The United States’ Independence Day is here, but I feel cautious about it.

Why?

Because in less than a year, we’ve had a presidential election which the losing former president continues to rant and rave about as a stolen election – and what everyone else except his followers regard as The Big Lie; we’ve witnessed the 2020 election followed by string of failed court cases to contest the election as well as ongoing bogus “audits” of multiple states’ ballots; we’ve survived a horrific insurrection on United States committed by followers of the former Dear Leader – incited by no less than him.

And according to the Brennan Center for Justice, state lawmakers have enacted nearly 30 laws since the 2020 election that restrict ballot access, according to their new tally as of June 21st.

More than half of these new laws make it harder to vote absentee and by mail, after a record number of Americans voted by mail in November.

The Brennan Center for Justice reports that by May 14, 2021, legislators introduced 389 bills with restrictive provisions in 48 states. Twenty-two bills with restrictive provisions have already been enacted. In addition, at least 61 bills with restrictive provisions in 18 states are moving through legislatures: 31 have passed at least one chamber, while another 30 have had some sort of committee action (e.g., a hearing, an amendment, or a committee vote).

Morever, on July 1st, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld voting restrictions in Arizona and signaled that challenges to new state laws making it harder to vote would face a hostile reception from a majority of the justices.

On a brighter note, the next day, July 2nd, the New Hampshire Supreme Court struck down a 2017 state law crafted by Republicans that implemented new requirements for same-day voter registration that critics say made it more difficult for college students to vote.

In a unanimous 4-0 decision, the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling from last year that found the law, known as Senate Bill 3, violated New Hampshire’s constitution “because it unreasonably burdens the right to vote.”

The state Supreme Court said that the law “must be stricken in its entirety.”

Yippee!

Yet Georgia and Texas have already passed severely restrictive laws, some of which I discussed in detail in my March 1st post. I think it’s worth pointing out again that multiple news sources report that various state lawmakers have argued that these restrictive measures are necessary because, “the public has lost confidence in our election system,” but they refuse to acknowledge the reason some voters believe elections are unfair. However, some of those same legislators spent months spreading disinformation about the integrity of the 2020 election.

I think it would be exquisite justice if these hundreds of laws boomerang back to these lawmakers in the fashion that New Hampshire’ Senate Bill 3 was by the state’s Supreme Court: “must be stricken in its entirety”. Even more so, if the public said “enough!” via the ballot box and sent these lawmakers home.

Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats had better use its majority power to pass the For The People Act, H.R.1/S.1, which sets national minimum standards for our elections based on bipartisan best practices, ensuring that Americans’ ability to access the ballot isn’t dependent on which state they live in. The Act also aims to set up automatic voter registration, expand early voting, ensure more transparency in political donations and limit partisan drawing of congressional districts, among other provisions.

It apparently is something too toxic for the GOP, as demonstrated recently: they filibustered a vote in the Senate to start debate on it, in June. They didn’t even want to talk about it! Cowards.

Congressional Democrats must do the same for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, H.R. 4. which would revitalize the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to defend against racial discrimination in our elections.

And the president must not leave office without having signed these bills. I requested that of him in a letter I sent by post this week.

When those bills are passed and President Biden signs them, THAT will definitely be something to celebrate!

Pooh on the naysayers and cynics! They can take a take a trip to the nearest toxic waste dump and deposit their poison there. Or go move to the country of their favorite authoritarian regime, since they seem to despise democracy so much with their willful and deafening silence on the 1/6 Insurrection and their stifling, voting rights laws.

Who in their right mind would want to celebrate that?

Sources

The New York Times
The Texas Tribune
CNN
Brennan Center for Justice at New York University
Wikipedia – Voter Suppression
CNBC
Campaign Legal Center – The Bipartisan Origins &Impact of the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S 1)
Campaign Legal Center
Human Rights Campaign