In a democracy or a republic, the people’s voice echoes from the ballot box. If you want to stifle that voice, you make it difficult to register to vote and make it difficult for people to actually vote. Somehow, after hundreds of years of trying to live up to our Founding documents, there is still a dark underbelly of American politics does not want everyone to register to vote or to, wait for it, to actually vote.
Voter suppression permeates our history. The Reconstruction Period did not end the practice, the Poll Tax limited voting, and voter registration requirements in many states precluded all who were non-White from voting. The practice still exists in many areas of our country: regulations make it difficult to register, gerrymandering guarantees the continued election of one party, polling places are limited in areas with a plurality of minority voters, and the list goes on. The young, progressive, and newly influential members of the 116th Congress will have none of it.
The first bill introduced in Congress this year was “For the People Act of 2019 (HR-1). It calls for a national overhaul of the voting process for federal elections. It is voluminous. It seeks more than it can get. It points in the right direction. The Senate Majority Leader calls it a major power grab so it may be dead on arrival in his chamber. You see, he knows that if minorities get to vote, his party members stand a good chance of losing power. What does it contain that is so onerous? What makes it a power grab?
In the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court ruled, in simple terms, that large Political Action Committees (PACs) can funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into election campaigns without revealing the names of its contributors; dark money. HR-1 would overturn that ruling and require PACs to publish the name of anyone who contributed over $10,000.
State legislatures usually design the congressional districts for their states. As expected, they draw the districts to give ruling parties the advantage. HR-1 will require that states draw congressional districts in such a way that they represent the people in the district: race, nationality, gender, etc., the start to the elimination of gerrymandering.
Many states make it difficult to register to vote. HR-1 calls for automatic registration systems across the nation, with an opt-out provision. When the county administrators cannot control voter registration, it will change the dynamics at the polls. HR-1 will also allow all voters to update their registration online; change their name, address, or party affiliation.
HR-1 provides for uniform early voting practices across the country. It eases the requirement to vote by mail, and outlaws the practice of paid party hacks going door to door to gather unsealed ballots in poor regions of some states.
HR-1 calls for Election Day to be designated a national holiday so that everyone has a chance to vote. It is a call for transparency and fairness in voting practices. It calls for a new awakening for the most powerful voice in the country, the vote.
How is that a power grab?
