to Floridians with felony convictions who’d completed their sentences (except those convicted of sex offenses or murder). Sixty-five percent of voters approved the initiative.

Flat Broke, Black Voters Want More Than Just Another Black President

February 28, 2019 Jon Jeter, Truthout.org Educate! Black Working Class, Electoral Politics, Voting

Sen. Cory Booker’s announcement on February 1 that he is entering the 2020 presidential race brings the number of African-American Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to two, making the crowded primary field the “most diverse in history,” according to The New York Times. But while The New York Times, cable news and other liberal pundits exult in the White House bids of Booker and California’s junior U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, African Americans, ironically enough, have not uniformly mustered nearly as much enthusiasm for either candidate. “Cory Booker is running for president, y’all,” the popular African-American YouTube blogger Tim Black declared in a video hours after Booker’s announcement.

Finally, A Shred Of Good News As Former Felons Register To Vote In Florida

January 10, 2019 Samantha Grasso, Splinternews.com Create! Electoral Politics, Florida, Voting

This time next year, as Republicans work overtime to convince their constituents to stick with Donald Trump and Democrats compete in a battle of who can puff the biggest vape cloud on Periscope, one group will finally have their right to vote restored in time for the election in Florida. As of Tuesday, Florida’s more than 1.4 million former felons with nonviolent convictions became eligible to vote, a result of the state’s passage of Amendment 4 in November. While some residents’ whose voting rights were restored registered online after the measure went into effect at midnight, others celebrated their registrations in person.

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