Tag: voting rights

Manchin to vote against election overhaul bill

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he will vote against a sweeping bill to overhaul elections, dubbed the For the People Act, putting the fate of the legislation in jeopardy in the evenly split Senate.

In an op-ed published early Sunday morning in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Manchin, one of the Senate Democratic Conference’s most conservative members, zeroed in on the partisan nature of the legislation, which has not attracted any Republican support.

“I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening blinds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For The People Act,” Manchin wrote. Continue reading.

Democrats see Georgia as opening salvo in war on voting rights

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Republican state legislators engaged in a nationwide effort to rewrite ballot access laws after the highest-turnout, most secure election in history scored their first major achievement Thursday when Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a sweeping overhaul package into law that will restrict voter access to absentee ballots and ballot drop boxes.

In other states, Democrats watched with rising anxiety, knowing their legislatures are next.

“We’ve been watching Georgia pretty closely, and we knew our legislative Republicans were likely to introduce something as well,” said Michigan state Sen. Stephanie Chang (D), who represents part of Detroit and its southern suburbs. Continue reading.

Phillips Bill to Fight Disinformation and Protect Voting Rights Included in HR1 Government Reform Package

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The Voter NOTICE Act would neuter pernicious disinformation campaigns and bring much-needed truth and transparency to our elections.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) announced that his bill, the Voter NOTICE Act, was included in H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a landmark anti-corruption, voter protection, and campaign finance reform package co-sponsored by every House Democrat.

Phillips’s Voter Notification of Timely Information about Changes in Elections (NOTICE) Act would require election officials to reach out to every registered voter to notify them of any change to state election rules, including changes to early and mail-in voting, that are made in response to public emergencies. Officials would also be required to produce public awareness campaigns on television and social media to ensure that all new voting procedures are clearly communicated to the public.

Continue reading “Phillips Bill to Fight Disinformation and Protect Voting Rights Included in HR1 Government Reform Package”

You have rights when you go to vote – and many people are there to help if there’s trouble at the polls

Despite all the challenges to this year’s election – long lines, calls for voter intimidation, baseless claims of fraud – voting is a fundamental civil right. 

As a political scientist who studies campaigns and elections, I have confidence in American democracy. Lots of people are working at the polls and behind the scenes to ensure election 2020 runs smoothly and safely. 

Here, I’ll outline your rights as a voter and explain where to turn if you encounter trouble at the polls. Continue reading.

Three presidents embrace the struggle for rights. Trump suggests postponing the election.

Washington Post logoThree presidents spoke in poetry, paying tribute to a fallen hero who believed — often against evidence to the contrary, including the cracking of his skull by state troopers — that America was good, its people driven by love to do right by one another.

One president, the current commander in chief, did not attend the funeral of Rep. John Lewis but instead spoke of dark forces in the country and suggested that the United States not hold its next presidential election on time.

In a country cleaved by political differences, paralyzed by a pernicious virus and suffering from a plunging economy, Thursday presented painful contrasts. It was a day of soaring tributes to the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, offered from the pulpit of the mother church of the modern civil rights movement. And it was a day of pointed reminders that the nation is struggling, even after 244 years, to define itself, to decide what freedom and equality will mean. Continue reading.

House Democrats unveil their first bill in the majority: a sweeping anti-corruption proposal

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi approaches the microphones to speak to journalists during the Democratic caucus vote on the speaker’s nomination on November 28, 2018. Credit: Melina Mara, The Washington Post via Getty Images

Democrats will take up voting rights, campaign finance reform, and a lobbying crackdown — all in their first bill of the year.

House Democrats unveiled details of their first bill in the new Congress on Friday — a sweeping anti-corruption bill aimed at stamping out the influence of money in politics and expanding voting rights.

This is House Resolution 1 — the first thing House Democrats will tackle after the speaker’s vote in early January. To be clear, this legislation has little-to-no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate or being signed by President Donald Trump.

But by making anti-corruption their No. 1 priority, House Democrats are throwing down the gauntlet for Republicans. A vast majority of Americans want to get the influence of money out of politics, and want Congress to pass laws to do so, according to a 2018 Pew Research survey. Given Trump’s multitude of scandals, it looks bad for Republicans to be the party opposing campaign finance reform — especially going into 2020.

View the complete November 30 article by Ella Nilsen on the Vox.com website here.