# The Republican War on Voting Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 11, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723 "2021-03-11T17:30:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/141 "2021-04-02T15:38:27Z")
> **[Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest Election-Reform Bill in...](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-the-koch-backed-effort-to-block-the-largest-election-reform-bill-in-half-a-century)** > > On a leaked conference call, leaders of dark-money groups and an aide to Mitch McConnell expressed frustration with the popularity of the legislation—even among Republican voters. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/142 "2021-04-02T17:56:48Z")
Got it - yeah I think I misread some of your post (that’ll teach me to post before my first cup) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/143 "2021-04-02T18:53:25Z")
Actually I would say that even giving money to the rich falls behind their primary motivation, of simply keeping themselves in power. Hence their willingness to punish corporations that are bowing to public pressure to oppose their anti-voting bill, and also to reflexively block any Democratic initiative even those that might be good for the economy for fear the the Democrats would be able to take credit. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/144 "2021-04-02T19:12:52Z")
Following on Delta’s heels, today American Airlines whose HQ is in Dallas/Ft. Worth has weighed in with their opposition to similar anti-voting legislation just passed by the Texas legislature: > **[American Airlines Statement on Texas Voting Legislation](https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2021/American-Airlines-Statement-on-Texas-Voting-Legislation-CORP-OTH-04/default.aspx)** > > Earlier this morning, the Texas State Senate passed legislation with provisions that limit voting access. To make American’s stance clear: We are strongly opposed to this bill and others like it. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/145 "2021-04-02T19:16:13Z")
It makes sense. Many people advocate for right wing policies claiming that they are better for business, that implementing these policies will attract business and commerce. Large businesses straight up saying that these policies are bad for business, and that they will be moving elsewhere completely contradicts those claims. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/146 "2021-04-02T20:08:42Z")
In other news, Gov. Abbott is in talks with Russian officials about bringing a new Aeroflot hub to Texas. (Woulda been better yesterday, I know) ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/147 "2021-04-02T20:25:25Z")
Saw a very interesting read on Vox today. It was good to see that some of the media are now catching on to the more important realization beyond “_OMG! Did you see that Trump tweet?!_” The more important realization being that American “conservatism” is, with greater frequency and percussion, openly embracing and advocating the idea that their America is coming to an end, and that something needs to be done to stop it, and that unconventional (and I’m guessing violent and illegal) means may be fair play in what they regard as a cultural civil war. > **[The conservative movement is rejecting America](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/4/1/22356594/conservatives-right-wing-democracy-claremont-ellmers)** > > A recent essay in a prominent right-wing outlet gives an unusually clear window into the modern right’s anti-democratic worldview. It’s not just radical yahoos running around the hills of Idaho saying this; we’re seeing the crystallization of this as an intellectual theme, and this is one of the things I’ve pointed out in many innumerable ‘chicken little-ish’ rants and rambles. For most of the last two years, we’ve had a dynamic in which it was loud vox populi radicals from the peanut gallery talking about open revolution, occasionally echoed and amplified by right wing celebs and talking heads trying to get attention. But taking the time to make an intellectual case for violent insurrection elevates the sense of urgency and the threat level we’re dealing with. Remember, before the Iraqi invasion of 2003, there was this little known group called the Project for a New American Century. Just a harmless think tank…until it became the only voice in the White House. I would not be surprised to see the domestically-focused PNAC sometime in the near future, if there isn’t one already. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/148 "2021-04-02T20:52:18Z")
Major League Baseball is removing the All Star Game from Georgia over the passage of voting restrictions: [MLB to move All-Star Game from Georgia - CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/02/us/mlb-all-star-game-moving-atlanta-spt/index.html) In typical head-scratching fashion, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said MLB needed to “stop listening to their _corporate communist_ sponsors and remember the little guys who buy their tickets.” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/149 "2021-04-02T21:07:00Z")
Corporations are now communist… ah, the circle of life. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/150 "2021-04-02T21:09:16Z")
I find this totally underwhelming. Not just AA and Delta but other companies as well. They really do not give a shit and I would bet dollars-to-dimes they will all continue their political donations as usual. This legislation did not _poof_ out of nowhere. These companies knew it was in the works and they did not lean in to change anything. Americans have a super short attention span. Delta and AA and the others will mumble some platitudes and in a while everyone will forget and it will be business as usual. (To be clear, I am not picking out any particular company here.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/151 "2021-04-02T21:21:55Z")
I certainly agree that making high-sounding but ultimately mealy-mouthed noises and going back to their walnut panelled rooms in their skyscrapers is the most likely outcome. But arguably, this is a bit different. Just like 6Jan21 wasn’t just politics as usual, these corps are seeing the thin end of a wedge leading directly to a future one-party authoritarian country. One where, like in Russia, your corporate treasury is subject to looting at random by the strongman _du jour_. As are all your executives. Sometimes their self-interest really is enlightened long term versus unthinking short term. Sometimes. One can hope. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/152 "2021-04-02T21:27:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Sometimes their self-interest really is enlightened long term versus unthinking short term. Sometimes. One can hope.- IOW sometimes what’s good for the corporation **is** what’s good for the country. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/153 "2021-04-02T21:39:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But arguably, this is a bit different. Just like 6Jan21 wasn’t just politics as usual, these corps are seeing the thin end of a wedge leading directly to a future one-party authoritarian country. I really do not think any of them take a long view. They are setup to prioritize short-term profits. No CEO will take a stand here because, in 20 years, it might not be what they want. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/154 "2021-04-03T14:39:27Z")
As naked GOP criminality\* rages on… > **[Trump might have 'found' the votes he needed to win Georgia under state's new...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/04/03/georgia-voting-law-boosts-republican-control-of-elections-column/4840793001/)** > > Republican legislators now have more oversight and power over elections and the county officials who count the votes. The secretary of state has less. > [@](#): > > The law doesn’t just change who picks the chair. Now, the majority of the board’s members will be legislative appointees, and the board gains ominous new power: the ability to remove and replace election officials administering the vote at the level where the real elections work happens — the county level. Let’s say the state board does not like the way vote-counting is going in heavily Democratic Fulton County. Under the new law, the board can fire those in charge and plop in a new boss more to its liking. “After the November election last year,” Gov. Brian Kemp said as he signed the bill into law, “I knew … that [significant reforms](https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-legislature-bills-state-elections-voting-rights-b2b014cc81894a50fc513168a5f1d0b8) to our state elections were needed.” \*Maybe my greatest typo, ever: originally wrote “criminanity”. (A second ‘n’ wouldn’t’a hurt!) ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/155 "2021-04-03T14:46:22Z")
This will be copied in other states. States like Texas and Mississippi are a given, but I worry about places like Wisconsin, Michigan, and PA, particularly if those states lose their Dem governors. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/156 "2021-04-05T03:43:34Z")
First of all, fuck you Chris Christie for misrepresenting the GA voting bill and the fake position that Joe Biden has on that idea. > **[Trump might have 'found' the votes he needed to win Georgia under state's new...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/04/03/georgia-voting-law-boosts-republican-control-of-elections-column/4840793001/)** > > Republican legislators now have more oversight and power over elections and the county officials who count the votes. The secretary of state has less. Here’s the deal: Georgia’s law allows local political hacking. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/157 "2021-04-06T13:32:44Z")
I still believe we’re approaching a tipping point where the backlash against GQP voter suppression will be greater than the number of votes the GQP is able to suppress. The flashpoint may occur in '24 when a red state legislature (WI? MI? PA? GA? NC?) decides that the state’s election processes were “flawed” (yes, I see the irony here) and sends the Republican candidate’s electors to Congress in spite of the Democratic candidate winning the state. Because while we’re letting ourselves be a little distracted by shutting down drop boxes and banning water to people waiting in long lines, Republicans have been setting themselves up to legislatively ignore a vote that doesn’t go their way. If the majority of Americans don’t think this is overstepping the boundaries of democracy, then we no long have an actual democracy going forrward. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/158 "2021-04-06T14:20:00Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > If the majority of Americans don’t think this is overstepping the boundaries of democracy, then we no long have an actual democracy going forrward. Yeah but is it really a majority of Americans? I mean I don’t think it’s a majority of Real Americans who think that. I don’t want illegal voter fraud terrorists telling Real Americans how to run their elections. /s in case it wasn’t obvious. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/159 "2021-04-06T16:09:27Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > If the majority of Americans don’t think this is overstepping the boundaries of democracy, then we no long have an actual democracy going forrward. It is not entirely clear to me how much Americans actually value true democracy. Some people are more comfortable living in a democracy that is defined by people who like and think like themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/160 "2021-04-06T16:13:33Z")
What’s left of conservative writing is drifting towards exactly that – questioning the value of democracy itself. If current conservative values cannot prevail in the courts of public opinion, the theory goes, then the Moral Minority has no choice but to impose anti-democratic measures to preserve those values and “save the nation’s character.” They are getting ever closer to an outright rejection of majoritarian governance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723.md?page=9)