First Texas Came for Abortion. Now It's Going After Voting Rights.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

During the Texas state house debate, the GOP assholes banned charges of racism and told the House that no one could accuse the GOP racists of being racists. This bill is very racist and is part of a pattern of racism

Link to tweet

Texas Republicans claim that these measures are necessary to secure elections from threats of voter fraud, even though those same Republicans could find no evidence of voter fraud during the last election. The real reason the Texas GOP has taken these measures is to suppress the voting strength of people of color—and we know that because all these methods have been empirically shown to disproportionately suppress the participation of people of color in elections. When state legislators do something that intentionally discriminates on the basis of race, it’s fair to call those legislators “racist,” even if they would rather people whitewash their true intentions.

Unfortunately, the corporate media has accepted the idea that discriminating against voters of color is just one valid policy option among many. Pieces in both The Washington Post and The New York Times, for instance, framed SB1 as a legitimate side of a “fierce” battle between competing political views, as opposed to the triumph of Jim Crow–style political apartheid. A big part of the Republican game plan is getting their media enablers to treat their racist policies as “normal,” and they’ve been largely successful at cowing the corporate press into doing exactly that.

I skimmed the Freedom to Vote Act and I counted a dozen or so voter suppression provisions in Texas law that would be gutted by that act. Texas had the lowest voter turnout in the nation because the Texas GOP is very good at suppressing the vote of non-whites

[sheshe2]

1. K&R

[yellowdogintexas]

2. Texas has been a low turnout state for a long time

Republicans tend to vote at higher percentages than Democrats, but even their numbers are low.

It would seem many Republicans don't bother because they do not think they need to vote and Democrats stay home because they don't think they can win so why bother.

It is no coincidence that Democrats started voting in higher numbers in 2018. We had a viable US Senate nominee; voters believed he could win and more voters turned out.

In 2020 percentages were up some; far too many voters just did not bother.

[yellowdogintexas]

3. Also turnout is low because for a long time, Democrats had no one to vote for

because no one was running in the downballot offices. Not to mention many Democrats really felt it made no difference in the outcome if they voted or not.

Republicans tend to vote more consistently, but their turnout was most likely reduced because they were fairly certain the Republicans were going to win anyway.

We found in 2018 that Democrats will vote if there are candidates in every slot and if there is a candidate who has a possibility of winning (Beto O'Rourke). He lit a fire under voters and darn near defeated Rafael Eduardo. In 2020, all the metropolitan counties went for Biden and turnout definitely was a part of it.

In 2022 we could have better turnout than usual in an off year because half of the state is fed up with Abbott. Time will tell on that.

[yellowdogintexas]

4. You have inspired me to read the Congressional Act side by side with the new

Texas law.

It should be interesting. I hope they can get it passed, Texas is not the only state which has new laws which are only there to bring the Republicans secure more power.

It is not and never has been about fraud - there is no fraud in Texas.