This is why we should stop letting states decide how their votes are counted and sent in, because they cheat for their own teams. The feds should go to every god damn state and count the votes without those states being allow to fuck with it, states themselves are commiting election fraud openly without consequence.
Unfortunately it would basically take a Constitutional amendment, as Article 2 Section 1 says “Each state shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct….” which basically means states get to decide how they run their own elections. That’s why it took the Fifteenth and Nineteenth amendments to give protections based on race and gender. And considering Congress can’t even pass a budget, there’s no way any amendments are getting passed any time soon.
That’s not exactly true. A big reason why this happened is SCOTUS gutted the Voting Rights Act in Holder vs Shelby County.
The new ruling eliminated the requirement for certain states — those with a history of racism — to obtain permission from independent federal committees before implementing any changes to their States voting rules.
Since that ruling in 2013, Republican legislatures have proposed and passed thousands of laws that gut voting rights, specifically targeting minorities and democratic strongholds.
Limitations to mail in voting, cutting early voting, closing thousands of polling stations, cutting same day voter registration, prohibiting black church voter drives, passing restrictive voter ID laws, creating ever-changing arbitrary rules on how and when people cast their ballot and dozens and dozens more.
This is the consequence of the Bush v Gore election with Nader splitting the left vote. Bush put Roberts and Alito on SCOTUS and Holder v Shelby passed with a 5-4 vote.
Yet another reason why it was so fucking agonizing hearing so many people casting “protest votes” in the 2016 election knowing a SC judge was already on the line.
We could have had a liberal Supreme Court for the first time in over 75 years and we threw it away for nothing.
Democracy doesn’t collapse in a day. It takes decades. People need to stop thinking so short-term when voting for president. It’s a shitty feeling when your preferred candidate doesn’t win the primary, but that doesn’t mean it’s all for nothing. Right now who you’re keeping out is more important than who gets elected and in the long run your vote still helps protect democracy.
Presidents are important for judges, SCOTUS and veto-power. That’s literally it. All you have to do is ask yourself which candidate you’d prefer nominating a lifetime Supreme Court position. These rulings affect generations of Americans — not just the four years that President is in office.
If you live in a swing state make sure you are registered to vote and cast your ballot. Vote early. Research absentee ballots. And ffs vote in the midterms and any other Congressional election. The Presidency is severely limited if congress is gridlocked and can’t get anything passed.
Looking back — history will judge these two specific elections as major contributors to the downfall of democracy simply because of the SCOTUS appointments.
But we can still fight for democracy. The youth vote can single-handedly crush fascism at the ballot box — all we have to do is vote. It doesn’t matter if you think the candidate isn’t going to win — voter apathy is the tool of fascists.
Many important elections have come down to just a few hundred votes and not all of them get national media coverage. Citizens need to be proactive and vote by default. The youth vote made a huge difference in the last midterms and only 27% of people under 30 participated. Think about how much progressive legislation we could pass if we get those numbers up to the senior participation rate — which is 75%.
It’s all within reach. Don’t give up and don’t listen to anyone saying “democracy is dead” or that voting “doesn’t work”. They’re wrong.
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u/WatchItAllBurn1 May 26 '23
There is also a chance that in bush' second election that there were some genuine problems
54% of votes discarded in Florida were African americans
in the same election, Ohio made it harder and less accessible for African Americans and poor communities to vote too.
While these were ultimately rejected by the republican congress at the time. It does not change the fact that Bush only won the popular vote by 0.7%.