President Biden is right, the newly minted Georgia voter suppression and ballot fixing scheme is an obscenity. But it’s actually just the tip of the iceberg. Right now, there are more than 250 GOP sponsored bills making their way through state legislatures to try to rig and disenfranchise the votes of American citizens, and I get it. There’s safety in numbers.
I look at these GOP voter suppression bills like bunking on a stoner buddy’s couch for the night. You go out to the kitchen at 2 am to get a beer, turn on the light, and a phalanx of roaches scatter in all directions. You grab a shoe or fly swatter and wale away. You get most of them, but some of them escape. That’s what the GOP is doing. Flood the zone. Pass as many as you can, get what you can through the courts, and then regroup in the dark, and look to expand it in the next wave.
But you know what? We don’t have to put up with it. Because the simple fact is that not all elections are created equally. There are actually two different kinds of elections in this country, federal elections, and state elections. And handled properly, never the twain shall meet!
The GOP has clearly already resigned itself to the reality of attempting to be a minority ruling party. After all, if they thought that they could ever become a major party again, there would be no reason for all of the voter suppression laws. The GOP has come to peace with their inner scumbag. And the two major crutches are gerrymandering and voter suppression. When it comes to national elections, you want to save our small d democracy? It’s almost absurdly simple. Separate. The. Fuckers!
It isn’t like there isn’t precedent. There are all kinds of states, from Kentucky to Virginia, to Illinois who all hold their local and state elections in the odd off years of the calendar. Most states hold their local and state elections to match federal elections simply for the convenience, as well as the economy of sharing the costs of the election with the federal government.
Put a stop to it. When the two are held together, the state’s election laws determine how the elections are adjudicated, even the federal spots. This is what leads to the kind of rampant political abuse we are seeing as the GOP tries to create individual fiefdoms that are beyond government control. But we can stop it.
Federal elections dates are mandated in the constitution. Federal elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November on even numbered years. That is set in stone. And if you want to ensure fairer federal elections, you can do that with a bill that would fit on a 3×5 card;
Federal elections shall be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in Nobvember in even numbered years. No other state or local elections shall be held on the same day.
There’s your fix right there. By mandating that no other elections could take place on federal election days, it would effectively remove the states, and their influence from the process. Federal election laws would govern the entire process, with the federal government footing the bill for the running of the elections. But it would nullify the pernicious effects of state voter restriction laws, and properly handled would remove the devastating effects of gerrymandering.
If the Democrats move quickly and boldly, they could make federal election day a national holiday. They could pass automatic federal voter registration, you turn 18, you’re eligible to vote. It would allow them to harden the protection of federal voting machines and tallying computers from foreign interference. And it would allow the federal government to create non partisan, non political state commissions to handle the redistricting of the federal congressional seats every 10 years after the census was completed.
The GOP has spent decades piggybacking on federal election days in order to force state laws and regulations for the tallying of the votes. It’s time for that to end. The legal forced separation of state and federal elections, we can free ourselves from the GOP’s flailing attempts to remain nationally relevant. The state political parties would still be responsible for running their own primaries to nominate candidates for the general election, but the states would wear no cost for the general elections themselves.
I already know what you’re thinking, Wait a minute! This is way too simple, straightforward, and flat out stupid! I know that, because I’ve been rolling this around in my head for the last two days now, and I keep thinking the same goddamned thing! But every single time I roll it over, no matter what angle I look at it from, I can’t find a single reason why this would not be a quick, easy, and totally viable way for the federal government to neuter the sadistic anti voting rights laws being proposed and adopted by the states. If you can find the flaw in my thinking, please leave a comment, and I’ll try to read it if my eyes allow.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
Please please please send this idea to the people in charge of writing the legislative bills. It makes so much sense.
I R shy, and I don’t like tooting my own horn…;p; Feel free to forward a link to your representative and Senator…
I like the idea but can any sensible legislation get passed through R blockades/ filibusters? It would hamper their voter sppression efforts, at least at the national level, big time. Hmm, I like that. Go for it.
I love this web site, but I can’t donate money too bogged down in medical bills.
I agree with Tammy.
why hasn’t anyone in Congress come up with this solution?
did you ever wonder why our government makes passing bills so complicated, we deserve better.
there seems to be laws or rules always standing in our way or one person (this should never happen but it does). Like the woman who wouldn’t give information to President Biden for the transition to being president, here one person shouldn’t have this power. In the Senate the majority leader McConnell stopping our bill passing processes this should never be, we need to change these problems. The postmaster general should be appointed by the president not a board.
Why Qanon thinks the minority communities hurt them when it is really the party and men? they are fighting for.
Victoria, ALL are welcome here!!! And we are sooooooo glad that you enjoy the site!!! stop in as often as you like, Ursula and I try to space out some new material throughout the day so that the site stays fresh…
Brilliant idea!
It sounds good to me but I’d like reassurance about what federal legal standards would still hold sway over the state elections. Would this affect them? Otherwise the states could do whatever the hell they want in the areas of voter suppression, gerrymandering, you name it. (I initially submitted this on the wrong thread — sorry.)
I don’t know about this. It seems if there are strong federal regulations placed on federal elections, a lot of benefits carry over to the state elections.
Once again, let me say that making election day a federal holiday is a horrific, “sound good” idea that in the current climate needs to be the very LIST item on our list. Unless it is coupled with ample and robust opportunities to vote early — universal mail-in, guaranteed extended and accessible early voting hours, including weekends and evenings, and accessible drop boxes, it is purely a voter suppression measure that would have outsized impact on low-wage service workers and single parents, preventing them from being able to vote because you can’t close private businesses so those who work in restaurants, stores etc would have to work additional shifts to service people who are on “holiday” and with schools closed, they’d be scrambling for childcare, with voting the last thing on their minds. This election day holiday is a pretty show-pony thing, but if you don’t guarantee early voting opportunities — and make them a requirement — it’s really bad.