GA GOP Passes the Jim Crow 2.0 Act

[Milchshake]

Reminder that the vote suppression law Georgia passed today will go into effect only because John Roberts decided to read Section 2 of the 15th Amendment out of the Constitution in the 21st century Dred Scott.

The persons responsible for the Voting Rights Act understood that legislatures could be very creative about inventing vote suppression measures, and created an elegant solution. The Supreme Court threw it out with a decision that barely even pretended to be constitutional law.

We have to assume this is the result he desired:

During the 2020 election cycle in Georgia, Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state. His efforts to manipulate the electoral process failed after Raffensperger stood up to the president and defended the integrity of the election. But if the Georgia legislature has its way, Republicans could have a much easier time overturning the will of voters in future elections.

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a major power grab on Thursday that would remove Raffensperger as the chair and a voting member of the state election board, which oversees the certification of elections and voting rules, and instead allow the GOP-controlled legislature to appoint a majority of the board’s members. “This is extraordinarily dangerous,” says Sara Tindall Ghazal, the former election protection director of the Georgia Democratic Party. “When you’re appointing the majority of the body that you’re responsible to, it’s self-dealing.”

The state board, in turn, would have extraordinary power under the bill to take over county election boards it views as underperforming, raising the possibility that elections officials appointed by and beholden to the heavily gerrymandered Republican legislature could take over election operations in Democratic strongholds like Atlanta’s Fulton County, where Trump and his allies spread conspiracy theories about “suitcases” of ballots being counted by election officials in November after GOP poll monitors had left.

It is a matter of the utmost urgency that Congress act to preempt the New Jim Crow, and it’s a brutal indication of how debased the current Supreme Court is that the law will almost certainly stand if it doesn’t.

It’s also important to resist the emerging Savvy Contrarian take, that the wave of Republican vote suppression isn’t really that big of a deal. It’s true, for example, that it’s not obvious that in non-pandemic elections Republicans will benefit from reducing or eliminating no-excuse mail ballots. But that’s not the point — it’s very bad to make people in majority-minority precincts to wait hours to vote even if they’re willing to make the sacrifice.

[Themius]

Seems like it is time to get rid of that filibuster... I mean most of its history it was used to stop civil rights and anti-lynching laws... not something we'd want to keep.

[Fugus]

Seems like it is time to get rid of that filibuster... I mean most of its history it was used to stop civil rights and anti-lynching laws... not something we'd want to keep.

Agreed, this bill right here gives the Democrats all the reason and clearing they need to do it.

They can literally point to this bill and say, “See! This bill right here is the perfect example of why HR1 and S1 are needed and if we didn’t we wouldn’t be doing our jobs”

The Senate is literally getting a road map to come if they don’t preempt them on this.

And the GOP seem like they are itching for a war and trying to start one. And if the the DNC don’t grow some balls, that violence will come with more and more bills like this lighting the fuse and making peace protests and the ballot box all but useless.

[Paranoid Android]

It is now illegal to hand out snacks to voters in Georgia while they wait in line.

https://twitter.com/FrankLuntz/statu...098001410?s=19

That‘s right even being kind by giving water and food is that few more twists the Republicans can do to discourage voting. Remember the long lines are in heavily minority districts. Oh and they don't vote for their team.

The tactics are laughable and sad, yet with court packing (why you should vote} and voters continuing to vote these fascists in (another reason to vote). I'm just a pessimist on if this will be stopped.

[Shadowferal]

Marc Elias, the attorney leading the charge on behalf of Democrats to expand options during the pandemic, had already promised "an immediate lawsuit" if Kemp signed the bill into law.

[Kaleredar]

It’s also important to resist the emerging Savvy Contrarian take, that the wave of Republican vote suppression isn’t really that big of a deal. It’s true, for example, that it’s not obvious that in non-pandemic elections Republicans will benefit from reducing or eliminating no-excuse mail ballots. But that’s not the point — it’s very bad to make people in majority-minority precincts to wait hours to vote even if they’re willing to make the sacrifice.

I'm almost certain that, should this stand, Georgia's GOP will try their darnedest to also close polling stations and restrict access in those "undesirable" locations.

If the democrats are going to expend their political capital on something, it should be passing the bills that shut shit like this down nation-wide. Fuck Mcconnell's impotent rage on the matter and any and all pearl clutching they'd do. If the GOP want to call it a power grab, then so be it... because it's become quite obvious that power needs to be grabbed away from the GOP.

This is a major power play for the GOP, but it's also a desperate one. I'm sure Georgia turning blue scared them utterly shitless. They know that their time as a national-scale party is limited if democrats can push to fairly reform elections.

[Slant]

https://twitter.com/FrankLuntz/statu...098001410?s=19

That‘s right even being kind by giving water and food is that few more twists the Republicans can do to discourage voting. Remember the long lines are in heavily minority districts. Oh and they don't vote for their team.

The tactics are laughable and sad, yet with court packing (why you should vote} and voters continuing to vote these fascists in (another reason to vote). I'm just a pessimist on if this will be stopped.

Wait, there's a law that forbids you from giving food and water to the needy? That can't be right... I would ignore that law without hesitation. In fact, the law forces me to help other people if they are in peril. I'd be acting unlawfully if I saw other people in distress and didn't assist. The Supreme Court sanctioned this? For real?

[Kaleredar]

Wait, there's a law that forbids you from giving food and water to the needy? That can't be right... I would ignore that law without hesitation. In fact, the law forces me to help other people if they are in peril. I'd be acting unlawfully if I saw other people in distress and didn't assist. The Supreme Court sanctioned this? For real?

I'm assuming that the thinly veiled pretense is "to prevent voters from being persuaded to vote for a candidate by offers of snacks"

With the actual intent of making it so voters who have to wait in the long lines the GOP will work to create less likely to stick it out by merit of denying them food and water.

Remember, the GOP are those same people who fought tooth and nail to disassemble the post office to try and throw out as many mail-in ballots as possible to the point that people were missing their medication deliveries and small animals being shipped through the mail died of starvation because they couldn't be delivered.

The only thing the GOP cares about beyond lining their pockets with money is that they remain in power... so that they can continue to line their pockets with money. Everything else they say and do is either directly pursuant to that or lip service to scare people into voting for them. I've yet to see a single policy or talking point from them in the last decade, at least, that makes me think otherwise.

[Xarkan]

Wait, there's a law that forbids you from giving food and water to the needy? That can't be right... I would ignore that law without hesitation. In fact, the law forces me to help other people if they are in peril. I'd be acting unlawfully if I saw other people in distress and didn't assist. The Supreme Court sanctioned this? For real?

I thought there was (for most people) no duty to help anyone under us law? Like if you see someone drowning you have no obligation to help, if you see someone dying of thirst you have no duty to help etc?

[Twdft]

I have never in my life spent more than 10 minutes to cast my vote and we do everything with paper ballots in Germany. How badly organized are your polling stations for hourlong lines?

[Shadowferal]

I have never in my life spent more than 10 minutes to cast my vote and we do everything with paper ballots in Germany. How badly organized are your polling stations for hourlong lines?

It's very organized.
It's exactly the way the GOP wants it.

[postman1782]

I have never in my life spent more than 10 minutes to cast my vote and we do everything with paper ballots in Germany. How badly organized are your polling stations for hourlong lines?

Some places, it isn't just an hour long. Some places they make it so that they are 4-8+ hours. Just to deter voters. The less voters there are, the more of a chance that the GOP wins. They designed it this way. Which is why they were pissed that mail in voting was a thing in the 2020 election that helped get Biden elected. And it is also why they are trying to limit voting and mail in voting as much as they can now. Because they know that if they don't they will never win an election again.

[Slant]

I thought there was (for most people) no duty to help anyone under us law? Like if you see someone drowning you have no obligation to help, if you see someone dying of thirst you have no duty to help etc?

Oh really? That's selfish... Well, in that case, I guess they're fucked.

[Shadowferal]

Wait. So did it actually pass or are they pushing for it to pass?

Passed.
Now for the lawsuits.
I can't see it surviving the challenge to the US Constitution.

[Felya]

I have never in my life spent more than 10 minutes to cast my vote and we do everything with paper ballots in Germany. How badly organized are your polling stations for hourlong lines?

Dude... I’m in US and have voted only by mail... I’ve been voting for 20 years. It depends on the state, but you can guess what party leads WA. As an extra hint, the minimum wage in Seattle is over 16$...

This isn’t even a difference between countries, you can see this difference within the US it self...

[Cthulhu 2020]

I don't know if it's good or bad that the GOP are just going for naked power grabs. They've always done it, but it was subtle and they always invented some kind of moralistic pretense. But now it's just "We don't like black people voting because we lose when they do. Let's see how far we can push laws to prevent them from voting."

[postman1782]

Holy shit... how disgusting.

Yep, Kemp signed it yesterday, and a Democratic lawmaker was arrested for simply knocking on his door, after he signed it. I hope she sues.

[Paranoid Android]

Passed.
Now for the lawsuits.
I can't see it surviving the challenge to the US Constitution.

Hate to remind you of the bad news, but Chief Justice John Roberts started the ball rolling by striking down the Voting Rights Act

This is the GOP stop gap of having appointed justices strike down these lawsuits. I hope they sue and win.

[Draco-Onis]

I don't know if it's good or bad that the GOP are just going for naked power grabs. They've always done it, but it was subtle and they always invented some kind of moralistic pretense. But now it's just "We don't like black people voting because we lose when they do. Let's see how far we can push laws to prevent them from voting."

They have no choice the demographics are changing too fast and they have gone all in for white supremacy, this is the only way they can secure power. The GOP hasn't won the popular vote in decades the writing is on the wall.

[Zan15]

https://twitter.com/FrankLuntz/statu...098001410?s=19

That‘s right even being kind by giving water and food is that few more twists the Republicans can do to discourage voting. Remember the long lines are in heavily minority districts. Oh and they don't vote for their team.

The tactics are laughable and sad, yet with court packing (why you should vote} and voters continuing to vote these fascists in (another reason to vote). I'm just a pessimist on if this will be stopped.

guess they could just sell them for a penny each, would that be a work around?