Texas Does It Bigger: Voter Suppression

 

If you didn’t have districts carved up to suit the GOP incumbent power base, Texas would actually be a swing state. The majority of big Texas cities, including Houston, Dallas and Austin, are helmed by Democratic mayors with pretty obvious Democratic majorities. But of Austin’s six congressional districts, the city sends five red representatives to the House.

“Gerrymandering has a long and proud tradition in the state of Texas. Republicans have been firmly in control for years. In 2012, the Texas legislature redrew the lines for Congressional districts. Austin, famous as an island of weirdness in a deep-red state, presented a challenge: how to prevent a liberal area from sending a liberal politician to the Congress. Republicans were up to the challenge, however. They carved Austin up into six districts, one stretching in a narrow eighty-mile band all the way to San Antonio.” Blogger George Rothert. Austin would otherwise be bright blue!

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a devoted Trumper, presided over the reopening of the state from that awful COVID thang that he said was mostly a blue city problem. Until Texas became home to one of the most virulent states for the spread of the disease, taxing hospital capacity, soon joining red state Florida as the reigning monarchs of staggering and murderous coronavirus infection and mortality rates. At this writing, Texas was this nation’s worst hotspot. After the presidential debate on the 29^th of September, given Trump’s already plunging poll numbers, Abbot became concerned that he could not deliver the Texas vote to Mr. Trump. What to do? Red alert, Republicans!

Well, as today’s title tell you, stuff in Texas is often jes’ plain bigger! Some of those counties are HUGE and VAST. For less well-heeled city dwellers, less likely to own a car but more likely to vote Democratic, the answer was obvious. If we’re going to make mail-in ballots downright difficult, making folks drop them off in person or vote in person on election day, that we need those polling stations to be very, very inconvenient to minority neighborhoods, and we really want to limit those drop-off points to be hard to get to… and few. So…

“Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas issued a proclamation on Thursday [10/1] ordering counties to offer only one location for voters to drop off mail-in ballots in person… Several counties — including the state’s two largest, Harris County (which includes Houston) and Dallas County — had opened satellite drop-off locations in addition to their central election offices. Those satellite locations must close as of Friday [10/2]… The state’s decision to reduce options for voters to drop off their ballots comes as questions of voting rights, voter suppression and the integrity of the election have emerged as major issues in the 2020 campaign.

“In announcing the change, Mr. Abbott described it as necessary for security. His spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon about why the governor considered the satellite drop-offs insecure… ‘The state of Texas has a duty to voters to maintain the integrity of our elections,’ Mr. Abbott said in a statement accompanying his proclamation. ‘As we work to preserve Texans’ ability to vote during the Covid-19 pandemic, we must take extra care to strengthen ballot security protocols throughout the state. These enhanced security protocols will ensure greater transparency and will help stop attempts at illegal voting.’ There is no evidence that mail-in ballots lead to widespread fraud.

“The move drew immediate criticism from Democrats, who are more competitive in Texas this year than they have been in past election cycles, and from voting rights groups… ‘Republicans are on the verge of losing, so Governor Abbott is trying to adjust the rules last minute,’ Gilberto Hinojosa, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said in a statement. ‘Governor Abbott and Texas Republicans are scared. We are creating a movement that will beat them at the ballot box on Nov. 3, and there’s nothing these cheaters can do about it.’” New York Times, October 1^st.

Meanwhile, as the Trump apparently cannot live without his ability to create chaos and disruption, to interrupt and prevent real questions from being answered and real policy platforms from being discussed by spewing myths and false facts instead of deal with real questions, Trump made sure that the obvious suggestion – turn off the microphone of the candidate who is not on the clock to answer a question – will never happen.

“The Trump campaign said Thursday [10/1] that the president would participate in the second and third debates, but that it does not support changing the format. Campaign officials also accused the leadership of the Commission on Presidential Debates of bias against President Trump.” Washington Post, October 1^st. The true risk of “illegal voting,” according to those charged with managing the elections, is exceptionally small. Everyone knows that. Maybe the US Post Office won’t actually follow the federal court order and restore the capacity necessary to have those mail-in ballots actually get counted on time. Fairness appears to be Trump’s worst nightmare.

As Republicans are rapidly reaching the conclusion that Trump is unlikely to survive a genuine vote, they are prepared to undo an entire democracy to preserve an autocratic rogue president with no respect for the Constitution or the rule of law (“law and order” only applies to crushing those who oppose his views). Trump was right when he predicted that this election would end “badly.” Can the turnout so overwhelm the results that even Donald Trump will accept the results? Probably not, but the rest of the GOP just might. Hey, Donald, don’t worry, those Proud Boys absolutely love you. They are well-armed, grateful for your endorsement, and in their own words (new PP slogan), “We’re ready!” I hear they’re pretty good shots.

            I’m Peter Dekom, and the last time we faced these dire responses and efforts, we fought the Civil War… the bloodiest conflict in American history.