On The Docket 01/21/2022

John,

On Wednesday night, Republican senators scuttled what was likely the final chance for Congress to pass crucial federal legislation.

Right now, we’re grieving democracy's loss. It is not an understatement to say that the Senate’s failure to act is a major setback for voting rights, fair representation and our democracy.

For almost a decade now, Republican-controlled state legislatures have been passing restrictive voting laws they were previously barred from enacting. This trend only accelerated in the past year as Trump’s “Big Lie” conspiracies metastasized across the country.

The fight may be over in the Senate. But it continues in statehouses and courtrooms across the country. We cannot give up on our country’s future.

I know that we won’t give up.

Thank you for being in this fight,
Marc and Team Democracy Docket

IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL

The Senate Fails To Protect Our Democracy

Any prospects for federal voting rights legislation died on Wednesday evening in an equally disappointing and infuriating conclusion to a year-long push for Senate action.

After several hours of debate (thanks to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) creative maneuvering to bring the legislation to the Senate floor), all 50 Republican senators once again blocked the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. Republicans were joined by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), the lone Democrats who placed their loyalty to arcane rules and minority obstruction above their loyalty to our democracy.

Prior to the failed votes, senators took to the floor to share their thoughts on the landmark legislation and the filibuster rule changes necessary to enact it. You can find highlights from the speeches and an explanation of the procedural steps here. [link removed]

Notably, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) called on his colleagues to meet the moral urgency of the moment. Warnock evoked the stark difference between the day Georgia voters mobilized to elect him last January, and the dark day that followed: “We are caught somewhere between January 5th and January 6th. Between our hopes and fears. Between bigotry and beloved community. In each moment, we the people have to decide which way we are going to go and what we are willing to sacrifice in order to get there.”

IN THE STATES

Alarming News Stories From Florida and Texas

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) proposed a new Office of Election Crimes and Security, a special body that will have the power to “investigate, detect, apprehend, and arrest anyone for an alleged violation” of election laws. DeSantis has asked lawmakers, who just began their 2022 legislative session, for $6 million towards the new office — it would be the first of its kind in the country with the unique power of arresting citizens suspected of election crimes. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Florida; however, voting rights groups are concerned about the adverse effects of this new force. Jonathan Diaz from Campaign Legal Center told The Washington Post: “My number one concern is that this is going to be used as a tool to harass or intimidate civic-engagement organizations and voters.” Echoing DeSantis’ proposal, Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue (R) has already endorsed the creation of a parallel body in Georgia. [link removed]

Meanwhile, in Texas, the effects of its new voter suppression law are already being felt. Among several provisions that add new obstacles for voters, one provision requires voters requesting a mail-in ballot to provide their driver's license or Social Security number. The kicker? It must match the number they used when first registering to vote – if they forget which one they initially used, their application will be rejected. This guessing game has resulted in hundreds of mail-in ballot requests being rejected, including about half of those in Austin’s Travis County. [link removed]

With Republicans now in control of the Virginia governorship and the House of Delegates (Democrats maintain a slim majority in the state Senate), Virginia is at risk of following the dangerous path of Florida and Texas. Five years ago, Virginia was the second-hardest state to vote in across all 50 states. In 2020, it was the twelfth easiest state. Much of that credit can be given to the Democratic-controlled Legislature that expanded voter access in a myriad of ways, including enacting a state-level Voting Rights Act last year. Now, the progress of the past few years is threatened. Republicans in the Virginia Legislature have already introduced over 20 bills to restrict mail-in voting after its widespread use during the 2020 and 2021 elections. The proposed bills reinstate a narrow list of acceptable excuses to vote by mail, remove the permanent mail-in ballot list, shorten the period in which you can cast a mail-in ballot and eliminate drop box locations. Other proposed bills add new witness or identification requirements to request mail-in ballots. [link removed]

REDISTRICTING ROUNDUP

January Roundup: Where Redistricting Stands

Since our last redistricting roundup, five additional states have finished redistricting. Now, all states, except Louisiana, have at least begun to consider proposals. At the same time, litigation is advancing — the Supreme Court in Ohio overturned the state’s new maps. Read “January Redistricting Roundup: The New Year Brings New Maps” for a comprehensive update of where redistricting stands as the first month of 2022 comes to a close. [link removed]

AND MORE:
On Wednesday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) vetoed two redistricting bills, calling the maps “unconstitutional political gerrymandering” and criticizing the lack of public input. The Republican-controlled Kentucky Legislature can override Beshear’s veto with a simple majority, which they are expected to do. [link removed]
Also this week, Missouri’s congressional map passed the Missouri House and Tennessee Senate Republicans advanced a highly-criticized congressional map which splits Nashville’s county into three districts. [link removed]
The Arkansas Legislature approved new maps back in October, which Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) permitted to become law without his signature, a halfhearted move of disapproval to the lawmakers in his own party who split Little Rock’s county among three districts. Citizens then had a 90-day window to file a veto referendum to overturn the maps, which Arkansans for a Unified Natural State attempted to do for the congressional map. According to Ballotpedia, the group was unable to collect the necessary number of signatures by last Friday’s deadline. Consequently, Arkansas’ new maps have now gone into effect.
Just days before the Florida Senate was set to vote on a new congressional map, Gov. DeSantis submitted his own plan. Constrained by a fair districts constitutional amendment, the proposed Senate plan is only slightly biased towards Republicans. However, DeSantis, who has veto power over any map the Legislature approves, submitted an aggressive plan that halves the number of majority-Black districts. Florida Republicans have yet to resolve their disagreements over how to draw the new maps. [link removed]


IN THE COURTS

Ohio Maps Struck Down and a Busy Week for Wisconsin Courts

Ohio — Last week, the Supreme Court of Ohio struck down the state’s new congressional and General Assembly maps for being partisan gerrymanders that violate the Ohio Constitution. Last Friday, in a 4-3 decision, the majority of the court held that the enacted congressional map — which was predicted to hand Republicans 75 to 85% of the congressional delegation in a nearly divided state — “excessively and unwarrantedly favors the Republican Party and disfavors the Democratic Party.” In 2018, a majority of Ohio voters approved an amendment banning partisan gerrymandering in congressional redistricting. Despite this clear directive from Ohio voters, the court found that the Republicans who controlled the map-drawing process created a plan “that is infused with undue partisan bias and that is incomprehensibly more extremely biased than the 2011 plan that it replaced.” They went on to say that “this is not what Ohio voters wanted or expected when they approved” the amendment. This decision came two days after the same makeup of justices struck down the legislative districts. The court has ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission to draw new legislative districts by Jan. 22 and the Legislature to draw a new congressional map within 30 days. [link removed]

Wisconsin — Democracy is definitely on the docket in Wisconsin — lawsuits regarding both voting laws and redistricting are ongoing. Drop boxes exploded in availability in 2020 as a safe and convenient way to return mail-in ballots, including in Wisconsin. However, not everyone was happy about the increase in voting options. The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) filed a lawsuit — Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission — to try to ban the use of drop boxes for future elections. Last Friday, a judge ruled from the bench in favor of WILL, prohibiting the use of drop boxes in Wisconsin and barring any third-party — like a family member or neighbor — from returning an absentee ballot on behalf of a voter. We are awaiting a written order. [link removed]

This past Wednesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a special type of lawsuit called impasse litigation. In short, impasse litigation is when courts take control of the redistricting process when state governments fail to pass new maps. This often happens in states, such as Wisconsin, when control of the different branches of government is divided between political parties. For more on the history of redistricting litigation in Wisconsin, who’s involved in the current cases and what they’re arguing, read our latest Case Watch, “Examining Impasse Litigation in Wisconsin’s Redistricting Process.” [link removed]

AND MORE:
On Wednesday, a lawsuit was filed in federal court challenging Washington state’s commission-approved legislative map for diluting the voting strength of Latino voters — notably, the map is not law yet. The lawsuit focuses on how the commission-approved legislative map configures a legislative district in the Yakima Valley region, arguing that Latino voters were intentionally “cracked” into several surrounding districts to dilute their voting strength. [link removed]
The North Carolina Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments in the ongoing redistricting cases for Wednesday, Feb. 2. Last week, a state court upheld the state’s new legislative and congressional maps, which was immediately appealed to the state Supreme Court. You can find all of the relevant documents and courtroom updates from the first trial here. [link removed]


WHAT WE’RE DOING

Three things to do today to stay engaged in the fight!

We’re taking action: Let’s not overlook how close we were to enacting monumental voting rights legislation, and that’s all thanks to the tireless organizing from activists across the country. So today, we recognize those who pushed for federal legislation, fought for voting rights and mobilized communities in all 50 states. As we prepare for the fight ahead, we encourage you to find the local and state organizations working in your area — donate, volunteer and get involved!

We’re watching: We heard several exceptional speeches on the Senate floor this week. Senate Democrats spoke about the impact of voter suppression in communities of color, the growing harassment of elections officials, the success of vote by mail, the reactionary pushback to 2020’s historic turnout and more. For a particularly impassioned speech, watch Sen. Warnock define this moment. [link removed]

We’re listening: You don’t want to miss today’s Twitter Spaces with Marc and Team Democracy Docket. Tune in at 2:00 p.m. EST for a discussion on what went down this week and what to expect as the fight continues. [link removed]

SPOTLIGHT

Two Spotlights Calling for Senate Action

In this week’s first Spotlight, Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-Ore.) chief of staff Mike Zamore makes the case for reinstating the talking filibuster. Merkley was an early supporter of this reform, which is the route that Senate Democrats ultimately attempted to take this week. “If you are an institutionalist, you cannot help but be appalled at what has become of this institution,” writes Zamore, in discussing the proliferation of filibusters in the past few decades. Zamore explores how this rule change is the path forward to restoring the Senate at this very moment in “The Talking Filibuster is a Middle Ground.” [link removed]

In our second Spotlight, four democracy scholars push back against pundits who argue that voting rights and fair districts should take the backseat to the bigger threat — election subversion. Charlotte Hill, Jake Grumbach, Hakeem Jefferson and Adam Bonica are political scientists who claim that this premise that election subversion supersedes all other issues is based on two faulty premises. One is about policy. The other is about politics. Instead, they argue that America is facing a democracy crisis in three parts: voter suppression, partisan gerrymandering and election subversion, and that protecting democracy requires policy change on all three fronts. These political scientists experts make it clear: “Democrats Must Reform the Electoral Count Act and Pass Comprehensive Voting Rights Legislation.” [link removed]

ASK MARC

Each week, we pick a few reader questions about all things elections and share Marc’s answers. Got a question? Submit it here! [link removed]

Taylor asks: Since federal voting legislation has failed, what happens next?

Marc: The legislation would have given lawyers like myself a much needed, updated set of tools to protect democracy in court. It was crucial in light of the challenges we face today, but this week’s failure won’t stop the fight for democracy. We must continue to advocate and fight in court for free and fair elections.

Jasmine asks: If the Ohio maps are going to be redrawn by the same Republican state lawmakers, what's to stop them from drawing more gerrymandered maps?

Marc: The Republican lawmakers are now under a court order to draw new districts and the opinion from the state Supreme Court was fairly excoriating. The state will either do the right thing or will find themselves back in court.

WHAT BODE’S BARKING ABOUT

“​​The debate over voting rights on Wednesday underscored how unrepresentative of the country the Senate has become. The 48 Democrats who supported reforming the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation represented 34 million more Americans than the 52 senators (every Republican plus Manchin and Sinema) who upheld it.” Mother Jones [link removed]

“And it was in 1890 that Mississippi became one of the first states to call a constitutional convention to write voter suppression into its DNA. Other Southern states would soon follow Mississippi’s example. The Lodge Force Bill could have stopped them, but it faced strong opposition from Democrats in Congress, and not even all Republicans supported the bill… Switch a few names and dates, and this story could read like today’s news. The great tragedy is that, in spirit, it is today’s news.” The New York Times [link removed]

“But the disagreements that shook the [Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission] in its final days of work last month rose to the surface as the commissioners explained their votes — and pointed fingers at each other. Democratic Commissioner Shereen Lerner said she regretted her decision to vote for the final congressional map in December.” Arizona Mirror [link removed]



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