Voter Suppression Alert 🚨

Politics
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The new legislation, enclosed in full at the end of this post, attacks early voting from many angles. The most important:

  1. Iowa’s early voting period would be shortened from 29 days to eighteen days (Section 34 on page 17). Republicans had previously shortened that window from 40 days to 29 as part of the 2017 election law, best known for its voter ID requirements.
    […]

  2. County auditors would be prohibited from sending absentee ballot request forms to voters under any circumstances (Section 30 on page 15). […]

  3. The secretary of state could send absentee ballot request forms to all registered voters only if directed by the state legislature, or by the Legislative Council, while a governor’s public health emergency disaster order is in effect.[…]

  4. No one could fill in any portion of any absentee ballot request form provided to a voter, other than the election date and type (primary or general). (Section 31 on page 16)[…]

  5. Political volunteers would be banned from picking up and hand-delivering absentee ballots to the county auditor’s office. (Section 52, page 27) […]

  6. Iowans would be able to request absentee ballots starting 70 days before an election, reduced from 120 days under current law. (Section 30, page 15) […]

  7. County auditors could have only one “drop box” for delivering absentee ballots, located in or immediately outside the government building where the auditor’s office is located. (Section 40, page 19) […]

  8. County auditors could no longer choose where to set up satellite locations for Iowans to vote early in person. (Section 38, page 18) […]

  9. Only postal barcodes (not postmarks) could establish that a voter mailed an absentee ballot on time–that is, on or before the day before the election. (Section 44, page 21)

And there’s more. Wow.

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This is starting to violate ADA regulations, IMO.

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And now it’s on to the senate…

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Now, as our state legislators seek to turn back the clock through legislation that will restrict access to voting for many Georgians, I am disheartened, saddened, and angry. Many of the proposed changes are reactions to allegations of fraud for which no evidence was produced—allegations that were, in fact, refuted through various audits, recounts, and other measures. The proposed changes appear to be rooted in partisan interests, not in the interests of all Georgia voters.

I also am disappointed that advocates for these restrictive changes have repeatedly and selectively referenced a report prepared by a 2005 commission that I co-chaired with former Secretary of State James Baker. While our report noted a few good and bad examples of vote-by-mail practices, its main recommendation was that further study of voting by mail was needed. In the 16 years since the report’s release, vote-by-mail practices have progressed significantly as new technologies have been developed. In light of these advances, I believe that voting by mail can be conducted in a manner that ensures election integrity. This is just one of several ways to expand access to the voting process for voters across the state, regardless of political affiliation.

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Why should the Grumpy Old Pissants care about him, though?

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derry-girls-sister-michael-christ

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We’ll just have to trust the people of Georgia.

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Well, things have gotten interesting in GA this evening.

I haven’t seen any details yet on why the Rep is being detained.

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More details. Not a great look for the officers, dragging her away with video when just having another officer standing in front of the door would have stopped what they used as a reason.

[Edit] She was released from jail last night, but has two pending felony charges. For knocking on a door.

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For some reason, onebox just wasn’t working yesterday on a link I was trying to post about there being two federal lawsuits challenging the GA voting changes. So I didn’t post it.

Just as well, I suppose:

In other news:

Across Florida’s 67 counties, voters of color, new voters, and younger voters disproportionately had their ballots flagged to be rejected, necessitating the need to clear additional barriers for their ballots to count. In fact, Black voters, Hispanic voters, and other voters of color in the 2020 general election were at least 60 percent more likely to have their vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots initially rejected compared to white voters.

What’s even more troubling than this discrepancy, is that where a ballot was cast could be an outsized factor in whether it was flagged and had a chance to be cured.

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