Voter Suppression & Election Theft by the Republican Party

[jackd]

Probably.

[LFC]

Republican fascists in Pennsylvania already have majority power despite a near even split in votes but aren't satisfied with that as they try to grab even more power. Voter disenfranchisement for power is now the primary Republican "principle." They're not even pretending anymore and their base doesn't want them to.

New district maps for Pennsylvania’s state legislature have received preliminary approval from a state commission — and prompted outrage from Pennsylvania House Republicans, for whom the maps are not red enough.

Now, they’re pushing a constitutional amendment to give themselves new authority to draw legislative districts. The proposal would take power away from the commission that’s drawn districts for the past 50 years, and which has typically favored Republicans.

The proposed amendment, from House State Government Committee Chair Seth Grove (R), would create a “Citizens’ Legislative Reapportionment Commission” to draw maps. But the full effect of the amendment — which would be approved by a statewide vote and wouldn’t need Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) sign-off — would tilt the redistricting process dramatically in Republicans’ favor.

Why? Because the swing members of Grove’s proposed commission would be appointed by governmental bodies currently controlled by Republicans. The commission’s maps would require the legislature’s approval. And unlike Pennsylvania’s current system, rejected maps would be redrawn by the legislature, not the commission.

The proposal came after this year’s commission approved preliminary maps that still favored Republicans — but not to the same extent they did in years past, particularly on the state House side.

“I think what’s changed is the [Legislative Reapportionment Commission] put out a map that they don’t like,” said Benjamin Geffen, a staff attorney at the Philadelphia-based Public Interest Law center, referring to Republican legislators.

[pnwguy]

Jan 14, 2022 16:21:41 GMT LFC said:

Republican fascists in Pennsylvania already have majority power despite a near even split in votes but aren't satisfied with that as they try to grab even more power. Voter disenfranchisement for power is now the primary Republican "principle." They're not even pretending anymore and their base doesn't want them to.

New district maps for Pennsylvania’s state legislature have received preliminary approval from a state commission — and prompted outrage from Pennsylvania House Republicans, for whom the maps are not red enough.

Now, they’re pushing a constitutional amendment to give themselves new authority to draw legislative districts. The proposal would take power away from the commission that’s drawn districts for the past 50 years, and which has typically favored Republicans.

The proposed amendment, from House State Government Committee Chair Seth Grove (R), would create a “Citizens’ Legislative Reapportionment Commission” to draw maps. But the full effect of the amendment — which would be approved by a statewide vote and wouldn’t need Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) sign-off — would tilt the redistricting process dramatically in Republicans’ favor.

Why? Because the swing members of Grove’s proposed commission would be appointed by governmental bodies currently controlled by Republicans. The commission’s maps would require the legislature’s approval. And unlike Pennsylvania’s current system, rejected maps would be redrawn by the legislature, not the commission.

The proposal came after this year’s commission approved preliminary maps that still favored Republicans — but not to the same extent they did in years past, particularly on the state House side.

“I think what’s changed is the [Legislative Reapportionment Commission] put out a map that they don’t like,” said Benjamin Geffen, a staff attorney at the Philadelphia-based Public Interest Law center, referring to Republican legislators.

I wonder when they will figure out that it's just more efficient to round up Democrat voters and imprison them (felons can't vote).  Time to buy more stock in for-profit prisons that will run the future "re-education camps".  They can be like "gay conversion therapy" rehab centers, only they turn out GOP voters.

[LFC]

One of the Republicans who signed a forged election certificate is a candidate for Nevada's SoS where he would actually be in charge of administering the election. And he has Mark Meadows's endorsement. He's proud of his forgery and is open to doing it again. We're doomed.

One of the Nevada Republicans who signed fake elector documents falsely claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election threatened to do it all over again in 2024 — when he is hoping to be in charge of the state's elections.

"Extreme Republicans loyal to Donald Trump and his 'big lie' that the 2020 election was rigged have formed a nationwide alliance aiming to take control of the presidential election process in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential race," The Guardian reported. "At least eight Republicans who are currently running to serve as chief election officials in crucial swing states have come together to form the coalition."

The British newspaper interviewed Nevada Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant, who bragged on social media as the group was submitting it's fake electors.

YES, WE DID! #nevadagop standing strong in the #Battleborn State!

\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/XgZ4y6jn3Y
— Jim Marchant (@jim Marchant) 1607988397

The newspaper asked Marchant if he would be prepared to do it again in 2024.

“That is very possible, yes," he replied.

Veteran Nevada political reporter Jon Ralson cited Marchant's comments and described the Secretary of State hopeful as a "dangerous kook."

[LFC]

It looks like a number, and perhaps all, of the Republicans who signed and submitted forged certificates were actual Trump electors and not just some fringe, unattached nutters. They as completely Republican mainstream.

On December 14, 2020, the winning slates cast their votes in their respective state capitols. That same day, Republicans in seven Biden swing states held sham votes for Trump.

Disturbingly, these fake voters were mostly real Trump electors who had been sidelined because Trump lost their states. These weren’t just randos cosplaying as electors. They were public officials who betrayed their position of trust.

The results of these sham votes for Trump were memorialized as fraudulent “certificates of ascertainment” and sent to Mike Pence as president of the Senate and to other federal and state officials. We know from Trump lawyer John Eastman’s notorious memos that Team Trump had big plans for those fraudulent slates of electors.

In the run-up to the J6 insurrection, Eastman wrote two notorious memos outlining how Trump could use baseless allegations of mass voter fraud as a pretext to steal the election during the certification ceremony (aka the long memo and the short memo).

The long memo begins with the observation that seven states have sent dual slates of electors to Mike Pence as president of the senate. It was Pence’s prerogative, Eastman insisted, to accept or reject electoral votes at his whim.

“The president of the Senate does the counting,” Eastman falsely asserted, “[...] and all the Members of Congress can do is watch.” According to Eastman, if a state legislature defied its governor and “certified” a fraudulent slate, Pence could simply ignore the real votes and count the fake ones.

In fact, no state legislature succumbed to Trump’s pressure to certify the fraudulent electors. But Eastman had planned for that.

[LFC]

Arizona Republicans just got nervous about submitting a forged election certificate. The scary thing is that two fake slates of electors were pushed at the same time. These people are total fascists.

Republicans in Arizona are refusing to detail who organized the phony slate of electors that was sent to the National Archives.

The Arizona Republic spoke to multiple Republicans who signed the document and reported "none would detail exactly how they and the other official Trump electors came to sign a document that was sent to Congress with a false avowal that they constituted Arizona’s official vote in the Electoral College. That document, and recent revelations from the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, raise new questions about how the group was organized and how the false document came to exist."

The Arizona Republican Party even complained about another fake slate of electors while pushing its own slate, despite the fact the state was won by Joe Biden.

[LFC]

Debate and possibly a vote on a voter rights bill is moving forward. Harris states it plainly:

Vice President Harris said Monday that she is "not going to absolve" any member of the Senate who will not take action to pass voting rights legislation when she was asked specifically about Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

TPM has live coverage of what's going on today.

The Senate is regrouping Tuesday, initially slated to be a holiday recess, to complete a seemingly ill-fated push to reform the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation.

The Democrats will have one last caucus meeting this evening, and the first roll call votes on the voting rights bills are expected Wednesday. When the Republicans filibuster the bills, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will likely try to change the filibuster rules. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), at least, will almost certainly join with the Republicans in opposing those changes.

Moscow Mitch is, of course, making threats.

MLK's family is adding to the pressure on Manchin and especially Sinema, who is likely much more vulnerable to a primary challenge.

The family of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been turning up the heat on Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) as the senators clutch onto the filibuster, which dooms any chance of passing Democrats’ voting rights legislation.

During a press conference after the “D.C. Peace Walk” in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Yolanda Renee King, the 13-year-old granddaughter of the civil rights icon, urged the two senators to “do the right thing” when the legislation comes to a vote as planned this week. Though Sinema and Manchin support the bills, they refuse to back any changes to the filibuster that would allow the bills to pass.

“Senator Sinema, Senator Manchin, our future hinges on your decision, and history will remember what choice you make,” Yolanda Renee King said as her father, Dr. King’s eldest son, stood next to her.

The son, Martin Luther King III, had slammed Sinema on her home turf during a voting rights rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday.

“History will remember Sen. Sinema, I believe unkindly, for her position on the filibuster,” he said.

[jackd]

And after the vote to waive the filibuster fails, what will we have gained? Similarly, VP Harris' lack of "absolution" is unlikely to bother either of the senators involved. Is there any harm? Perhaps a vivd example of the weakness of the Democratic Party in its "control" of the government will not be helpful for midterm campaigning.

[LFC]

Jan 18, 2022 21:12:50 GMT jackd said:

And after the vote to waive the filibuster fails, what will we have gained? Similarly, VP Harris' lack of "absolution" is unlikely to bother either of the senators involved. Is there any harm? Perhaps a vivd example of the weakness of the Democratic Party in its "control" of the government will not be helpful for midterm campaigning.

"They need to fight! Even if they don't always win they have to show they're willing to try!"

"No, they need to not look weak by losing a fight!"

And so goes the never-ending and often conflicting advise for what Democrats must do. AFAIC they are damned if they do and damned if they don't so they might as well at least fire up the base. That means fighting. I can't really see what passively giving up brings to the table when it comes time to get out the vote. If you lose your base the people who simply didn't see you lose aren't going to make up the difference.

[jackd]

The problem, I think, is that elections are won or lost on the margins, in swing states, where rural voters seem to hold the balance. They are unlikely th think such a hopeless action was impressive in any sense. At the same time, those in the "base", by which I assume you mean progressives, are likely to complain that Biden failed to "make" those two senators vote the wrong way. That silliness has already started even before the vote. Will that spur the base to intensify its efforts to get more progressives elected or will it ebb their enthusiasm and reduce their vote? I don't know but I'm not sure the gamble makes sense. Those who care already know the Democrats don't have the votes.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 18, 2022 21:52:34 GMT jackd said:

The problem, I think, is that elections are won or lost on the margins, in swing states, where rural voters seem to hold the balance. They are unlikely th think such a hopeless action was impressive in any sense. At the same time, those in the "base", by which I assume you mean progressives, are likely to complain that Biden failed to "make" those two senators vote the wrong way. That silliness has already started even before the vote. Will that spur the base to intensify its efforts to get more progressives elected or will it ebb their enthusiasm and reduce their vote? I don't know but I'm not sure the gamble makes sense. Those who care already know the Democrats don't have the votes.

Either unsuccessful route means the Democrats will be blamed for not being dominant in the rural states of this country. That's the Democrats biggest problem, not lack of good strategy on these or any other bills, not lack of good speeches or lack of appropriate backroom dealing.  Having 50 senators who claim the D behind their names is simply not a majority, not in any meaningful sense.

[LFC]

Texass voter suppression is working.

Behold: Veep-Style Voter Suppression

The Texas Secretary of State’s office will be sending out fewer voter registration forms this year because of a “paper shortage” and “the cost constraints due to the price of paper and the supply of paper,” according to the office’s spokesperson.

• The spokesperson pointed to Texas’ new restrictive voting law as the reason why the office had to change its registration forms, which advocacy groups are now struggling to obtain.

• The president of the League of Women Voters of Texas, a voting rights group, says the Secretary of State’s office told her to look for donations instead of relying on the government for the forms, according to Austin’s NPR affiliate. Yes, really.

• Texas is one of the few states that still require voters to use paper forms to register. There’s no website for Texans to do the whole process online.

• Democrats’ sweeping voting rights legislation would require all states to offer online registration.

• We’re seeing other early signs of problems stemming from the law, too: Clerks sounded the alarm over the last few days about a massive spike in the rejection of absentee-ballot request forms, TPM’s Matt Shuham reports.

• “This is what voter suppression looks like,” Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said at a press conference.

More on the intended outcome of the Texass restrictions.

The veteran clerk of Travis County, Texas on Tuesday lamented that Texas’ new voting restrictions had led to a spike in rejected requests for absentee ballots in her county, and several others across the state.

“This is what voter suppression looks like,” Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said at a press conference.

As Texas’ March 1 primary date rapidly approaches, hundreds of would-be voters in the Austin area have had their ballot applications rejected due to the new restrictions, said DeBeauvoir, who announced in November that she is not seeking re-election after 35 years on the job.

“This is all brand new,” added DeBeauvoir, referring to the new voting restrictions law. “This is all because of SB 1. These are new obstacles for voters. They’ve never had to deal with this kind of problem in the past.”

Given that primary voters are typically more engaged politically, and more familiar with the “rules of engagement” for voting, Texas’ new rules could lead to even more ballot request rejections in November’s general election, said Tammy Patrick, senior advisor to the elections program at Democracy Fund.

“In an election cycle where you have individuals who aren’t as familiar with the process, those rates are going to be even higher,” Patrick said.

The primary issue so far, DeBeauvoir said, is the ID requirement in the new law: Absentee voters in Texas are now required to include either their driver’s license number, a state ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number on both their ballot applications and on the ballot envelopes themselves.

What’s worse, the type of identification number voters use needs to match the type they used to register in the first place — forcing them to remember a minute detail sometimes decades after the fact, or else risk being rejected and having to fix their application. (The Department of Justice sued Texas over this and other new rules in November.) DeBeauvoir also said a state database that could hold some of the historical information was blank for Travis County, and that state officials had been extremely difficult to reach.

“The voter is playing a guessing game with this,” DeBeauvoir said. “The voter is trying to remember the number that they signed up with at the voter registration office 10, 20, 30 years ago. ‘What number did I use for the voter registration database? Was it my driver’s license number? Did I use my Social Security number?’”

“So far we have not received instructions from the secretary of state’s office to tell voters how to go look up this information, and therein is the beginning of the problem for voters,” she added.

Of the roughly 1,900 ballot requests received by Travis County as of Tuesday morning, DeBeauvoir said more than 500 had been rejected. About half of rejected applications didn’t fill out the ID field, and around 50 additional applications had included an ID number that did not match state records, DeBeauvoir said: “They didn’t guess right.”

[LFC]

Another utter nutter with debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen. The fact that he's a teacher is scary.

CNN on Tuesday detailed how a math and science teacher from Ohio is traveling the country to spread Donald Trump's debunked "big lie" of election fraud.

CNN's Sara Murray detailed how bowtie-clad teacher Douglas Frank has become a celebrity among Donald Trump supporters for his debunked claims of fraud.

"Currently on leave from his teaching position, Frank has traveled to Texas and dozens of other states, claiming he uncovered an algorithm proving the 2020 election was stolen nationwide, even as his conclusions have been debunked by mathematicians and election experts," Murray reported. "In an interview with CNN, he stood by his flawed conclusions, remaining adamant in his belief that the elections are rigged -- regardless of the many experts who have disproven his claims."

Frank is seeking to organize mothers to rally behind his debunked claims.

[LFC]

Zack Beauchamp has a more detailed and nuanced take of the Republican effort to move America to an autocracy and what can and is being done to push back.

For all the good they would have done, the bills would only have had a limited effect on the biggest short-term threat to American democracy: election subversion, in which partisan political actors distort or outright disregard legitimate election results. The battle against these tactics was always going to take place in multiple arenas, most of which are outside of Washington.

Across the country, at the state and local level, Trump supporters are volunteering or running for local positions that would put them in charge of the mechanics of elections. According to an NPR analysis, at least 15 Republicans who doubt or deny the legitimacy of Biden’s election victory are campaigning for state secretaries of state. For anyone concerned with American democracy, defeating these candidates should be a priority.

At the federal level, Republicans have signaled openness to reforming the Electoral Count Act (ECA) — the obscure federal law that opened the door to then-Vice President Mike Pence potentially overturning the 2020 election at Trump’s behest. The reform isn’t perfect but it’s worth pursuing, especially since a bipartisan coalition in the Senate might be willing to consider it.

These fights — contesting thousands of local elections and passing less ambitious but bipartisan reform legislation — may not be as emotionally satisfying as landmark elections overhaul. They won’t address voter suppression and gerrymandering, which still pose challenges for American democracy. But they do move the needle in ways that the doomsaying this week can obscure.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 21, 2022 18:03:49 GMT LFC said:

Zack Beauchamp has a more detailed and nuanced take of the Republican effort to move America to an autocracy and what can and is being done to push back.

For all the good they would have done, the bills would only have had a limited effect on the biggest short-term threat to American democracy: election subversion, in which partisan political actors distort or outright disregard legitimate election results. The battle against these tactics was always going to take place in multiple arenas, most of which are outside of Washington.

Across the country, at the state and local level, Trump supporters are volunteering or running for local positions that would put them in charge of the mechanics of elections. According to an NPR analysis, at least 15 Republicans who doubt or deny the legitimacy of Biden’s election victory are campaigning for state secretaries of state. For anyone concerned with American democracy, defeating these candidates should be a priority.

At the federal level, Republicans have signaled openness to reforming the Electoral Count Act (ECA) — the obscure federal law that opened the door to then-Vice President Mike Pence potentially overturning the 2020 election at Trump’s behest. The reform isn’t perfect but it’s worth pursuing, especially since a bipartisan coalition in the Senate might be willing to consider it.

These fights — contesting thousands of local elections and passing less ambitious but bipartisan reform legislation — may not be as emotionally satisfying as landmark elections overhaul. They won’t address voter suppression and gerrymandering, which still pose challenges for American democracy. But they do move the needle in ways that the doomsaying this week can obscure.

Thanks to Manchin and Sinema this battle to save democracy will have to be fought state by state, county by county.  And it's being fought against people who have no scruples, no boundaries to what they will do to achieve and maintain power.

[LFC]

With its March 1 primary coming up Texass voting laws are causing problems and the counties aren't getting any help from the secretary of state who is in charge of overseeing the elections. Fascism coupled with incompetence or, as I like to call it, the Republican Party.

When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the state’s big new election bill, SB 1, into law in September — part of a Trumpian wave of new election restrictions across the country — the governor said the bill would help rebuild “trust” in the state’s elections.

“One thing that all Texans can agree [on] and that is that we must have trust and confidence in our elections,” Abbott said. “The bill that I’m about to sign helps to achieve that goal.”

But with Texas’ first-in-the-nation March 1 primary elections rapidly approaching, election officials and activists around the state are worried that the law could disenfranchise some of the state’s most reliable voters. County election officials are scrambling to stave off the worse-case scenarios.

The problems are compounded by what some county officials say is poor communication from the secretary of state’s office: One official told TPM they only learned of a key state database after another clerk spoke out in frustration in a press conference.

“Information is coming fast and it’s a bit confusing,” said Leah Shah, director of communications and voter outreach in Harris County, the most populous county in the state and home to Houston.

“It’s a bit confusing for counties, as it is for voters.”

The main issue, at this point, are the SB 1’s new ID requirements: Voters who qualify to use absentee ballots must now fill in an ID number on their absentee ballot application form.

What’s more, the number must also match the type of number — whether driver’s license, state ID or last four Social Security digits — that officials have on file from when the voter in question first registered. Voters can use any of those options to register, but SB 1 requires them to remember which they chose, potentially decades ago. (Some clerks have advised voters to put down every number they can, for the best chance of a match.)

Elderly voters who may not have access to ID documents, or who can’t recall the number they put down with the state, appear to be especially impacted.

“If they’re in their 70s, 80s, and they’re voting by mail, and they registered to vote 30, 40 years ago — the issue is, what number did they register to vote with?” Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas, told TPM Monday.

To make matters worse, pre-SB 1 application forms don’t have an ID number field, and are still floating in libraries and other voter-facing locations around the state.

‘We Literally Learned About That In The News’

SB 1’s stumbling blocks have been made worse by a lack of communication from the secretary of state’s office, officials say.

For example, Shah told TPM that Harris County initially wasn’t aware that they could use a state-maintained database to check voters’ ID numbers, and were instead going through “every file we may have” to try and match identifications, Shah said.

They only found out about the state database when the clerk of Travis County, home to Austin, held a press conference to air her complaints with the state, and referenced the database.

“We literally learned about that in the news,” Shah said.

Harris County wasn’t alone. “There were several large counties that are offline that were not aware that they’d have to go beyond their internal systems, and I’m one of them,” elections administrator Chris Davis of Williamson County, north of Austin, told the Texas Tribune.

The secretary of state’s website is still coming to terms with SB 1 itself: Up until Tuesday, when TPM reached out to a spokesperson for comment, the state’s instructions for applying to vote by mail told readers to “Complete Sections 1 through 8” of the application form — even though the post-SB 1 application only has six steps. The site has since been updated.

And the law has plenty more changes in store for counties to deal with.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 25, 2022 22:30:41 GMT LFC said:

With its March 1 primary coming up Texass voting laws are causing problems and the counties aren't getting any help from the secretary of state who is in charge of overseeing the elections. Fascism coupled with incompetence or, as I like to call it, the Republican Party.

Is this SB 1 the result of having no clue of what the existing system is (incompetence) or is the intentional sabotage of the existing system?  Probably the latter.  

[LFC]

Jan 25, 2022 23:46:35 GMT goldenvalley said:

Is this SB 1 the result of having no clue of what the existing system is (incompetence) or is the intentional sabotage of the existing system?  Probably the latter.  

My view of it is...

I really do view it as a combination of the two. The bill was written for the purpose of voter suppression. The administration of it was just standard Republican clusterf***ery as they've jettisoned any interest in elected officials who can actually govern.

[LFC]

Slickly packaged fascist Glen Youngkin continues to implement The Big Lie strategy.

Youngkin Already Planning To Usher In GOP Anti-Election Crusade To Virginia

In case you missed it: Virginia Gov. Glen Youngkin (R) revealed during a pro-Trump radio show on Monday that he plans on firing the state’s current elections commissioner once the official’s term ends this summer.

• Why? Because Youngkin wants someone overseeing the elections who’s “looking out for the integrity of the election process” and who is “not trying to be political” — a thing Youngkin Definitely Is Not Doing by casting doubt on the integrity of nonpartisan elections officials and trying to oust them like virtually all other Republican Trump toadies.

• The elections commissioner told the local news outlet Virginia Mercury that he didn’t know about Youngkin’s plans to fire him until the governor’s radio interview.

"Not trying to be political" says the liar who is nothing BUT 100% pure politics and 0% reality. As I said, he's Trump in a slicker package and unfortunately too many Virginians fell for it.

[goldenvalley]

While I often complain about elected Secretaries of State as injecting politics into what should be a technical civil service type job at least elected one’s cannot be fired by venal governors.

What Youngkin did reminds me of small town politics of an earlier era. New mayor replaces old mayor’s relatives who are in city paid jobs with his own relatives.

[goldenvalley]

Not sure where to put this...An appellate court in Pennsylvania ruled that the law that created no excuse vote by mail balloting for the state in 2020 is unconstitutional...referring to the PA Constitution, not the US Constitution.  I'm sure this is on the way to the PA Supreme Court.  

Republicans in Pennsylvania challenged Act 77, which allows residents to vote by mail without an excuse, among other voting measures, alleging the law is unconstitutional.

Judges on the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, which has a Republican majority, ruled that while no-excuse mail-in voting makes voting “more convenient,” it conflicts with the state’s Constitution and its requirement that people vote in person.

Here's a nice little dig of the knife:

Of the 14 Republican state lawmakers who sued to block Act 77, 11 actually voted for the law when it passed in 2019, the New York Times notes.

We'll see what the PA Supreme Court says about the PA Constitution.   The US Constitution is not mentioned here and so it won't go to the US Supreme Court.  If the PA court agrees I'm not sure what happens to the results of the election of 2020.  Throw out all votes by mail?

[LFC]

Jan 28, 2022 18:03:31 GMT goldenvalley said:

We'll see what the PA Supreme Court says about the PA Constitution.

If the state supreme court, which has a Democratic majority, reverses this decision expect impeachment talk to arise again. The fascism is strong in my state.

[pnwguy]

We have so many threads on GOP fascism, you could have put that post in any of them.

[LFC]

Jan 28, 2022 18:39:43 GMT pnwguy said:

We have so many threads on GOP fascism, you could have put that post in any of them.

And they have so many incidents of fascist rhetoric and action that we keep filling all of them.

[LFC]

Daaaaamn! Alabama went too far even for two Trump appointed judges in their request to stall the rejection of their blatant racially biased electoral map.

A panel of three federal judges on Thursday denied Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) and two GOP state lawmakers’ (R) emergency motion to pause the same panel’s order for a new district map that has two majority Black voter districts.

The judges on the panel, which includes two Trump appointees, called the request for a stay “effectively an unsupported motion for reconsideration” of the order, which the court issued in response to two lawsuits over the new Alabama map that allows only one district to have a majority of Black voters.

On Thursday, the judges reiterated their previous finding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in arguing that the new GOP-drawn map violates Section Two of the Voting Rights Act, which bans racial discrimination in district map drawing.

“This is a straightforward Section Two case, not a legal unicorn,” the court wrote before jabbing at the defendants’ “attention-grabbing but unsupported claims” later in the filing.