Voting
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.click2houston.com/news/politics/2021/03/15/watch-live-abbott-to-discuss-election-integrity-legislation-in-houston/
This is an easy one. Whatever it takes to make it easier for everyone to vote, the better. Period. Mail-in balloting. Great. Longer poll hours. Fabulous. Same day registration. Great idea. Easier ID confirmation. Even better!
Once again, Texas Governor Abbott is revealing himself to be a poor leader by proposing limits to voter accessibility. This is going on all over the country, but especially in the South where these new voting rules are the latest incarnation of Jim Crow rules aiming to suppress Black voters. Proponents of the new laws say they will prevent voter fraud, but there is very little voter fraud and the biggest case recently was in a Republican primary in North Carolina. This is a solution in search of a problem.
While I agree that who votes and how ought to be the province of the states, the federal government may have to step in to stop the latest effort by racists to win elections that they cannot win otherwise. I’m thinking of places like Georgia (although the new law there is not all that oppressive and the adverse reaction on the left has been a little overheated) and I am beginning to think of places like Texas. Obviously, so is Governor Abbott who has clearly realized that his foolishness with regard to not assuring Texans of access to energy and to keep Texans as safe from covid as possible have been dismal failures.
This latest Republican nonsense about voter fraud is just an excuse to try to exclude people who historically have voted for Democrats from casting ballots. The GOP is chafed about the Senate races in Georgia which cost the party dearly and now the GOP wants to do everything it can to cancel out traditional Democratic voters. How about better policies? Wait a minute. The GOP did great in 2020. Trump just lost and then cost the GOP the seats in Georgia. The GOP’s problem isn’t its policies. It is its national leadership. That can be fixed without legislation.
The Republican Party needs a rebirth like it had in 1980 under Ronald Reagan. The likely Democratic nominee in 2024 is either going to be a very old incumbent, his sitting Vice President or AOC. The GOP should have no problem finding a better alternative to any of those. It’s just not Donald Trump—Senior or Junior.
The Republicans have a great message of responsible federal spending, lower taxes, defense strength and free trade. They don’t need stupid election law changes to win. They need someone beside The Donald.
These newly proposed laws are anti-democratic (with small and big D’s) and are totally unnecessary. Along with laws against trans-female athletes, these new ideas are simply not needed and don’t belong in state houses or state legislatures.
Georgia, Texas and the rest of the New South have other more important matters to attend to. Who runs in the high school track meet and voter fraud, are not issues for these legislative bodies. Stop it!
