Trump / Republican Voter Suppression

 

• INDIVISIBLE
• Legislation with a side of voter suppression was the name of the game for House Republicans before going on recess last week. When the SAVE America Act -- Trump’s bill that would make it much, much harder for people to register to vote -- couldn’t get enough votes to pass on its own, the House GOP broke it up piecemeal and attached it to the National Defense Authorization Act, reconciliation 3.0, and a faux congressional stock trading ban. This legislation is SO unpopular that Trump and his sycophants have to hide it in other bills. Even with these desperate tactics, the bill still doesn’t have a path forward in the Senate -- by itself or attached to these other bills.

• Reconciliation 3.0, the latest Republican effort to bypass the filibuster in order to fulfill Trump’s agenda (see the backgrounder on reconciliation here) passed the House last week. The bill would give Trump more funding to wage his illegal war on Iran and, you guessed it, implement parts of the SAVE America Act. Due to deep divisions between House and Senate Republicans, the bill could be DOA in the Senate, but that hasn’t stopped the GOP from talking about a FOURTH reconciliation bill, possibly during the lame duck period after the election.

via Indivisible

Texas Closes Hundreds of Black, Latino Polling Sites

Texas Closes Hundreds Of Black, Latino Polling Sites

“Voter suppression, plain and simple”: Texas closed hundreds of polling sites in black, Latino areas. Salon: "Texas has shuttered more polling places than any other state since 2012 and most of the closures disproportionately hit black and Latino areas, according to a new analysis by The Guardian. Texas has closed 750 polling locations since 2012, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, a civil rights group, reported last year. The state had one polling place for every 4,000 residents in 2012, but that number rose to 7,700 residents by 2018. The Guardian's analysis found that the overwhelming majority of closures came in areas that saw the largest increase in black and Latino residents. The 50 counties that saw the highest growth in black and Latino population had 542 polling sites close between 2012 and 2018, while the 50 counties with the lowest black and Latino population growth saw just 34 closures. The closures came despite the population in the top 50 counties rising by 2.5 million while the 50 counties that had just 34 closures saw their population fall by 13,000 'This is voter suppression — plain and simple,' saidthe progressive advocacy group MoveOn. The moves are likely to worsen Texas' already-low turnout rates, advocates warned, despite changing demographics and large growth in black and Latino areas."

And, Biden won by a narrow margin.