Republicans are against democracy. They want to make it as hard as possible to vote. They also want to thwart majority rule. They want a “heads, we win; tails, you lose” political system. At least one GOP senator, Mike Lee of Utah, has come out openly against democracy, and has proposed repealing the 17th Amendment, in order to take away your right to elect U.S. senators.
It should be obvious that he who controls the rules of the game, wins the game. Therefore, if Democrats reclaim power in the White House and Congress, one of their top priorities should be strengthening voting rights.
In this Vox article (read it here), Ezra Klein and Stacey Abrams discuss the status of voting rights and voter suppression in the United States. Until I read this article, I didn’t know — but wasn’t surprised to learn — that House Democrats have already passed two voting rights bills, HR 1 (details here) and HR 4 (details here).
They cover more than voting rights (e.g., gerrymandering, election security, campaign finance, lobbying, ethics, and corruption), but here’s what they contain pertaining to voting:
HR 1:
- National automatic voter registration that asks voters to opt out rather than opt in.
- Promote early voting, same-day voter registration, and online voter registration.
- Make Election Day a holiday for federal employees and encourage private sector businesses to do the same.
- Require a week’s notice to change voting locations.
- Make colleges and universities voter registration agencies (in addition to the DMV, etc.).
- Prohibit voter roll purging and caging (the practice of using non-forwardable mail to remove voters from rolls).
- Recruit and train more poll workers to reduce lines and waiting times at voting locations.
HR 4: Restore key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act thrown out by the Supreme Court by empowering the Department of Justice to take action against states with a history of racial discrimation, and make it harder for states to discriminate against voters based on race.