You must vote DEMOCRAT🐴 🔵 for ONE single reason; The GOP make WHITE ONLY COURTS 👨🏼⚖️ for 40+ YEARS
- Thread starter ☑︎#VoteDemocrat
- Start date
Cowboyz89
#WeDemBoyz Season Has Returned
So a thread should be bushed because youre sensitive?
Makes more sense for you just to ignore the thread.
Dem leadership
Some of their priorities the past decade + lack of a backbone caused this
Black people wouldnt even be able to have their vote for republicans count because the existing rules are designed to ensure that the votes from black areas count less than the votes from white areas
This is just basic civil rights, dont need a political party to tell you that
theguardian.com
Republicans are quietly rigging election maps to ensure permanent rule | David Pepper
8-10 minutes
The long-term health of American democracy is in peril, to a degree far worse than people imagine. But not where most people are looking.
While many eyes go to Washington DC or Mar-a-Lago, the attack on democracy is actually most concentrated and coordinated in state capitals. Whether it’s gerrymandering or voter suppression or attacks on offices that provide needed checks and balances – the states have become widely undemocratic. As I outline in my book Laboratories of Autocracy, the consequences of this anti-democratic movement are only getting worse.
The past decade in Ohio, where I served in recent years as chair of the state Democratic party, shows how bad it can get – and how quickly.
When Fox News called Ohio for Barack Obama in 2012, it meant he’d be president for another term. Ohio’s Democratic senator Sherrod Brown also won handily that night. But how did these victories in America’s bellwether state translate at the congressional level?
Not at all.
Even though it was Democratic in 2012, a state that only four years ago had sent 10 Democrats to the US House of Representatives and eight Republicans, now sent 12 Republicans to the House and only four Democrats.
2014 was a big year for Republicans. They won decisively for statewide offices. The congressional delegation? 12-4. 2016? Another Republican year: 12-4. But in 2018, Sherrod Brown won again, this time by almost seven points. And many of his voters also voted for a Democrat running for the House. In all, 47% of Ohioans cast a vote for the Democratic candidate for the House, while 52% voted for the Republican.
What was the outcome of that 52-47 split for Ohio’s congressional delegation? 12-4 again – 75% Republican.
2020? 12-4 again.
So for an entire decade, whether Ohio voters tilted to Democratic or to Republican or a toss-up, when it came to Congress, nothing changed. The makeup was the exact same 12-4 split no matter how the voters voted. In the world’s oldest democracy, the voters basically didn’t matter.
Why is that?
Because in Ohio in 2011, in a secret hotel room they called “the bunker”, a small group of partisan insiders designed House district maps to guarantee the outcome of all 90 US House elections that were to follow in the coming decade. And they proved to be so good at their work, they got all 90 elections right.
It’s a success rate in rigging election outcomes – amid the appearance of a democratic process – that Vladimir Putin would admire. Sadly, Ohio isn’t alone. Numerous other American states experienced the same decade of guaranteed outcomes for both their US House delegations and their state-level legislatures.
In some cases, even when a majority of voters voted for one party to be in charge, the rigged districts meant that the losing party remained in charge. In Michigan, in 2018, voters chose Democrats over Republicans for their statehouse by 52%-47%. Nevertheless, this led to a Republican majority in that statehouse of 58-52. In Wisconsin, losing the popular vote for the statehouse across the state by a 54-45 gave Republicans a 63-36 supermajority in that statehouse. Now that would truly impress a foreign autocrat – a system locking a minority into power despite a clear mandate by the voters that they wanted the opposite.
The prime culprits behind all this election rigging are the statehouses themselves – mostly anonymous elected officials who few voters know but who wield far more power than most Americans appreciate. And that includes the power to draw the district lines of both federal and state representatives (ie their own districts), as well as establishing most of the other rules of how elections are run, including how presidential electors are divvied up.
But it all gets worse. Fast-forward to now. Outraged by a decade of rigged elections, citizens in Ohio and other states took action to change the process of how lines are drawn. Some opted for independent districting commissions. In Ohio, more than 70% of the voters amended the Ohio constitution (twice!) to add clear guidelines to curb the type of extreme partisan districting that led to a decade without democracy.
And how have those in charge responded? Knowing that fair districts and robust democracy threaten their grip on power, the legislative leaders are simply ignoring the new rules. Defying them. In fact, the first map they have proposed here in Ohio would guarantee an astonishing 13-2 map, knowing full well that Ohio’s partisan breakdown would best be reflected by an 8-7 map. Despite the new rules, key urban counties are now being split three ways rather than two to achieve that outrageous result.
So not only are these unknown politicians willing to rig elections, they are willing to defy their own state constitution – and the voted will of more than 70% of their own population – to get it done.
As bad as this example is, it’s only one of the many fronts in a nationwide attack on democracy. Locked into power in these statehouses are a generation of politicians who themselves largely got there absent any true democracy – because they also benefited from rigged maps – who are now doing all they can to maintain that power. And one thing they know for sure: the greatest threat to their hold on power is robust democracy.
Since they write the rules, they have the ability to hold that risk at bay, through gerrymandering, voter suppression, cracking down on protests, attacking independent courts and officials that get in the way, and other measures – and they are taking all these actions and more across the country right now.
The truth is, if another country were taking all these steps, we’d call it out for what it is – an attack on democracy itself. A descent toward autocracy. But because it’s happening in our own state capitols, we too often treat it with less urgency. That needs to end.
It’s time to go on offense for democracy, at the state level, every year. Beginning now.
Republicans are quietly rigging election maps to ensure permanent rule | David Pepper
8-10 minutes
The long-term health of American democracy is in peril, to a degree far worse than people imagine. But not where most people are looking.
While many eyes go to Washington DC or Mar-a-Lago, the attack on democracy is actually most concentrated and coordinated in state capitals. Whether it’s gerrymandering or voter suppression or attacks on offices that provide needed checks and balances – the states have become widely undemocratic. As I outline in my book Laboratories of Autocracy, the consequences of this anti-democratic movement are only getting worse.
The past decade in Ohio, where I served in recent years as chair of the state Democratic party, shows how bad it can get – and how quickly.
When Fox News called Ohio for Barack Obama in 2012, it meant he’d be president for another term. Ohio’s Democratic senator Sherrod Brown also won handily that night. But how did these victories in America’s bellwether state translate at the congressional level?
Not at all.
Even though it was Democratic in 2012, a state that only four years ago had sent 10 Democrats to the US House of Representatives and eight Republicans, now sent 12 Republicans to the House and only four Democrats.
2014 was a big year for Republicans. They won decisively for statewide offices. The congressional delegation? 12-4. 2016? Another Republican year: 12-4. But in 2018, Sherrod Brown won again, this time by almost seven points. And many of his voters also voted for a Democrat running for the House. In all, 47% of Ohioans cast a vote for the Democratic candidate for the House, while 52% voted for the Republican.
What was the outcome of that 52-47 split for Ohio’s congressional delegation? 12-4 again – 75% Republican.
2020? 12-4 again.
So for an entire decade, whether Ohio voters tilted to Democratic or to Republican or a toss-up, when it came to Congress, nothing changed. The makeup was the exact same 12-4 split no matter how the voters voted. In the world’s oldest democracy, the voters basically didn’t matter.
Why is that?
Because in Ohio in 2011, in a secret hotel room they called “the bunker”, a small group of partisan insiders designed House district maps to guarantee the outcome of all 90 US House elections that were to follow in the coming decade. And they proved to be so good at their work, they got all 90 elections right.
It’s a success rate in rigging election outcomes – amid the appearance of a democratic process – that Vladimir Putin would admire. Sadly, Ohio isn’t alone. Numerous other American states experienced the same decade of guaranteed outcomes for both their US House delegations and their state-level legislatures.
In some cases, even when a majority of voters voted for one party to be in charge, the rigged districts meant that the losing party remained in charge. In Michigan, in 2018, voters chose Democrats over Republicans for their statehouse by 52%-47%. Nevertheless, this led to a Republican majority in that statehouse of 58-52. In Wisconsin, losing the popular vote for the statehouse across the state by a 54-45 gave Republicans a 63-36 supermajority in that statehouse. Now that would truly impress a foreign autocrat – a system locking a minority into power despite a clear mandate by the voters that they wanted the opposite.
The prime culprits behind all this election rigging are the statehouses themselves – mostly anonymous elected officials who few voters know but who wield far more power than most Americans appreciate. And that includes the power to draw the district lines of both federal and state representatives (ie their own districts), as well as establishing most of the other rules of how elections are run, including how presidential electors are divvied up.
But it all gets worse. Fast-forward to now. Outraged by a decade of rigged elections, citizens in Ohio and other states took action to change the process of how lines are drawn. Some opted for independent districting commissions. In Ohio, more than 70% of the voters amended the Ohio constitution (twice!) to add clear guidelines to curb the type of extreme partisan districting that led to a decade without democracy.
And how have those in charge responded? Knowing that fair districts and robust democracy threaten their grip on power, the legislative leaders are simply ignoring the new rules. Defying them. In fact, the first map they have proposed here in Ohio would guarantee an astonishing 13-2 map, knowing full well that Ohio’s partisan breakdown would best be reflected by an 8-7 map. Despite the new rules, key urban counties are now being split three ways rather than two to achieve that outrageous result.
So not only are these unknown politicians willing to rig elections, they are willing to defy their own state constitution – and the voted will of more than 70% of their own population – to get it done.
As bad as this example is, it’s only one of the many fronts in a nationwide attack on democracy. Locked into power in these statehouses are a generation of politicians who themselves largely got there absent any true democracy – because they also benefited from rigged maps – who are now doing all they can to maintain that power. And one thing they know for sure: the greatest threat to their hold on power is robust democracy.
Since they write the rules, they have the ability to hold that risk at bay, through gerrymandering, voter suppression, cracking down on protests, attacking independent courts and officials that get in the way, and other measures – and they are taking all these actions and more across the country right now.
The truth is, if another country were taking all these steps, we’d call it out for what it is – an attack on democracy itself. A descent toward autocracy. But because it’s happening in our own state capitols, we too often treat it with less urgency. That needs to end.
It’s time to go on offense for democracy, at the state level, every year. Beginning now.
#BothSides 
Lincoln County looks to eliminate all polling places but one
Lincoln County looks to eliminate all polling places but one
A "Vote Here" sign appears at one of Augusta's numerous polling places. In rural Lincoln County, officials are trying to close all voting precincts except for one.
Lincoln County is trying to close all but one polling place for next year’s elections, a move opposed by voting and civil rights groups.
Relocating voters from the county’s seven precincts to a single location will make voting “easier and more accessible” and eliminate the need to transport voting equipment and staff the remaining sites, according to a news release. Community members disagreed.
“Lincoln County is a very rural county. Some people live as far as 23 miles from the city of Lincolnton,” said Denise Freeman, an activist and former Lincoln County school board member. “This is not about convenience for the citizens. This is about control. This is about the good old boys wanting to do what they’ve always done, which is power and control.”
The move was made possible after the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation earlier this year disbanding the Lincoln County Board of Elections. The chief sponsor of Senate bills 282 and 283 was Sen. Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown, whose district includes Lincoln County. The newly-appointed board agreed to move forward with the “consolidation” plan and was expected to vote on it last week, but appeared to lack a quorum, several said.
Multiple public interest groups including the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Common Cause Georgia, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Augusta’s Interfaith Coalition are taking a stand against the effort.
Aunna Dennis, executive director for Common Cause Georgia, said the move is an extension of Senate Bill 202, which tightened restrictions on voting and gave the state the authority to take over elections boards.
“They’re trying to do this undercover precinct consolidation, so we’re going to go ahead with the canvassing drive,” Dennis said. Obtaining signatures from roughly 20% of the population of a single precinct would appear to have the effect of blocking the move, at least temporarily.
Dennis attributed the Lincoln County effort to a larger push across rural Georgia.
“I think there are bad actors who are wanting to pilot precinct consolidations and takeovers of elections boards in smaller counties,” she said.
With multiple voting changes from Senate Bill 202 already underway, adding the precinct closures in a county that lacks a public transportation budget – and attempting to pass them over the holiday season – is too much, Dennis said.
“There’s no real justification for something this drastic,” she said. “This is something that is trying to be steamrolled outside the public eye.”
The Rev. Chris Johnson, head of the Interfaith Coalition, said the group tried to get the elections board to wait a month before voting. While a member said last week’s meeting would be postponed a week, others are saying the board won’t meet again until next month. There are no notices posted about a rescheduled meeting this week.
“The citizens are looking at the disenfranchisement of the body of the people that now have to go to a place outside of their area to vote,” Johnson said.
The effort is reminiscent of the 2019 push in Randolph County to close all but two polling places in the majority-Black county. The elections board later voted to close three rural white precincts instead, leaving six open.
Lincoln County did not grow in the 2020 Census, losing about 300 people for a current population of 7,690. Unlike Randolph, the county is majority white, with Black residents comprising about 28% of the population.
Lincoln Elections Director Lilvender Bolton, whose position survived the dismantling of the elections board, did not return messages seeking comment. Calls to the office were answered by a request for an access code.
In a statement, Poy Winichakul, staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the poll closures amount to a diminution of voting strength, particularly among minority voters and applauded the efforts of local activists.
“By eliminating six of the seven Lincoln County polling places, the Lincoln County Board of elections is diminishing the voices of their voters, especially Black voters. Even worse, they have tried to deny Lincoln County residents opportunity for input by attempting to rush a vote while failing to give adequate public notice, and they still have not provided clear communication on when they will vote to close Lincoln County polling places," Winichakul said.
Lincoln County looks to eliminate all polling places but one
Lincoln County looks to eliminate all polling places but one
A "Vote Here" sign appears at one of Augusta's numerous polling places. In rural Lincoln County, officials are trying to close all voting precincts except for one.
Lincoln County is trying to close all but one polling place for next year’s elections, a move opposed by voting and civil rights groups.
Relocating voters from the county’s seven precincts to a single location will make voting “easier and more accessible” and eliminate the need to transport voting equipment and staff the remaining sites, according to a news release. Community members disagreed.
“Lincoln County is a very rural county. Some people live as far as 23 miles from the city of Lincolnton,” said Denise Freeman, an activist and former Lincoln County school board member. “This is not about convenience for the citizens. This is about control. This is about the good old boys wanting to do what they’ve always done, which is power and control.”
The move was made possible after the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation earlier this year disbanding the Lincoln County Board of Elections. The chief sponsor of Senate bills 282 and 283 was Sen. Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown, whose district includes Lincoln County. The newly-appointed board agreed to move forward with the “consolidation” plan and was expected to vote on it last week, but appeared to lack a quorum, several said.
Multiple public interest groups including the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Common Cause Georgia, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Augusta’s Interfaith Coalition are taking a stand against the effort.
Aunna Dennis, executive director for Common Cause Georgia, said the move is an extension of Senate Bill 202, which tightened restrictions on voting and gave the state the authority to take over elections boards.
“They’re trying to do this undercover precinct consolidation, so we’re going to go ahead with the canvassing drive,” Dennis said. Obtaining signatures from roughly 20% of the population of a single precinct would appear to have the effect of blocking the move, at least temporarily.
Dennis attributed the Lincoln County effort to a larger push across rural Georgia.
“I think there are bad actors who are wanting to pilot precinct consolidations and takeovers of elections boards in smaller counties,” she said.
With multiple voting changes from Senate Bill 202 already underway, adding the precinct closures in a county that lacks a public transportation budget – and attempting to pass them over the holiday season – is too much, Dennis said.
“There’s no real justification for something this drastic,” she said. “This is something that is trying to be steamrolled outside the public eye.”
The Rev. Chris Johnson, head of the Interfaith Coalition, said the group tried to get the elections board to wait a month before voting. While a member said last week’s meeting would be postponed a week, others are saying the board won’t meet again until next month. There are no notices posted about a rescheduled meeting this week.
“The citizens are looking at the disenfranchisement of the body of the people that now have to go to a place outside of their area to vote,” Johnson said.
The effort is reminiscent of the 2019 push in Randolph County to close all but two polling places in the majority-Black county. The elections board later voted to close three rural white precincts instead, leaving six open.
Lincoln County did not grow in the 2020 Census, losing about 300 people for a current population of 7,690. Unlike Randolph, the county is majority white, with Black residents comprising about 28% of the population.
Lincoln Elections Director Lilvender Bolton, whose position survived the dismantling of the elections board, did not return messages seeking comment. Calls to the office were answered by a request for an access code.
In a statement, Poy Winichakul, staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the poll closures amount to a diminution of voting strength, particularly among minority voters and applauded the efforts of local activists.
“By eliminating six of the seven Lincoln County polling places, the Lincoln County Board of elections is diminishing the voices of their voters, especially Black voters. Even worse, they have tried to deny Lincoln County residents opportunity for input by attempting to rush a vote while failing to give adequate public notice, and they still have not provided clear communication on when they will vote to close Lincoln County polling places," Winichakul said.
Problematic Pat
Superstar
fukk outta here with this fear mongering bullshyt.
This an LGBT issue not a Black issue.
