A
tidal wave of racist anti-voter legislation is being generated by
U.S. state legislatures. Reminiscent of the Jim Crow era, the laws
are mainly aimed at the Black community and other people of color. In
a coordinated din, MAGA Trump supporters and right-wing pundits
promote these anti-democratic laws based on lies about voter fraud in
the 2020 election of Joe Biden.
The
underlying goal is not just to turn Democratic blue states Republican
red, but to ensure that voting is a privilege — not
a right
— to be bestowed at the pleasure of those in power.
The
facts on the ground. As
of July 2021, 18 states had passed anti-voter legislation, with 400
more of these bills pending in 49 states.
A
Texas bill dramatically reduces polling places in rural and poor
areas, bars early voting, and bans drive-through voting. A
particularly dangerous change legitimizes partisan “poll
watchers,” including far-right militia types. In Georgia and
Florida, it is now a crime to give water to those waiting in long
lines. Other laws remove ballot drop boxes from tribal reservations,
shorten voting hours, eliminate mail-in ballots, and prohibit helping
others to register.
These
malicious laws directly target Black, Native American and Latinx
voters, along with other people of color and immigrants. But they
also harm rural residents, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
They are being engineered by the hard-right via the Republican Party.
Democrats
are pushing back to some extent, out of political self-interest if
nothing else. But even with command of the White House and slim
majorities in Congress, they have failed to make a difference. On the
national front, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting
Rights Act are both stalled in the Senate.
Even
mainstream civil rights leaders are frustrated. As NAACP President
Derrick Johnson said, “We organized in November to put people
in office to address the issue of voter suppression. We did not
organize … to let elected officials off the hook.”
Once
again, it becomes apparent that reliance on the Democrats is no
substitute for building a militant, grassroots, multiracial mass
movement — like the one that knocked out Jim Crow laws during
the civil rights era of the 1950s and ’60s.
Dark
money funds backlash.
A pantheon of rich ultra-right influencers are behind the anti-voter
attack.
The
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a deep-pocket lobbying
group, is a major player. It is funded by Koch Industries, energy and
pharmaceutical giants, the Heritage Foundation and others. ALEC
drafts model legislation and pays lobbyists to promote it. The
multi-million-dollar Bradley Foundation finances voter fraud
alarmists. Also in the mix is the State Policy Network of far-right
think tanks that includes the virulently anti-union Freedom
Foundation.
These
reactionary powerbrokers are determined to keep the multiracial
working-class divided and dominated. They blame mail-in ballots and
early voting for Barack Obama's victories and for Biden's election,
in which people of color turned out in record numbers. They are also
alarmed by the Black Lives Matter uprising, the potential for similar
feminist and LGBTQ+ upsurges, stepped-up union organizing, and
election gains by outspoken progressives.
A
fight to grow our power. Capitalist
democracy isn’t fair or representative. It is designed to keep
the rich in control while making voters think they are participating
in setting the country’s direction.
As
the ascension of Donald Trump in 2016 made painfully clear, the
popular vote for president doesn’t actually determine
elections; the Electoral College does. (For the racist origins of
this institution see “Electoral
College Is a Legacy of Slavery”)
Sometimes the Supreme Court, whose members are chosen for life by
whichever party is in office when a vacancy happens, puts its thumb
on the scales. It did this in 2000 when it stopped a recount of
ballots to give George W. Bush a win over Al Gore.
Not
exactly a system of one person, one vote!
And,
of course, even setting aside the current rash of restrictive laws,
not everyone is allowed
to vote. People convicted of felonies are barred in most states.
Immigration status keeps millions from having a say on the laws they
live under. Too often people are prevented from getting to the polls
because of work schedules, lack of transportation, distance, or
disability.
If
a person is fortunate enough to cast a vote, what are their choices?
Given the overwhelming influence of corporate money and the byzantine
laws that protect the two-party duopoly and keep minor parties off
the ballot, the options will rarely be appetizing for anyone poor or
working-class.
Yet
the right to vote is a fundamental democratic liberty and one that
several generations of oppressed Black U.S. residents have fought and
died for. The ballot is a badge of equality, one that still gives
ordinary people a voice on initiatives, levies, taxes, and other
issues that affect their daily lives.
This
power must be defended and used. Joining the fight to stop the
bigoted assault on the right to vote matters. To expose the rigged
electoral system while fighting against its worst blights is to take
one step toward overthrowing the whole bourgeois democratic system to
achieve real racial justice and working-class democracy.
This
commentary was originally published by The
Freedom Socialist Party
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