Republican voter suppression

The BBQ Pit
#1

Texas Gov Abbot changed the rules on 1day’s notice so that each county can only have one Early Vote drop box. Republicans have robocalled black voters In multiple states trying to scare them away from mail-in voting with threats of prosecution, debt collectors, and the CDC TRACKING THEM for forced vaccinations. There is more, without a doubt. That is all Maddow reported in the first 5 minutes or so, though. I couldn’t listen to more.

It is not enough to vote all Republicans out of office. What else can we do? Can we disenfranchise all repubs for 20 years? Relocate them to, say, Chinese political re-education camps? Probably not. Damn. I am so mad I can hardly stand it
There. All better.

#2

And the remaining drop boxes shackled or hauled off in pick-ups in 3…2…1…

#3

The silver lining, as much as there is of one, is the Texas Republicans are clearly scared and possibly desperate.

The ads are ridiculous. You’d think Cornyn was a feminist hippie from his and nary a word about Trump. Then there are the attack ads across the board, which would have angried up my blood if they weren’t so ridiculous. I take it as a plus they have to spend so much time, money, and attention here rather than states that are more competitive.

#4

The robocall deal was another stunt by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman. Doofuses. The Michigan AG is charging them with felonies. Yes!

#5

re carrps’s post just above:

Hallelujah!

#6

Are Wohl and Burkman physically present in Michigan?

#7

For some reason I’ve been thinking about the Texas secessionist movement as this election draws closer. While they claim that the country’s increasing liberalism is their primary motivation, I suspect that the state’s increasing liberalism is even more worrisome to them. Hence a proposed constitution that takes the USA’s worst problems of electoral representation (the EC and the Senate) and makes them even worse. The new Texas government will have a Senate composed of one representative from each of the 256 counties. But it’s the only way to insure rural and religious dominance over the teeming brown hordes in Texas cities.

The Texas GOP is very afraid right now. They’ve been better than most southern states at winning the Hispanic vote but in another couple of election cycles they’re gonna have to be even better.

#8

Yeah, this is also my problem with America’s brand of ‘conservatism’ in particular, which is inextricably tied to racism and exclusion. When an American white guy tells you that he’s a real conservative, there’s a good chance that he’s telling you he’s a real racist.

Conservatism in general really doesn’t have as much value as progressivism. Why would anyone want to live as we lived in the 1800s or 1700s or 1600s - we can almost universally agree that nobody alive today would want to live in times when we crapped on latrines, when children earned pennies a day crawling into chimneys, and when people were stoned for the mere accusation of adultery. Yet conservatism sells us on the idea that the past is always better than the present.

#9

I don’t know, but the dummies had their names at the beginning of the call, and it came from one of their phones (can’t remember which now). Couldn’t they have used a burner?

#10

The point of my question being, are they in a place where Michigan prosecutors can get their hands on them? If they aren’t in-state, then the prosecutors will have a more difficult job, first of finding them, then extraditing them.

#11

Sorry, didn’t get your point. I doubt they’re in Michigan. And though the robocalls went to a bunch of states I doubt they’re in those states either.

#12

Doesn’t matter whether they’re in Michigan or not; they’re charged with felony offenses. They will have to appear in court or face extradition, which will at some point probably involve the US Marshal Service if they continue to hide out.

#13

no idea why it has taken more than 4 years to charge this guy but hey:

#14

Because the previous administration blocked the FBI from pursuing it?

#15

Georgia 'pubs legislators are still seeking to disenfranchise folks. Here’s a nifty tidbit: they like to paint themselves as loving veterans but their suppression is making it impossible for me, a veteran, to actually vote from overseas. That’s not the big issue, though. The Big Issue is how they just hand-wave facts away and continue to buttress their myths and then tout the legislation as a wonderful thing because it fixes a problem that wasn’t really there to begin with. As one Southern comedian (It was either Jeff Foxworthy or Bill Engval) put it, “Keep fixing it until it’s broke”. Yep, that’s what they’re doing and will continue to do until they’re finally out of office.

#16

Among the many other atrocities proposed by the Georgia legislature, abolishing Sunday voting (during the early voting period) might be the worst. Though abolishing line warmers is a close second.

I think these red states are making a bad strategic decision as well as an indefensible moral decision. We may already have reached the tipping point in many states whereby suppressing the Democratic vote won’t work because of the sheer number of those aligned against it. Worse, if you’re a conservative, it will have the longer range effect of discouraging voters who value fair play in elections from voting red. This is an issue where the right decision morally will also pay off politically. The majority of American voters want voting to be convenient.

#17

Exactly.

Which is why we can’t have them voting, now can we?

#18

Maybe, but a lot of the people whose votes may be swayed by a preference for fair play in elections currently have no problem voting. If they’re not having their registrations challenged or waiting four hours to vote, they may believe the system is fair and have no reason to be discouraged from voting red.

OTOH, the people most impacted by voter suppression have the least means to combat it.