This week, Texas became the latest GOP-controlled state to enact anti-voter restrictions with one of the most deplorable anti-voter laws in the country. Meanwhile, Republicans across the country continued their assault on the voice and vote of the American people, beginning the process of drawing partisan congressional and legislative maps.
In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed the anti-voter SB1 into law. The bill bans 24-hour and drive-thru voting, imposes new hurdles on mail-in ballots, and empowers partisan poll watchers. A coalition of voting rights groups responded by filing a lawsuit in federal court. Governor Abbott also called a third special session of the Texas legislature so Republicans can gerrymander partisan maps to their advantage and insulate themselves from accountability from voters.
In Nebraska, the state legislature’s Redistricting Committee on Thursday failed to reach an agreement over its newly drawn political maps. The Republican-backed proposal aims to crack Douglas County Democratic-registered voters into two heavily Republican counties and has been widely condemned as an egregious partisan gerrymander. The plans will be brought to public hearings in Grand Island, Lincoln, and Omaha next week.
In Georgia, legislators have set guidelines allowing for maps to be drawn in secret before being presented to redistricting committees. A final vote on new congressional and legislative maps is expected during the special session in late October or November.
In Ohio, despite the 2015 passage of reforms for redistricting transparency, Republicans presented state legislative maps that crack predominantly Black cities into different districts and separate communities of interest. The Redistricting Commission will hear public comment on the maps next week.
In Tennessee, the state House Redistricting Committee held a public hearing on Wednesday to discuss upcoming changes to the state’s congressional and legislative maps. Under the GOP-backed proposal, Nashville would be cracked into other districts to boost Republicans’ electoral prospects, undermining the voice and vote of Nashville residents.
In North Carolina, after Republican legislators used state money to hire outside counsel in an attempt to limit the freedom to vote, an appeals court blocked a lower court order that would have restored voting rights to more than 55,000 residents on parole or probation for a felony.
The GOP and their dark money allies have continued to demonstrate that they are more than willing to obstruct democracy and Americans’ access to the ballot box. With partisan gerrymandering now underway and attacks on the fundamental freedom to vote across the country, it is more critical than ever for the Senate to pass the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1) and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4). The filibuster can no longer be a barrier to protecting fair and equal access to voting.
###