Efforts to Limit/Discourage Voting
In half of the states, legislatures with Republican majorities are advancing bills that erect barriers to voting, measures that would be especially restrictive for minorities and Blacks, and that are specifically designed to keep Republicans in power. In Texas, for example, the State Senate passed legislation that would limit early voting hours, ban drive-through voting, add restrictions to absentee voting, and make it illegal for local election staff to mail absentee ballot applications to voters, even if they qualify. The Florida State Legislature has introduced a bill that would severely limit drop boxes.
Particularly outrageous were the provisions recently passed in Georgia which shift the power and oversight of elections to the legislature by stripping the Secretary of State from chairing the state Board of Elections and authorizing the legislature to name members to the board. It also empowers this board to have sweeping jurisdiction over county election boards, including the authority to suspend officials. In response, the Commissioner of baseball announced that this summer’s all-star baseball game will be relocated from suburban Atlanta, and major corporations like American Airlines and Del Technologies have spoken out against state actions that would limit the right to vote for some Americans.
Voter Participation is very Low
As Jonathan Manthorpe has pointed out in a recent book, “gerrymandering of constituency boundaries, barriers to voter registration, rules designed to make voting difficult, and strategic placement of inaccessible polling stations” are tricks employed by political parties to subvert democracy. The tricks are working, and the U.S. comes near the bottom of the list with respect to voter participation in developed countries. Only 55.7% of voting age adults are registered to vote in the U.S. As a result, the 86.8% turnout in the 2016 presidential election actually represented only 48.3% of eligible voters and this means that Trump won the presidency with the support of only 22.4% of those eligible to vote. [It is best if we don’t tell him; his fragile ego couldn’t stand it.]