I have seen several letters in newspapers expressing the opinion that Democrats are over reacting in their push for voting legislation. So I thought I would review the facts. The Brennan Center for Justice reported, (12/21/21): “Between January 1 and December 7, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting.” Last April the New York Times examined the new Georgia voting law and found 16 specific provisions that make it more difficult for some people to vote. In general this law limits polling places and makes access to ballots more difficult in order to frustrate people trying to vote. Much more concerning though, The Brennan Center also reported; “And in a new trend this year, legislators introduced bills to allow partisan actors to interfere with election processes or even reject election results entirely.”
PEW Charitable Trust reported (7/28/21), that 14 states have enacted 23 new laws that empower state officials to take control of county election boards. Laws such as Arizona’s H.B. 2720 or Texas’ law S.B. 7 or Georgia’s S.B. 202 for example would allow for partisan officials to reject the results of an election. Republicans have already tried to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and four other states. For example after three re-counts, including hand recounts, of every legal ballot in Georgia and Arizona, confirmed that Joe Biden was the winner, Republicans sent into the federal government forged documentation falsely claiming Mr. Trump as the winner. Our own Republican congressman, Chris Jacobs, along with over 100 other members of congress voted to disenfranchise million of voters just on the some claim of irregularities with absolutely no evidence. (No evidence has been found to date either). Voting is the foundation of our democracy. Passing laws that allow only one party’s votes to count is not democracy. That is why these voting rights bill are needed to protect our democracy.
