Voter Suppression to Inspire Confidence in Elections? That’s BS

The single most important thing that can be done to increase confidence in elections is to STOP BLOODY LYING ABOUT IT

There is no problem at all with wanting to inspire confidence in our elections and voting systems. It is a very good and desirable thing, and fortunately, there are many ways states and counties can have a positive impact on our elections, thus helping us all to feel that the elections are free and fair, secure, and that our votes have meaning.

But that’s not what’s going on all across the country. What’s happening is that at last count some 250+ bills have been introduced in something like 25 states, by Republican-led state state legislatures, virtually all a knee-jerk reaction to a near-landslide loss by Donald J. Trump. It also hurt that the Trumpster, smarting from his loss, raged and raged, helping to lose 2 Georgia Senate seats.

But here’s the thing: the vast majority of the election laws that the GOP is trying to “fix” were passed by the same Republican state legislatures which are now trying to undo their own actions. The sad part: they had it right the first time!

Why? Because there is in fact no evidence that mail-in voting is a systemic problem; because we had a real challenge for voting due to the advent of COVID-19, which rightly led to expansion of mail-in voting and extension of both early voting and days-past-November 3rd for ballot receipt; and because they rightly assumed that with such expansion and extension more Republicans would turn out.

That was really their only mistake: for various reasons (mostly due to Trump and his antics) Democrats turned out in far greater numbers than Republicans, especially in early voting and mail-in! That’s called, oh…let’s see — an election. Now they want to “fix” it, and that is exactly what they are trying to do — fix the next election cycle to their advantage by suppressing votes of mostly Democrats, especially persons of color.

And it’ ALL based on lies.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

There is a fundamental, a basic, an existential thing that is currently being ignored by many: the narrative that there was a major problem with the 2020 elections is simply a big, fat lie. The notion is not a “nuanced view,” it is nothing more than a false narrative, an alternate reality, crafted initially by former president Trump.

It was then echoed by his supporters, including a number of members of the House and the Senate — the latter folks having an agenda of their own in perpetuating the big lie. And then Trump supporters — possibly with help from certain members of The Hill GOP(?) — stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th in an attempt to force Congress and Vice President Pence to keep Trump in power — and negate millions of voters’ wishes, and also negate the Electoral College results. Oh, and by the way, evidently to injure or kill folks who refused to do their bidding.

So there were actually two big lies: first, that the election was fraudulent and was “stolen” from Trump; and second, that there was on January 6th something that could change the outcome of the election and keep Trump in power. Without these two lies, then believed by many supporters, the Capitol would not have been stormed that day. The rally would still have happened, but not the insurrection.

The Law and Order President? The Law and Order Party? These “patriots” were nothing of the sort. They erected a gallows from which to hang the Vice President of the United States! A police officer was killed. Many more were injured. Blue Lives Matter? They did not seem to much matter on January 6th to the insurrectionists, did they?

How do we know there was no stolen election in 2020? Well, let’s review, shall we?

Before the election

First, recall that many months before the election even took place, Trump was already seeding the ground for the Big Lie. The only way he could lose is if there was massive fraud. I have in a previous article suggested that this was in fact a calculated maneuver done because he was already really worried that he was going to lose — and could not, and still cannot admit that he got beat fair and square.

Then came the similar maneuver of casting doubt on mail-in ballots — lying again, as there was no evidence of voting by this method has any significant dangers, other than making it easier for more people to vote. He and his supporters were screaming about the long-known fraudulent aspect of mail-in voting, but somehow never provided any proof. They perhaps can be forgiven for providing no proof, since there was none to provide — but there is no forgiveness for the lie.

After the election

Trump’s own otherwise-loyal Bulldog (in an almost diseased way…how many sets of knee-pads were worn out there?) Attorney General, Bill Barr, said so himself.

So did Chris Krebs, who was head of CISA — a Trump appointee, also said it was a safe and secure election, the safest and most secure in recent times.

So did the Republican Governor, and the Republican Secretary of State of Georgia, after they had done multiple recounts of the 2020 vote as required by law. These are two Republicans who Trump is now attacking — having first been dumb enough to make calls trying to pressure them into throwing the election back to him.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), current Chairman of the Republican National Senate Committees (RNSC) said that Biden “absolutely won in a fair election.”

Now we have knuckleheads like Sen. Ron Johnson, who appear to be laying the foundation for the notion (another lie) that January 6th didn’t happen the way we all saw it live; that it was really BLM and Antifa (because he’s only scared of Black Folks). That man is either plain stupid, racist, or both — and in any event is lying about being smart enough to recognize reality or about not being a racist.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the 60+lawsuits by Trump, the Trump Campaign, the GOP, the Texas AG, and others — with an overall 100% failure rate. And even that they have to lie about. How many times have we heard the former president whining that the courts only rebuffed the suits because of “standing?”

Forgetting for a moment that standing is a fundamental legal requirement in every lawsuit, the plain fact is that the lawsuits were BS, pleaded incompatible legal theories, were brought about a year too late, often failed to allege fraud at all, and the ones that did — though having the chance — never provided the “obvious” evidence of fraud. That’s the way litigation works; if you’re just using it as part of a BS political strategy, at some point a judge is gonna ring you up for trying to play politics in his or her courtroom.

Big lies often have many and long shadows, both fore and aft

Now, the big lie is being used in state legislatures across the country in what has to be the most massive coordinated attempt to disenfranchise voters of color in U.S. History. The really sad part is that all a thinking person must do is review history a little to see the fallacy — and it’s not even necessary to go all the way back to Jim Crow to follow the true narrative.

Answer this question: what is the major U.S. political party which was under a consent decree issued in 1982 (terminated in January 2018, just in time to play games for the 2020 election cycle) after getting sued for using off-duty, armed police officers to intimidate, and to use signage and other tactics, to discourage likely Democratic voters? Anyone with a guess on this question?

You guessed it — the GOP. Specifically, the Republican National Committee (RNC). Those fine folks in 1981 founded the National Ballot Security Task Force (NBSTF), and the chief reason for it — then as also admitted now — was that when voters turned out in really high numbers, it seemed like Republicans lost elections. The chief “offenders” among the voters seemed to be in heavily-Democratic urban areas, and…wait for it…with lots of persons of color. Think about that for a minute — more votes good, unless they’re black or brown, in which case they are bad? That is some Neanderthal thinking that would warm the heart of a certain Texas Governor who seems to have gotten stuck in a groove left by a species replaced by Homo Sapiens…us.

Yep, turns out that what the RNC was doing ran afoul of the Voting Rights Act of way-back-in-the-day (the same one the GOP is currently hoping will be un-ravelled by the current conservative Supreme Court). They got sued by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and in a rather obvious hand-in-the-cookie-jar moment, the RNC chose to avoid the big downside of publicity and trial (and damning evidence), agreeing to a Consent Decree in 1982.

That, a reasonable person might think, should be the end of that — right? Not quite. Really, a bright 7 year old might come to the same conclusion. The problem is that there never seems to be a bright 7 year old around when her wisdom is needed. The RNC tried many times to undo the Consent Decree, on various grounds. Ponder that for a minute…an agreement made, but somehow it should be undone. No honor amongst thieves?

But what all these attempts really came down to was (can you guess?) buyers-remorse, because it turns out those damned and pesky voters — when they turn out in large numbers — well, you know. To me, the really odd thing is that the notion may not actually be accurate. But there’s no doubt it’s what Republicans believe — they fall all over themselves complaining about it; and none of them more loudly than Trump.

So now, here we are, with the Republicans going down the same voter-suppression road, just using a different lane. Let’s not — they say — have a person be able to register to vote the same day they vote (but it is fine that they can buy a firearm and use it the same day to kill people) — thank you Sen. Warnock for articulating that; let’s not have too many places where voters can drop off their ballots, especially in likely-democratic precincts; and for God’s sake, let’s make sure Black people, who spend Sundays in large numbers in church (good for them!), cannot vote after church.

If I sound a little offensive, you may take it that I am bloody offended!