John, this past month we’ve seen a lot of highs and lows when it comes to voting rights across the country, and with things changing every day, it can be hard to keep up! For example, did you know that Rhode Island has never been represented by a person of color in Congress? But after last week’s primary, Gabe Amo is one win away from changing that.
Our When We All Vote social team shares breaking news headlines on voting and elections on the daily — but I want to take it a step further. So here I am sharing The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in recent voting news and what comes next.
THE GOOD:
History made! An openly gay lawmaker will join the ranks of the Mississippi Legislature for the first time in history next January. Last month, Fabian Nelson won the primary runoff for House District 66 and is running uncontested in the general election. In office, he wants to increase healthcare access for low-income people by pushing for Medicaid expansion. Nelson will be sworn in before the next legislative session in January. His victory leaves Louisiana as the only state with no openly LGBTQ+ lawmakers.
THE BAD:
In Texas, the Elections Administrator for Harris County, home to the second-largest Black population in the country, stepped down after the legislature eliminated the position of Elections Administrator in each Texas county with a population of 3.5 million or more — a threshold reached by Harris County alone.
Senate Bill 1750 requires Harris County to transfer election-related duties from a locally appointed elections administrator to the county clerk and the county tax assessor-collector.
Senate Bill 1750 is just one of several bills targeting elections in Harris County. The Texas Senate has also approved Senate Bill 1993, which allows the state to order new elections in Harris County (and only Harris County).
THE UGLY:
In Wisconsin, legislators are threatening to impeach and remove newly elected state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz if she refuses to recuse herself from two cases involving the state's highly gerrymandered election maps.
As you might remember, Justice Protasiewicz won her election just 4 months ago in a landslide, an uncommon victory in Wisconsin, where statewide elections are often determined by narrow margins. Now legislators are threatening to erase the votes of more than one million Wisconsinites who made their voices heard in that election. The good news is, that voters have already filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop this move.
John, while we continue to celebrate the wins, we must also acknowledge the attempts to silence our voices. Across the nation, we’ve seen voting rights under attack in ways that impact us all. We know what we’re up against, and we’re not giving up.
As we head into our National Voter Registration Week of Action, we’re focused on ensuring that everyone can make their voice heard at the ballot box. And we need your help. Will you make a donation today to support our work to register voters?
