This page examines procedural injustices in U.S. politics, such as voter suppression and vote dilution.

These are the images used in artistic physical displays. They are survey questions and conversation starters that are topically and thematically organized. They demonstrate how Jesus is relevant to each topic or theme. You can also just view the images on your device. If you would like, see all our Conversation Stations; below are the ones that relate to the topic of Race.

Whose Justice? (and instructions and Christian Restorative Justice Study Guide)

Whose Justice? for Harvard Law School

Is a Good Friend Hard to Find? (and instructions and conversation tree)

What Can We Do About Evil? (and instructions and conversation tree) and smaller version and brochure version

Que Podemos Hacer Sobre La Maldad? for the Asociacion Dominicana de Estudiantes Evangelico, 2014

Does the Good Outweigh the Bad? (and instructions)

Race What's the Problem? (and instructions) and brochure version

Is God a Liberator or an Oppressor? (and instructions) 

Politics, the Church, and Jesus’ Restorative Justice

Slides of a presentation given to the 2022 Reconstruction class. The introduction features John Winthrop vs. Roger Williams to highlight the debate over freedom of religious Conscience vs. Christendom. The presentation highlights Christian accomplishments in health and hospitals, education and schools, land ownership and economic justice, and criminal justice reform.

A Long Repentance: Exploring Christian Mistakes about Race, Politics, and Justice in the United States

A series of blog posts where we explore how Christian (mostly Protestant) heresies started and continue to influence our modern political and racial challenges. This includes the very notion of race itself, and how our modern economics, housing, schooling, and policing systems have been shaped. Christians must take responsibility for these heresies in the framework of repentance.  We have designed a study guide to accompany the blog posts.  Please consider using it for personal reflection or discussion in your family, church, organization, etc.

Atonement, Justice, and Scapegoating

This blog post series relates to both the topic of atonement and the topic of desire because, like fallen Adam in the garden, we desire to deflect blame, and therefore we scapegoat others. On the political level, this builds group cohesion and creates a social outsider, who is blamed for the group’s woes, who the group must exile or kill or marginalize in order to maintain a hopeful lie. This series explores what political scapegoating has looked like in the U.S.

White American Evangelical Political Attitudes and Behavior: Explanation and Correctives

White American evangelical political attitudes can be characterized by the debate between John Winthrop and Roger Williams, and their respective attitudes towards Native Americans, slavery, fairness, and faith in civic space.  This is a presentation also explores Scripture and church history to argue that Roger Williams was correct.  Given to the staff of Emmanuel Gospel Center, Apr 18, 2018, as a follow-up to how Christian restorative justice impacts ministry; audio file here  

The Role of Jesus in Revolution and the Pursuit of Justice

This is an evangelistic message that highlights the Christian-led and Christian-influenced non-violent resistance movements throughout the world in the 20th century.  They show the connections and spiritual vitality of Christian faith under empire or empire-like oppression.

Top articles: David Daley, Inside the Republican Plot for Permanent Minority Rule. The New Republic, Oct 15, 2020. “How the GOP keeps cheating its way into power—and may get away with it again in 2020.” Daley gives a vital historical view of how Republicans have wanted to suppress minority votes to stay in power, through gerrymandering, voter ID laws, etc.

• Pre-2010: “Sensenbrenner’s 12,000 pages, after all, documented example after example of a white and largely Southern power structure more than willing to tarnish Reagan’s lustrous jewels for the sake of a more complete and enduring hold on power.”

• White supremacy: ““Part of the answer, not the whole answer, is the election of Barack Obama. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true and it’s very real: There was a deeper visceral reaction to his election than a lot of people would like to acknowledge, at least publicly, that really struck one of the core roots of racism that people oftentimes shield themselves from and hide behind.” The comforting fable that Obama’s election had magically turned America into a post-racial social order took hold—and began to do untold damage. The emerging consensus, Steele explained, was, “We’ve done this. Progress is done. It’s completed. We’ve elected a Black president, so there’s no need to do all this other stuff that we’ve been doing. Not recognizing that the other stuff that we’ve been doing actually becomes more important.”

• Corporate donors wanted deregulation and privatization: “Republicans, searching for a path back to power, hit upon a bold countervailing strategy: A sweep of key swing-state legislatures in 2010, they reckoned, could be quietly more consequential on the eve of the decennial redistricting that follows the census. In The Wall Street Journal that March, no less an eminence than Karl Rove outlined a strategy Republicans named the Redistricting Majority Project—REDMAP for short—led by former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie and funded with $30 million kicked in by Fortune 500 mega-players like Walmart, Reynolds American, Pfizer, AT&T, and Citigroup, together with mainline GOP stalwarts including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Blue Cross Blue Shield. REDMAP targeted 107 local state legislative races in 16 states—including, as you might imagine, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Florida. This coordinated campaign offensive flooded these lower-profile races with negative ads, and duly defeated Democratic incumbents amid a surging wave of anti-Affordable Care Act and Tea Party protests. GOP majorities in these critical states were thus empowered to redraw congressional district maps to pack as many Black and Democratic voters into as few districts as possible, creating a wholesale political resegregation along both sides of the Mason-Dixon line."

• Minority rule: “Those gerrymanders have proved rock-solid over the past eight years of general political upheaval. Today, more than 50 million Americans—nearly one in five of us—live in a state in which one or both chambers of the legislature are controlled by the party that won fewer votes. And yes, all of those people live in states where Democrats won more votes but Republicans hold the power.”

• Antidemocratic: “The ingenuity of the high-tech gerrymanders launched after the 2010 cycle had broken down battlegrounds like Wisconsin and North Carolina into districts utterly unrepresentative of their constituencies. Harvard’s Electoral Integrity Project rated the integrity of these legislative boundaries as a 3 and 4, respectively, on a scale of 100—a magnitude lower than Iran and Venezuela. In North Carolina, half the state’s Black population found themselves pinned into one-fifth of the state’s legislative and congressional districts.”

• Facilitates the rise of far-right ideologues: “Those uncompetitive districts moved all the action to GOP primaries, which created all manner of perverse incentives for alt-right ideologues, white nationalists, and conspiracy theorists to move into maximum influence—and at times, elective office. The party was hijacked because its leaders chose, consciously and at every turn, to place barriers before voters they believe do not support them, rather than persuade those citizens to join their side.” Now-standard issue GOP politicians like Mark Meadows rode the birtherism conspiracy.

• Systemic white supremacy and racism: “The Republicans drew themselves a fantasy nation where their base gained power even as it shrunk—a land where the right’s America became whiter and more conservative even as the exact opposite dynamic had taken hold in the rest of the country.”

• Policies are stymied, like immigration reform. Tea Party obstructionism.

• GOP regrets: “Donald Trump didn’t do this. Trump just swept up the pieces. There’s real anger, and real regret, in [former GOP Chairman Michael] Steele’s voice as he outlines the shift in strategy that happened in part on his RNC watch. “We gave up on our ideas. We gave up on our values. All we had left was just to game the system against the voter....””

Katie Benner, Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General (New York Times, Jan 22, 2021.  “Trying to find another avenue to push his baseless election claims, Donald Trump considered installing a loyalist.” See commentary by Lawrence O’Donnell, Trump Plotted To Replace AG General In Effort To Overturn Election Results (The Last Word | MSNBC, Jan 23, 2021.

Zach Montellaro, Senate Republicans Push New Voting Restrictions After Trump’s Loss (Politico, Jan 24 2021.

Wikipedia, Paul Weyrich (Wikipedia article) one of the leaders of the white evangelical political movement from the 1960's, co-founder of The Heritage Foundation (influential right-wing think tank) and co-founder of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) which writes bills, who was in favor of voter suppression. See Paul Weyrich, "I Don't Want Everybody to Vote" (Goo Goo) (People for the American Way, 1980.  “Paul Weyrich, "father" of the right-wing movement and co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, Moral Majority and various other groups tells his flock that he doesn't want people to vote. He complains that fellow Christians have "Goo-Goo Syndrome": Good Government. Classic clip from 1980. This guy still gives weekly strategy sessions to Republicans nowadays. The entire dialog from the clip: "Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome — good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." See also The Young Turks, Hypocrite Mitch McConnell Cool With Suppressing Voters. The Young Turks, Jan 31 2019.  at the 6:05 min mark.

Wikipedia, Buckley v. Valeo (1976) (Wikipedia article) on an early campaign finance decision rooted in the view that campaign contributions are "free speech" and should therefore be unlimited.  This led to two further SCOTUS cases, Wikipedia, First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978) (Wikipedia article) and Wikipedia, Citizens United v. FEC (2010) (Wikipedia article)

John Steele Gordon, Tort Reform is Essential. History News Network, Aug 25, 2004. Originally from the Wall Street Journal. “So, if the American rule (which dates to the 1790s) and the election of judges (which dates from 1812, when Georgia first provided for the election of some judges) are such good ideas, as the tort lawyers claim, why has neither spread beyond the borders of the U.S.? The alternative to the American rule, where the loser pays the costs of both sides, is usually called the English rule, but it would much more accurately be called the rest-of-the-world rule. Of all major countries, only Japan uses the American rule. And in Japan's confrontation-aversive legal system, getting into court at all is very difficult. As for the election of judges, there is not another country on the planet that chooses judges that way.”

Paula J. Giddings, Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching. Amistad | Amazon page, Mar 3, 2009.

Hamden Rice, Most of You Have No Idea What Martin Luther King Actually Did. Daily Kos, Aug 29, 2011.

CGP Grey, The Trouble With the Electoral College. CGP Grey, Nov 7, 2011.  plus update Nov 9, 2016

William Yardley, Bob Fletcher Dies at 101; Helped Japanese-Americans. New York Times, Jun 6, 2013.

Mariah Blake, The Ballot Cops. The Atlantic, Sep 19, 2012. “Thirty years ago, the Republican National Committee was accused of violating the Voting Rights Act and ordered to cease its “ballot security” efforts. Now an organization called True the Vote wants to pick up where the RNC left off, by building a nationwide army to root out voter fraud—or, some would say, to suppress voter turnout.”

Ross Luipold, GOP Precinct Captain Gives Shockingly Racist "Daily Show" Interview About Voter ID Laws. Huffington Post, Oct 24, 2013.

Jim Morris, Dwindling Number of Judges Burdens Workers. Center for Public Integrity, Dec 19, 2013. See also Jim Morris, Rising Caseload, Fewer Labor Department Judges Triggers Painful Mix for Suffering Laborers. Center for Public Integrity, Dec 19, 2013.

Spencer Woodman, Wait, Are You Sure You Want to Plead Guilty? North Carolina’s Bad Plan to Take Lawyers Away from Poor People. Slate, Dec 23, 2013.

Reappropriate, 10 Examples of AAPI’s Rich History of Resistance. blog, Jan 15, 2014.

Noam Scheiber, The Case for Socialized Law: Inequity Has Bent American Justice; Here's a Radical Way to Fix It. The New Republic, Feb 3, 2014.

Zachary Davies Boren, Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy. Business Insider, Apr 16, 2014.  Although it was designed that way.

Christopher Ingraham, What 60 Years of Political Gerrymandering Looks Like. Washington Post, May 21, 2014.

Maz Ali, Voter Fraud from 2000 – 2014 in Graphical Form. Upworthy, Aug 2014.

Jason Zengerle, The New Racism: This is How the Civil Rights Movement Ends. New Republic, Aug 10, 2014.  

Eric Moskowitz, They Heard the Call of Freedom, A Summons That Still Haunts. Boston Globe, Aug 30, 2014.  On students who stood with black Mississipians.

Valerie Beaumont, Harvard Students Take 1964 Literacy Test Black Voters Had To Pass Before Voting — They All Failed. Addicting Info, Nov 12, 2014.

Ira Glasser, Legacy of Racial Subjugation: Denying the Right to Vote. Huffington Post, Nov 28, 2014.

William Saletan, Whitewashing Terrorism: Republicans Have Firm Rules for Fighting Terrorism— Unless It’s Committed by Domestic Racists. Salon, Jun 22, 2015.

Juan Williams, America's Most Influential Thinker on Race: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s Insights Are Reshaping Law and Policy for the Better. Wall Street Journal, Feb 20, 2015.  Shows the loss of any kind of substantive (needs based distributive) justice in favor of procedural (meritocratic) justice alone; critiqued from a Native American standpoint by Steve Russell, Invisible Man: Clarence Thomas, the Avatar of Hypocrisy on Civil Rights. ICTMN, Jul 24, 2013.

Jim Rutenberg, A Dream Undone: Inside the 50 Year Campaign to Roll Back the Voting Rights Act. New York Times, Jul 29, 2015.

Terry Gross, America's Forgotten History Of Mexican-American 'Repatriation'. NPR, Sep 10, 2015.  

Jim Wallis, 4 Ways White Political Forces Steal Elections and How We Can Stop It. Sojourners, Mar 10, 2016.

Caty Green, Vann R. Newkirk, Why Is It So Hard to Vote in America? The Atlantic video, Apr 5, 2016.  About the 2013 change on the Voting Rights Act where States no longer have to get approval from the federal government before making changes to their voting laws; 13 states now have voter ID laws.

Caty Green and David Graham, The Blurred Lines of Gerrymandering. The Atlantic video, May 3, 2016.

Calvin Schermerhorn, Civil Rights Don't Always Stop Racism: The 1866 Memphis Massacre. The Atlantic, May 8, 2016.

Associated Press, The Ku Klux Klan is Slowly Rising Again. New York Post, Jun 30, 2016.

Christopher Ingraham, The 'Smoking Gun' Proving North Carolina Republicans Tried to Disenfranchise Black Voters. Washington Post, Jul 29, 2016.  and John Oliver, Voting Rights in NC. Last Week Tonight, Aug 1, 2016.

Ari Berman, GOP States Keep Ignoring Court Orders to Restore Voting Rights. The Nation, Oct 14, 2016.

Melissa Batchelor Warnke, In Acquitting the Oregon Militants, A White Jury Determines That the Law Doesn't Apply to White Protesters. Los Angeles Times, Oct 28, 2016.

Alice Miranda Ollstein, Supreme Court Ensures Thousands of Ohio Ballots Will Be Thrown Out for Small Errors. Think Progress, Nov 1, 2016.

Mark Joseph Stern, North Carolina Is Engaging in “Insane” Jim Crow–Style Voter Suppression, Says Federal Judge. Slate, Nov 3, 2016.

AJLabs, Who Got the Right to Vote When? Aljazeera, 2016.

German Lopez, Minority Voters Are 6 Times As Likely As White Voters to Wait More Than an Hour to Vote. Vox, Nov 8, 2016.

Jen Hayden, The Architect of the Most Racist Law in Modern American History Has Been Named to Trump's Team. Alternet, Nov 11, 2016.

Matthew Rozsa, How Voter ID Laws Helped Donald Trump Win the Presidency. Salon, Nov 14, 2016.  Wisconsin and North Carolina crucial to Trump's narrow electoral victory

Andrew Reynolds, North Carolina Is No Longer Classified As a Democracy. Charlotte Observer, Dec 22, 2016.  showing that the most powerful Republicans believe that democracy is a transitional state to theocratic and/or racial supremacist positions, much like conservative to radical Muslims aiming for shari'a. See also Brendan James, Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy. Talking Points Memo, Apr 18, 2014.  Referring to Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Cambridge University Press, Sep 2014.

Alice Miranda Ollstein, Alabama Found Guilty of Racial Gerrymandering. Think Progress, Jan 20, 2017.

Vann R. Newkirk, Trump Abandons the Secret Code of 'Voter Fraud'. The Atlantic, Jan 27, 2017.

Drew Pendergrass, The Alabamafication of America. Harvard Political Review, Feb 14, 2017.

Zoltan L. Hajnal, Nazita Lajevardi and Lindsay Nielson, Do Voter Identification Laws Suppress Minority Voting? Yes. We Did the Research. Washington Post, Feb 15, 2017.

Josh Gerstein, Magistrate Fines Kobach But Won’t Release Trump Meeting Memo — Yet. Politico, Jun 23, 2017.  “A federal magistrate has fined Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach $1,000 for presenting misleading arguments in a voting-related lawsuit, but won’t permit — for now — the release of a policy memo Kobach prepared for President-elect Donald Trump. U.S. Magistrate Judge James O’Hara issued the ruling Friday in a lawsuit challenging a Kansas law requiring voters to present proof of U.S. citizenship when they register. O’Hara said Kobach and his legal team “made patently misleading representations to the court” about the memo Kobach was photographed taking into a Nov. 20 meeting with Trump as well as another document proposing changes to the National Voter Registration Act, better known as the motor-voter law.”

Ella Nilsen, Vox Sentences: The Purge (of Ohio’s Voter Rolls). Vox, Aug 9, 2017.  important legal and administrative steps the Trump administration is taking towards voter suppression

Les Carpenter, Kaepernick, Activism, and Politics: The NFL Doesn't Know How to Stop This Row. The Guardian, Aug 23, 2017.  

Ryan D. Enos, How Segregation Leads to Racist Voting by Whites. Vox, Nov 28, 2017.

Vann R. Newkirk, What's Missing from Reports on Alabama's Black Turnout. The Atlantic, Dec 7, 2017.  See also Tierney Sneed, Alabama Demands Voter ID–Then Closes Driver’s License Offices In Black Counties. Talking Points Memo, Oct 1, 2015.

Yascha Mounk, Why America Is Not a Democracy. The Atlantic, Mar 2018.  on corporate donations in campaigns, and why corporate interest win vs. individual preferences.

Alex Wong, Trump's Lifelong Addiction. Politico, Apr 17, 2018. He is addicted to lawyers.

Lauren Etter and Michael Riley, Inside the Pro-Trump Effort to Keep Black Voters From the Polls. Bloomberg Business, May 29, 2018.

Lynn Parramore, Meet the Economist Behind the One Percent’s Stealth Takeover of America. Institute for New Economic Thinking, May 30, 2018. "Nobel laureate James Buchanan is the intellectual linchpin of the Koch-funded attack on democratic institutions, argues Duke historian Nancy MacLean." “The people who needed protection were property owners, and their rights could only be secured though constitutional limits to prevent the majority of voters from encroaching on them, an idea Buchanan lays out in works like Property as a Guarantor of Liberty (1993). MacLean observes that Buchanan saw society as a cutthroat realm of makers (entrepreneurs) constantly under siege by takers (everybody else) His own language was often more stark, warning the alleged “prey” of “parasites” and “predators” out to fleece them. In 1965 the economist launched a center dedicated to his theories at the University of Virginia, which later relocated to George Mason University. MacLean describes how he trained thinkers to push back against the Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate America’s public schools and to challenge the constitutional perspectives and federal policy that enabled it. She notes that he took care to use economic and political precepts, rather than overtly racial arguments, to make his case, which nonetheless gave cover to racists who knew that spelling out their prejudices would alienate the country.”

P.R. Lockhart, Trump Says He Doesn't Think NFL Players Are Protesting "A Real Issue". Vox, Jun 15, 2018.

Jonathan Shorman and Hunter Woodall, Judge Strikes Down Kansas Voter Law, Orders Kobach to Take Classes. Wichita Eagle, Jun 18, 2018.  “Robinson’s ruling amounted to a takedown of the law that Kobach had championed and lawmakers approved several years ago. She found that it “disproportionately impacts duly qualified registration applicants, while only nominally preventing noncitizen voter registration.” She also wrote that Kobach failed to disclose documents, and she faulted misleading testimony by one of his witnesses. Kobach was previously fined $1,000 in the case and held in contempt. Robinson concluded her ruling by ordering Kobach to take six additional hours of continuing legal education in addition to any other hours required for a law license.”

Philip Bump, In About 20 Years, Half the Population Will Live in Eight States. Washington Post, Jul 12, 2018.  Will have remarkable racial implications.

Vann Newkirk II, The End of Civil Rights. The Atlantic, Jun 18, 2018.  Across immigration, policing, criminal justice, and voting rights, the attorney general is pushing an agenda that could erase many of the legal gains of modern America's defining movement

The Young Turks, Trump Quietly Pardoned White Domestic Terrorists. The Young Turks, Jul 15, 2018.  re: Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, cattle ranchers who set fire to national land and sparked the Malheur standoff.  Compare to black NFL athletes to take a knee to protest police brutality.

Richard Fausset, Georgia County Rejects Plan to Close 7 Polling Places in Majority-Black Area. New York Times, Aug 23, 2018.

Jennifer Wright, Why Stripping U.S. Citizens of Their Passports Is a Precursor to Genocide. Harper’s Bazaar, Sep 7, 2018.  “It’s what happened to Jews in Germany in 1938 when their passports were declared invalid”

Ashoka Mukpo, Supreme Court Enables Mass Disenfranchisement of North Dakota’s Native Americans. ACLU, Oct 12, 2018.  See also Camila Domonoske, Many Native IDs Won't Be Accepted At North Dakota Polling Places. NPR, Oct 13, 2018.  

Jemele Hill, What the Black Men Who Identify With Brett Kavanaugh Are Missing. The Atlantic, Oct 12, 2018.  See response from David French, The Black Men Who Identify with Brett Kavanaugh Understand the Stakes. National Review, Oct 12, 2018.  About sexual harassment charges.

Chris McGreal, Dodge City Polling Place Debacle: Voter Suppression or Incompetence? The Guardian UK, Oct 28, 2018.

Anders Melin and Reade Pickert, Private Equity Controls the Gatekeepers of American Democracy. Bloomberg, Nov 3, 2018.  Three companies manufacture 90% of voting machine equipment.

German Lopez, Florida Votes to Restore Ex-Felon Voting Rights With Amendment 4. Vox, Nov 6, 2018.  Affecting 1.5 million people.

Lee Drutman, One Big Winner Last Night: Political Reform. Vox, Nov 7, 2018.  re: redistricting, voting reform, campaign finance.  See also Charles Lane, Voters Took on Gerrymandering. The Supreme Court Doesn't Need To. Washington Post, Nov 12, 2018.   See also Riley Beggin, One Woman's Facebook Post Leads to Michigan Vote Against Gerrymandering. Bridge Michigan, Nov 7, 2018.   See also Rick Noack, How to Explain to Someone Living Abroad That Democrats Can Have Over 10 Million More Senate Votes and Still Lose. Washington Post, Nov 7, 2018.   

Janell Ross, It’s Time for a New Voting Rights Act. The New Republic, Nov 13, 2018.  

Rachel Maddow, Apparent NC Election Rigging Scheme Has Been Going On For Years. MSNBC, Dec 6, 2018.  Surprising admission from McCrae Dowless aired on national radio from 2016 - but why was he not prosecuted? 

Martin Matishak, Rand Paul 'Disturbed' by Attorney General Nominee's Views. Politico, Dec 9, 2018.  re: William Barr, nominated by Trump; views on Patriot Act, civil asset forfeiture.  See also Jonathan Chait, Now We Know Trump Picked William Barr to Shut Down Mueller’s Investigation (New York Magazine, Dec 20, 2018.  on executive power 

Lawrence Lessig, The Unique Evil of Mitch McConnell. JRE Clips, Dec 13, 2018.  re: campaign finance and McConnell's opposition to reform and support for Citizens United

Adam Serwer, The Exceptions to the Rulers. The Atlantic, Jan 9, 2019.  "When people of color enter elite spaces, they’re often attacked as undeserving charlatans. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is no different"; examines how whites deploy the myth of meritocracy in reverse

Sean Illing, How Republicans Turned Voter Suppression into a High Art. Vox, Jan 24, 2019.

Brian Niemietz, Former Maine Governor Praises Electoral College for Keeping White People in Power. Chicago Tribune, Feb 28, 2019.

Hasan Minhaj, Civil Rights. Patriot Act, Mar 3, 2019.  on Trump's Cabinet members dropping civil rights cases:  Departments of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Health and Human Services, Commerce (which oversees the U.S. Census)

Brian Tyler Cohen, Ocasio-Cortez Brilliantly Catches Wilbur Ross in Huge Lie. Brian Tyler Cohen, Mar 14, 2019.  on the Trump Administration's move to put a citizenship question on the U.S. 2020 Census, which determines political apportionment

Eric Levitz, Florida GOP Readies Poll Tax to Nullify Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights. New York Magazine, Mar 20, 2019.  

Ashton Pittman, Mississippi Senate Approves New Map to Boost Black Voting Power. Jackson Free Press, Mar 27, 2019.  gives important historical context

Adam Gopnik, How the South Won the Civil War. The New Yorker, Apr 1, 2019.  “During Reconstruction, true citizenship finally seemed in reach for black Americans. Then their dreams were dismantled.” Does not note the role of white churches.

Sam Fulwood II, Civil Rights Group Urges Action Against Russian Effort to Suppress the Black Vote. Think Progress, May 6, 2019.

Robert Greenwald, Suppressed: The Fight to Vote. Brave New Films, Aug 27, 2019.  A major documentary focusing on Stacy Abrams’ 2018 loss in Georgia; see review by John Iadarola, Documentary Exposes Major Threat to 2020 Election. The Damage Report, Oct 24, 2019.

Brian Tyler Cohen, Chaos Erupts in North Carolina as Republicans Pull Vile Stunt. Brian Tyler Cohen, Sep 12, 2019.  Calling a State Congress vote on Sep 11 while Democrats attended a Sep 11 memorial because Republicans assured Democrats they would not.

Debbie Elliot, Black Voters Sue Over Mississippi's Jim Crow-Era Election Law. NPR, Sep 24, 2019.  “Mississippi voters will be choosing a governor and other statewide offices in November under a unique set of election rules that date to the 19th century. A federal lawsuit by four African-American citizens is challenging the system as racially discriminatory. The target of the lawsuit is what was called "The Mississippi Plan," codified in the state's 1890 Constitution “to take political power out of the hands of African-Americans, and it was extremely effective,” says Paloma Wu, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mississippi office. The constitutional convention was called after Reconstruction when African-Americans were winning elected office after the Civil War. The framers explicitly stated, “It is the manifest intention of this Convention to secure to the State of Mississippi 'white supremacy,’ “according to the journal of the proceedings.”

Wilfred Codrington III, The Electoral College’s Racist Origins. The Atlantic, Nov 17, 2019.  “More than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern white voters, the system continues to do just that”

Charles Postel, Bloomberg or Bernie: 2020 Democrats Should Look to the Past for Lessons on Progressive Coalitions. NBC News, Dec 7, 2019.  Includes mention of how women’s suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony stood against the 14th and 15th Amendments because they only enfranchised black men, how the Women’s Christian Temperance Union made an alliance with former Confederate white women at the expense of black women, and how the rural anti-monopolists included Southern farmers and demanded an end to Reconstruction efforts to empower freed blacks.

The Young Turks, Bernie Sanders SLAMS Republican Governors After Massive Voter Purge. The Young Turks, Dec 17, 2019.  Wisconsin (200,000 voters) and Georgia (over 300,000 voters) deemed them “inactive”

The Young Turks, New Film Exposes Voter Suppression. The Young Turks, Dec 17, 2019.  Brave New Films’ Robert Greenwald previews his documentary Suppressed: The Fight to Vote.

Scott Bauer, Trump Adviser Caught On Tape: Voter Suppression Key To GOP Battleground Efforts. Huffington Post, Dec 20, 2019.  “Justin Clark was recorded at a private event saying: “That’s what you’re going to see in 2020. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program.””

Peter Wade, Trump Adviser Caught on Tape Discussing ‘Aggressive’ Voter Suppression in 2020. Rolling Stone, Dec 22, 2019.  “Let’s start playing offense a little bit. That’s what you’re going to see in 2020. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program, a much better-funded program,” Justin Clark said

Eric McDaniels, Myths About Martin Luther King Jr. Damage and Diminish His Legacy. Salon, Jan 20, 2020.  “In a June 2015 PRRI/RNS poll, 63% of Americans agreed with the statement “When Americans speak up and protest unfair treatment by the government it always makes our country better.” However, when the statement was changed to “Black American” protesters, 54% agreed. This statistically significant drop in support is driven primarily by white, Republican and white evangelical responders. Two-thirds of white responders agreed when the protesters are American, while 48% agreed when they are black. Among Republicans, the split is 61% and 43%; among white evangelicals, it is 64% and 37%. We forget that the same language blacks and whites use to describe Blacks Lives Matter advocates — troublemaker, unpatriotic, communist, danger to society — was also applied to Dr. King...”

John Iadarola and Thom Hartmann, GOP Scam to Stay in Power Exposed. The Damage Report, Feb 11, 2020.

The Young Turks, Mayor Turned Away While Trying to Vote. The Young Turks, Mar 11, 2020.  in Kansas City, MO but also news from North Dakota

John Iadarola, Will D.C. Be Granted Statehood? The Damage Report, Mar 21, 2020.  A proposal initiated in 1993.

Colin Kolmbacher, Trump Says GOP Would Never Win Again if Democrats’ Voting Provisions Made It into Stimulus Bill. Law and Crime, Mar 30, 2020.  looks bit askance at the likelihood of this claim. See also Sam Levine, Trump Says Republicans Would ‘Never’ Be Elected Again If It Was Easier to Vote. The Guardian UK, Mar 30, 2020.  who provides a helpful history of Republican efforts at voter suppression, perhaps starting with conservative Christian activist Paul Weyrich. "I don’t want everybody to vote,” Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” (see above for Weyrich, 1980)

New York Times, Wisconsin Primary Recap: Voters Forced to Choose Between Their Health and Their Civic Duty. New York Times, Apr 8, 2020.  See also Shaun King, Once White Conservatives in Wisconsin Learned That the Coronavirus Was Mainly Impacting Black Communities, They Had No Problem Forcing the Elections There Today. The North Star, Apr 7, 2020.  

Brian Tyler Cohen, Trump Falls On His Face When Asked by Jim Acosta for Proof of Mail-In Ballot Fraud. Brian Tyler Cohen, Apr 8, 2020.  

Charles Sykes, What's Really Behind Wisconsin's Election Disaster. Politico, Apr 9, 2020.  “Culture wars and ideological schisms have turned the state’s highest court into an emblem of political dysfunction.”

Mark Joseph Stern, Donald Trump Appears to Have Committed Felony Voter Fraud. Slate, Jun 3, 2020.  The ironic humor of this title is one thing. But read on for the totally differential punishments carried out by Bill Barr's DOJ for honest mistakes just like Trump's.

Julia Conley, US Supreme Court Upholds 'Pay-to-Vote Scheme,' Allowing Florida to Impose Poll Tax on Those With Felony Convictions. Common Dreams, Jul 16, 2020.  "This Court's order prevents thousands of otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida's primary election simply because they are poor," said Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent.”

Mark Joseph Stern, Black Judge Has to Explain to White Colleague Why Racial Profiling Is Bad. Slate, Jul 16, 2020.  

David Litt, The Senate Filibuster Is Another Monument to White Supremacy. The Atlantic, Jun 27, 2020.  “It was created by accident, part of a sloppy revision of the Senate rule book by Aaron Burr just a few months after his famous duel with Alexander Hamilton. In a careless effort to remove what he thought was redundant language, he cut the “previous question motion,” which would have allowed a majority of lawmakers to end debate and force a vote on a bill.” See also John Iadarola and Jayar Jackson, McConnell Denies Racist History Of Filibuster. The Damage Report, Mar 24, 2021.

Eric Levitz, Many GOP Voters Value America’s Whiteness More Than Its Democracy. New York Magazine, Sep 2, 2020.  “One explanation for Republican indifference to such deeds is that Republicans aren’t aware of them: Fox News’s programming and Facebook’s algorithm have simply kept red America blissfully ignorant of the commander-in-chief’s most tyrannical moods. (If a president executes a political prisoner in the middle of Fifth Avenue and no right-wing pundit is inclined to report it, does his shot make a sound?) But a new paper from Vanderbilt University political scientist Larry Bartels suggests an alternative hypothesis: Many Republican voters value “keeping America great” more than they value democracy — and, by “keeping America great,” such voters typically mean “keeping America’s power structure white.””

Brandon Gage, Shocking Study Released of Georgia State Republicans’ Years-Long Voter Disenfranchisement Scheme. The Hill, Sep 2, 2020.  “Of the more than 300,000 names that were purged from the rolls – nearly four percent of the total number of registered voters in the state – the study discovered that “198,351 Georgia voters who supposedly moved from their registration addresses who, in fact, have not moved at all, and therefore were wrongly purged, a 63.3% error rate.” This is a conservative estimate, however, because the report “left out of this list those voters whose addresses we were unable to confirm,” the The Palast Fund explains.”

Paul McLeod, A Federal Court Has Denied Voting Rights To Ex-Felons In Florida Who Can’t Pay Off Court Fees. BuzzFeed News, Sep 11, 2020.

Brendan Farrington, Bloomberg Raises Millions to Help Florida Felons Vote. Associated Press, Sep 22, 2020.  And Republican attempt to limit voting: Brendan Farrington, Florida Seeks Investigation on Bloomberg Donation on Voting. Associated Press, Sep 24, 2020.  Shows that the real strategy was not recovering the fines but limiting the voting.

John Iadarola, Republican Governor Attempts to Stop Texas Voters. The Damage Report, Oct 13, 2020.  TX Gov. Greg Abbott forces voters to stand in line for 10 hours+

Eric W. Dolan, Trump Support Is Less Important than Ethnic Antagonism in Explaining Anti-Democratic Views Among Republicans. PsyPost, Oct 13, 2020.

David Daley, Inside the Republican Plot for Permanent Minority Rule. The New Republic, Oct 15, 2020.  “How the GOP keeps cheating its way into power—and may get away with it again in 2020.” Daley gives a vital historical view of how Republicans have wanted to suppress minority votes to stay in power, through gerrymandering, voter ID laws, etc. One of the best articles to understand. For more details, see above.

Cody Johnston, Katy Stoll, and Will Gordh, Jim Crow, Neoliberalism, And The Current Fascist Backlash Against Civil Rights Movements. Some More News, Oct 25, 2020.  Voter suppression, attacks on social welfare programs, and the likelihood of structural change.

Adrienne Lawrence, Courts Crush Trump's Election Chances In New Rulings. Overruled | Rebel HQ, Oct 29, 2020.  covers NC, PA, and DC

Glenn Kirschner, Trump Files Michigan Lawsuit in Attempt to Undermine Will of Voters. Here's Why All Suits Will Fail. Glenn Kirschner, Nov 4, 2020.  

Cody Johnston, America's History of Racial Equality and The Immediate Racist Backlash. Some More News, Nov 9, 2020.

Krystal Ball, Time to Admit Affirmative Action Failed. Rising | The Hill, Nov 19, 2020.  gives important commentary on why the CA ballot initiative failed in 2020, a brief history of policies like it, and why class, income, and work concerns would be a better path forward. Politically, as well, it would be easier to unite a multi-racial working class. See also Matthew Yglesias, Minimum Wage Wins, Affirmative Action Loses. Slow Boring Nov 17, 2020.

Adam Serwer, The Capitol Riot Was an Attack on Multiracial Democracy. The Atlantic, Jan 7, 2021.  “True democracy in America is a young, fragile experiment that must be defended if it is to endure.” True American democracy started in 1965 with the end of Jim Crow.

Katie Benner, Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General. New York Times, Jan 22, 2021.  “Trying to find another avenue to push his baseless election claims, Donald Trump considered installing a loyalist.” See commentary by Lawrence O’Donnell, Trump Plotted To Replace AG General In Effort To Overturn Election Results. The Last Word | MSNBC, Jan 23, 2021.

Zach Montellaro, Senate Republicans Push New Voting Restrictions After Trump’s Loss. Politico, Jan 24 2021.  See also Michael Wines, After Record Turnout, Republicans Are Trying to Make It Harder to Vote. New York Times, Jan 30, 2021.  “The presidential election results are settled. But the battle over new voting rules, especially for mail-in ballots, has just begun.”

Alexander C. Kaufman, 4 More States Propose Harsh New Penalties For Protesting Fossil Fuels. Huffington Post, Feb 20, 2021.  “Industry-designed bills to silence climate protests are under consideration in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota and Montana. More are likely to come.”

Ari Berman, Republicans Are Taking Their Voter Suppression Efforts to New Extremes. Mother Jones, Feb 24, 2021.  “From Georgia to Iowa, Republicans are concocting new ways to suppress Democratic votes.”

Sam Levine and Alvin Chang, Rightwing Group Nearly Forced Wisconsin to Purge Thousands of Eligible Voters. The Guardian, Feb 25, 2021.  

Democracy Docket, Arizona Moves To Give Lawmakers Final Say On Election Results. Democracy Docket, Feb 25, 2021.

Mark Niesse, Georgia Senate Panel Backs End to Automatic Voter Registration, No-Excuse Absentee Voting. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feb 26, 2021.

Felicia Fonseca and Matthew Brown, Interior Secretary Nominee Deb Haaland’s Grilling Raises Questions on Bias. PBS, Feb 26, 2021.  “Civil rights activists say Haaland’s treatment fits a pattern of minority nominees encountering more political resistance than white counterparts.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Facebook, Amazon Become Top Lobbyists In DC. Rising | The Hill, Mar 25, 2021.

Perry Bacon Jr., Why Joe Manchin Is So Willing And Able To Block His Party’s Goals. FiveThirtyEight, Mar 31, 2021.  Helpful, and possibly correct that WVa’s 92% white population insulates Manchin.

Chris Hayes, ‘It’s Pretty Bad’: Beto O’Rourke Talks Texas Voter Suppression Bill. All In | MSNBC, Apr 1, 2021.  Texas ranks 50th in voting rights already.

Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein, What Georgia’s Voting Law Really Does. New York Times, Apr 2, 2021.  “The New York Times analyzed the state’s new 98-page voting law and identified 16 key provisions that will limit ballot access, potentially confuse voters and give more power to Republican lawmakers.”

Krystal Ball, Elitist National Review Writer Blames Voters For National Mess In Anti-Democracy Piece. Rising | The Hill, Apr 8, 2021.  Critiques Kevin D. Williamson, Ben Shapiro, and the National Review’s intellectual origins; libertarian thought reduces people down to economic units who shouldn’t care about conservative values, like living in your home town, stability, etc.

Rachel Maddow, Racist Relic Caught Creeping Into New Texas Voter Suppression Bill. Rachel Maddow | MSNBC, May 8, 2021.  The phrase “the purity of the ballot” is in the Texas State Constitution; a brief history of the phrase as a Jim Crow tactic of disenfranchising black voters; Texas Republicans in 2021 initially used and then withdrew the phrase.

Greg Sargent, Opinion: Stop Saying Republicans Are ‘Cowards’ Who Fear Trump. The Truth is Far Worse.  Washington Post, May 10, 2021.  The GOP goal is voter suppression and the ability to overturn elections based on suspicions of voter fraud.

Chris Hayes, How Chief Justice John Roberts Gutted The Voting Rights Act. All In | MSNBC, May 11, 2021.  explores Chief Justice John Roberts’ overturning of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 based on the principle of “equal sovereignty” which never before existed!

Chris Hayes, Leaked Video: Right-Wing Group Brags About Drafting GOP Anti-Voter Bills. All In | MSNBC, May 13, 2021.  Jessica Anderson, Heritage Action for America, a sister group to the Heritage Foundation, drafts bills for conservative lawmakers. See also Ari Berman and Nick Surgey, Leaked Video: Dark Money Group Brags About Writing GOP Voter Suppression Bills Across the Country. Mother Jones, May 13, 2021.  Geoffrey Skelley, How The Republican Push To Restrict Voting Could Affect Our Elections. FiveThirtyEight, May 17, 2021.  notes that studies on individual, piecemeal voter restriction laws have an uncertain effect, but that an assortment of laws combined probably will have a substantial effect.

Democracy Docket, AZ Bill Would Refer Mismatched Ballot Signatures to Attorney General. Democracy Docket, May 26, 2021.

Briahna Joy Gray, Confronting Ryan Grim Over Force the Vote. Bad Faith Podcast, Jun 14, 2021.  “Briahna confronts her former boss and DC bureau chief at The Intercept Ryan Grim over the bad blood which emerged over Force The Vote. In the most productive FTV conversation to date, they address accusations of journalism, bad faith arguments from House progressives that went unchallenged in interviews at The Intercept, and the strategic merits of leveraging narrow congressional majorities to fight for concrete demands that advance working class interests. Hatchets were buried, but not before digging up bones. “

Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein, How Republican States Are Expanding Their Power Over Elections. New York Times, Jun 19, 2021.  “In Georgia, Republicans are removing Democrats of color from local boards. In Arkansas, they have stripped election control from county authorities. And they are expanding their election power in many other states.”

Ari Berman, Justice Department Is Suing Georgia Over Voter Suppression Law. Mother Jones, Jun 25, 2021.  “The Biden Justice Department takes its first major action on voting rights.”

Chris Hayes, Why The NYC Botched Election Disproves Voter Fraud Myths. MSNBC, Jun 30, 2021.  the statistical fingerprint of their misdeeds was right there in the open. Voter fraud on any scale big enough to matter will be big enough to get caught.

Nicole Wallace and Neal Katyal, SCOTUS Decision ‘Needs To Catalyze Voting Rights Act Bills'. MSNBC, Jul 1, 2021.  Parses the details of the Arizona voting bill and Kagan vs. Alito.

Ezra Klein, The Rest of the World Is Worried About America. New York Times, Jul 1, 2021.  “For me, as a democracy scholar, it’s ridiculous to say America is the oldest democracy in the world,” Lindberg said. “The U.S. did not become a democracy until at least after the civil rights movement in the ’60s. In that sense, it’s kind of a new democracy, like Portugal or Spain.” This is evident in our institutions. A society that valued democracy and political participation would not design the system we have. “For instance, the Electoral College,” Altman said. “From my perspective, this is a neolithic institution. It surprises every scholar of democracy worldwide.” Or the scheduling of American elections. “Why do you vote on Tuesday?” Altman asked me. “You don’t give people space to vote. You have to ask your employer to have the time to go out and vote. It’s weird.” Then there’s the role of money. “It looks much more like a plutocratic regime of democracy,” he told me. From this perspective, the Republican Party’s ongoing efforts to silence certain voters and politicize electoral administration are not aberrations from a glittering past of fair and competitive contests. They are reversions to our mean. And that makes them all the likelier to succeed. “Younger democracies tend to be weaker,” Lindberg said. “It’s much more common that young democracies fail than older ones. If America became so bad that it could no longer be considered a democracy, it would be a return to America’s historical norm: Some liberal rights for some people, but not to the extent that it is a true democracy.”

Editorial Board, The Supreme Court Abandons Voting Rights. New York Times, Jul 1, 2021.  “Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars any law that discriminates on the basis of race, whether intentionally or not, the Arizona laws should have been invalidated. But the conservative justices dismissed the challenge because, they said, only a small number of people were affected. “The mere fact that there is some disparity in impact does not necessarily mean that a system is not equally open or that it does not give everyone an equal opportunity to vote,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in an opinion joined by the other conservatives.”

Reid J. Epstein and Nick Corasaniti, Proving Racist Intent: Democrats Face High New Bar in Opposing Voting Laws. New York Times, Jul 2, 2021.  “Democrats and voting rights groups say they can no longer count on the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, to serve as a backstop for preventing racially discriminatory voting restrictions.”

Maggie Astor, How G.O.P. Laws in Montana Could Complicate Voting for Native Americans. New York Times, Jul 6, 2021.  “Restrictions passed by the Republican-led Montana Legislature could have stark effects on Native American reservations, where voting in person can mean a two-hour drive.”

Kmele Foster, David French, Jason Stanley and Thomas Chatterton Williams, We Disagree on a Lot of Things. Except the Danger of Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws. New York Times, Jul 5, 2021.  “The authors are a cross-partisan group of thinkers who have written extensively about authoritarianism, liberalism and free speech.”

Rachel Maddow, Texas Charges Man Who Waited Six Hours To Vote With Illegal Voting. MSNBC, Jul 10, 2021.  racial disparities in probably honest mistakes in voting mistakes. Features Hervis Rogers in TX, with backstory of Crystal Mason. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is under investigation and has been under indictment for financial securities fraud charges.

Bob Christie and Christina A. Cassidy, Few AZ Voter Fraud Cases, Discrediting Trump’s Claims. Associated Press, Jul 17, 2021.  

Vianney Gomez and Carroll Doherty, Wide Partisan Divide on Whether Voting Is a Fundamental Right or a Privilege with Responsibilities. Pew Research Center, Jul 22, 2021.  shows that “when conservatives cannot succeed through democracy, they will not abandon conservatism, they will abandon democracy.” See also Jill Colvin and Hannah Fingerhut, Poll Exposes Unease Among Republicans. Associated Press | York Dispatch, Jul 27, 2021.  “A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research [of 1,308 adults was conducted July 15-19 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points] captures widespread unease among Republicans over everything from the direction of the country to the state of American democracy and, in particular, President Joe Biden. Just 15% approve of the way Biden is handling his job, and 66% continue to say the Democrat was illegitimately elected, a lie perpetuated by Trump that underscores his persistent grip on GOP voters… While 60% of the public overall has an unfavorable view of Trump, 76% of Republicans view him favorably. And most would like to see him maintain at least some degree of influence over the GOP going forward. Nearly half of Republicans, 47%, say that Trump should exert “a lot” of influence over the future of the party, and another 34% say he should have “a little” influence. Just 18% say Trump should have none at all.” Justin King, Let's Talk About Republicans Rejecting Democracy.... Beau of the Fifth Column, Aug 2, 2021.  “The Republican base is primed for dictatorship.”

Devorah Manekin and Tamar Mitts, Effective for Whom? Ethnic Identity and Nonviolent Resistance. American Political Science Review, Jul 27, 2021.  See Devorah Manekin on Twitter (Twitter, Jul 27, 2021) “Does nonviolent resistance work equally for everyone? In a paper…I find that the answer is no -- nonviolent strategy contributes to the success of ethnic majorities, but not of ethnic minorities. Why? We argue that negative stereotypes associating minorities with violence or hostility leads them to be perceived by the broader public as more violent than majorities, even when resisting peacefully.”

Rashawn Ray and Alexandra Gibbons, Why Are States Banning Critical Race Theory? Brookings Institute, Aug 2021.  “The approach of some Republican-led state legislatures is a method for continuing to roll back racial progress regarding everything from voting rights to police reform.”

Dan Mangan, North Carolina Judges Block Voter ID Law, Saying It Discriminates Against Black People. CNBC, Sep 17, 2021.

The Hill, Viral Moment: Witness Tells Ted Cruz to His Face the New Texas Voting Law is Racist. The Hill, Sep 22, 2021.

Jeremy Schwartz, “God’s Will Is Being Thwarted.” Even in Solid Republican Counties, Hard-Liners Seek More Partisan Control of Elections. ProPublica, Oct 1, 2021.  examples of Christian theocratic conservatives who, when forced to recognize that democracy will not guarantee Christian theocratic-authoritarian conservatism, will abandon democracy.

David Pepper, Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines. St. Helena Press | Amazon page, Oct 2021.  explores the GOP attempt to take over state legislatures. See interview by Thom Hartmann, The Wealthy Are Creating Labs of Autocracy - Conversations With Great Minds - David Pepper. Thom Hartmann Program, Nov 30, 2021.

Alexa Ura, Texas Republicans Send Gov. Greg Abbott a New Congressional Map That Protects GOP Power, Reduces Influence of Voters of Color. Texas Tribune, Oct 18, 2021.  “Republicans designed a map that will tighten their hold on diversifying parts of the state where the party’s grip on power was waning and lock in the GOP’s majority in the 38-seat delegation for the U.S. House. The map also incorporates two additional House seats the state gained, the most of any state in this year’s reapportionment. Though Texas received those districts because of explosive population growth — 95% of it attributable to people of color — Republicans opted to give white voters effective control of both, which were drawn in the Houston and Austin areas.” See also Sarah Bahr, Explaining the Impact of Redistricting in Texas, Visually. New York Times, Oct 18, 2021.  See also Andrew Schneider, Republicans Solidify Control Over Texas’s 22nd Congressional District in Fort Bend County with Redrawn Map. Houston Public Media, Nov 8, 2021.  “Asian-Americans make up a substantial portion of the county’s population, but the new congressional map cracked the community to reduce its voting power.” “Nowhere was that more evident than in Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston. The county, which sits at the heart of Texas' 22nd Congressional District, is home to the state's biggest Asian American population, including large numbers of immigrants”

Jane C. Timm, How Michigan Republicans Are Trying to Sway State's Independent Redistricting Process. NBC News, Nov 4, 2021.  “Senior state party officials hosted training sessions, conducting at least two last month, and distributed talking points coaching Republican supporters on how to argue on behalf of map changes that experts say would favor GOP candidates. Those same talking points were later repeated in testimony taken by the commission as part of the redistricting process in the critical battleground state.”

Julie Carey, Glenn Youngkin's Underage Son Tried to Vote in Virginia Governor's Election, Officials Say. NBC News, Nov 5, 2021.  he tried twice, once after being turned away at 9:30am, then 10:00am. Intention to commit voter fraud is fairly straightforward. Compare to Crystal Mason in TX: Lauren Lantry and Cheyenne Haslett, Texas Woman Faces Jail Time After Being Convicted of Voting Illegally While on Supervised Release in 2016. ABC News, Jun 2021.  See also Rosa Marie Ortega in TX: Marty Johnson, Texas Woman Sentenced for Illegal Voting Faced Deportation After Parole. The Hill, Feb 21, 2021.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, Can You Bankrupt White Supremacy? Jury Holds Charlottesville Organizers Liable for $26M in Damages. Democracy Now, Nov 24, 2021.  interview Nicole Lewis, jurisprudence writer at Slate. Lewis does not believe this will bankrupt white supremacy.

Jeremy Stahl, Tuesday Was the Best Day for American Democracy in Months. Slate, Nov 30, 2021.  Because former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was cooperating with the Jan.6 Select Committee, Trump’s attempt to block the National Archives was heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals who seemed to give deference to the sitting President rather than the previous, and Sidney Powell came under grand jury investigation for the fundraising organization she set up to contest the 2020 election.

Igor Derysh, "What Voter Suppression Looks Like”: Rejected Ballot Requests Up 400% After New Georgia Voting Law. Salon, Dec 1, 2021.  “The new Georgia law, SB 202, requires absentee ballot applications to be submitted at least 11 days before the election, while the previous deadline which was the Friday before Election Day. Data shows that 52% of the rejected applications were denied because they were submitted too late under the new law. Another 15% were rejected because of missing or incorrect ID information under the new law.”

The Hill, Justice Dept. Sues Texas Over 'Undermining Minority Groups' Right To Vote'. The Hill, Dec 6, 2021.  

Vann R. Newkirk II, When the Myth of Voter Fraud Comes for You. The Atlantic, Dec 14, 2021.  “To support the Republican narrative that our elections are rife with misconduct, someone needs to take the fall.” Re: Crystal Mason, in Texas. See interview by Mika Brzesinksy, How A Texas Woman Was Arrested For 'Illegal Voting'. Good Morning Joe | MSNBC, Dec 14, 2021.

Second Thought, How Moderates Serve the Right. Second Thought, Dec 17, 2021.  Explains how the terms “left” and “right” originate from the French Revolution as generally egalitarian vs. traditional hierarchy. Critiques the Biden administration for continuing aspects of Trump’s immigration policy under Title 42. Demonstrates how “moderate” in the overall US population means very high support for key provisions of the Build Back Better bill, but “moderate” among political leadership skews to the right of that. Largely because of the outsized influence of corporations and corporate donors on politicians.

Republicans Hit Snags Deploying Gerrymandering Strategy To Strengthen Grip On Power.  MSNBC, Dec 31, 2021. 

Greg Sargent, A New Plan to ‘Trump-Proof’ the 2024 Election Quietly Comes Together.  Washington Post, Jan 11, 2022.  “Senators are close to completing a bill to revise the Electoral Count Act of 1887, I’m told. The measure would fix ambiguities in the ECA that Trump directly exploited with his wide-ranging 2020 plot.”

Igor Derysh, Ron DeSantis Wants to Hijack Florida Redistricting -- and Cut Number of Black Districts in Half.  Salon, Jan 18, 2022.  

Michael Herriot, Republicans’ Redistricting Maps Are Motivated Entirely on Race, Not Politics.  The Guardian, Jan 31, 2022. 

Rachel Maddow, GOP Men Hardly Punished For Illegal Votes; Black Woman Given Six Years For Sign-Up Error.  The Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC, Feb 4, 2022.  “Pamela Moses, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison over a misunderstanding of her eligibility to register to vote, a significantly longer sentence than for Republican men who actually cast illegal votes.”  See Maria Perez and Monique O. Madan, “Is It Racism or Justice? The Legal Tangle Behind a Black Woman's Six-Year Sentence for Voter Fraud.  USA Today, Feb 17, 2022.  

Ali Velshi, Supreme Court Conservatives Help Alabama GOP Keep Biased Map for Next Election.  MSNBC, Feb 8, 2022.

Walker Bragman and Alex Kotch, How Dark Money Shaped The School Safety Debate.  The Daily Poster, Mar 8, 2022.  “To get America back to work and boost profits, the Koch network and other right-wing money groups have long pushed to return to pre-pandemic schooling.”

Jane C. Timm, Arizona Governor Ducey to Test Federal Courts with New Proof of Citizenship Voting Rule.  NBC News, Mar 30, 2022.  Gov Ducey (Republican) said without proof that “more than 11,000 voters had not provided proof of citizenship,” where Biden won AZ by less than 11,000 votes.  What would count as proof of citizenship is unspecified.  Only ⅓ Americans have a valid US passport.  See Kathy Frankovic, Only One-Third of Americans Have a Valid US Passport.  YouGovAmerica, Apr 21, 2021.

Mehdi Hasan, ‘Rich Guy Voter Fraud’: Meadows Was Registered To Vote In Three States At Once. MSNBC, Apr 22, 2022. Mark Meadows promoted Trump’s big lie and says he is a staunch supporter of election integrity. Yet he was registered in NC, SC, and VA.

Amy Goodman, Florida Lawmaker Says Gerrymandered State Maps Are Part of Racist Strategy, "Not Just a Culture War". Democracy Now, Apr 25, 2022. “Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a gerrymandered voting map that virtually guarantees Republicans four more seats in Congress while likely cutting the number of Black Democrats elected. The measure passed along party lines Thursday but was delayed when Black Florida lawmakers staged an impromptu sit-in protest.”

Thom Hartmann, Roe v Wade Can't Be Saved By Your Vote? Featuring David Daley. The Thom Hartmann Program, May 9, 2022. Gerrymandering has enabled Republicans to rule, even though they are a minority.

Joy Reid, Unlike Conservative Tory Party In UK, Trump’s GOP Refuses To Ditch Him. The Reid Out | MSNBC, Jul 7, 2022. Why the British Parliamentary system of democracy allows for Boris Johnson’s own Conservative Party to pressure him to resign, and why the U.S. system of democracy does not seem to allow the Republican Party to hold Donald Trump responsible.

Simar Bajaj, Voting Is Significant Determinant of Health, US Medical Association Declares. The Guardian UK, Jul 14, 2022. “women’s suffrage decreased child mortality rates by 8-15% while the Voting Rights Act reduced economic inequality and increased health spending. One recent study found that an increase in voter restriction barriers was correlated with a 25% higher probability of not having health insurance. In another, researchers linked a higher voter turnout rate with significantly reduced risk of cancer death. And finally, after following adolescents for 14 years, voting was found to be associated with improved mental health, as well as greater socioeconomic status. “Voting can influence many different health outcomes,” Eatman said, “whether it be through access to resources in one’s community, whether it be through insurance.” The sickest patients are the least likely to vote but most in need of good health policy.”

Hari Sreenivasan, Tom Nichols: Goal of Today’s “Authoritarian and Cultish” GOP Is Minority Rule.  Amanpour & Company, Jul 26, 2022.  Resentment and grievance has taken the place of principle.  Tom Nichols is a lifelong conservative, so his historical perspective and insight are important.  His personal strategy towards the current GOP is to defeat them.  Sreenivasan asks important questions about the 2022 elections, and Nichols agrees that this is an existential political crisis.

Jane Mayer, State Legislatures Are Torching Democracy. The New Yorker, Aug 6, 2022. “Even in moderate places like Ohio, gerrymandering has let unchecked Republicans pass extremist laws that could never make it through Congress.”

Annie Martin, Jury Finds Seminole GOP Chair Guilty in ‘Ghost’ Candidate Case.  Orlando Sentinel, Sep 1, 2022.  “A jury of six people found Seminole County GOP Chairman Ben Paris guilty on Thursday of causing his cousin’s name to be falsely listed on independent “ghost” candidate Jestine Iannotti’s campaign contribution forms in 2020.  Paris was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 200 hours of community service for the misdemeanor and ordered to pay roughly $42,000 — the cost of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into the apparent vote-siphoning scheme.  Iannotti said Paris contacted her in May 2020 asking her to run in a competitive state Senate race. Though Iannotti had no political experience when she entered the race and did not campaign, her candidacy was central to the scheme, as she was promoted as a progressive in an advertising blitz that was apparently intended to draw votes from her Democratic opponent.” 

Christine Hauser, Right-Wing Operatives Plead Guilty in Voter-Suppression Scheme. New York Times, Oct 25, 2022. “Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman arranged thousands of robocalls that prosecutors said were intended to discourage residents of minority neighborhoods from voting by mail in 2020.” An example of restorative justice in consequence: “In 2020, a federal judge in New York ordered the two men to call 85,000 voters who had received robocalls and inform them that the original call “contained false information.””

Amy Goodman, Ranked-Choice Voting Backed in Midterm Ballot Measures, May Help "Crash-Proofing Our Democracy".  Democracy Now, Nov 11, 2022. “Voters in Nevada and a handful of cities across the United States appear poised to expand the use of ranked-choice voting in the aftermath of Tuesday's midterm elections. The election method allows voters to select multiple candidates in descending order of preference. It is used in many other countries, and supporters say it can reduce polarization and give more voice to independent voters. "The forces for ranked-choice voting are people who really care about our democracy," says George Cheung, director of More Equitable Democracy, who says ranked-choice voting "allows for truer representation of who we are as a community."

Amy Goodman, "Plantation Politics": How White Mississippi Lawmakers Want to Seize Power in Majority-Black Jackson. Democracy Now, Mar 9, 2023. Under the claim of reducing the crime rate, Mississippi’s Republican majority in the state legislature “put forth a slew of bills in recent months to put the majority-Black capital of Jackson under a white-led superstructure. Under the proposed bills, the Capitol Police would be expanded and given greater authority over much of Jackson without being accountable to local leaders or residents, and a separate court system would be set up in the city, composed of judges appointed directly by white state officials. This comes after Jackson suffered a number of water crises in recent years stemming from systematic disinvestment by the state, and after the federal government approved $600 million late last year to address the city's infrastructure problems. "These bills are an attack on Black leadership, a way to seize power of a majority-Black city which cannot be seized democratically through an election," says Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba.” Community activist Makani Themba, author of “Apartheid American-Style” in The Nation narrates the post-Civil War history of Mississippi’s state constitution and the white supremacist legal victory over districting to create a white supermajority. Themba also points out how “states’ rights” makes states unaccountable to spend federal money for aid, in this case to fix the Jackson water system.

Emily Cochrane, Alabama Lawmakers Decline to Create New Majority-Black Congressional District. New York Times, Jul 21, 2023. After a Supreme Court order to redraw the district map and create a new majority-Black district, Republican lawmakers pushed through a new map a month which did not do so.

PBS News Hour, Supreme Court Rules Alabama's Congressional Map Discriminates Against Black Voters.  PBS News Hour, Jun 8, 2023.  

Ari Melber, Hannity Exposed: 'Just Comply' Lie Shredded in DOJ’s Trump Charges.  The Beat | MSNBC, Jun 23, 2023.  “Donald Trump’s arrest shows the GOP’s double standard on FBI “compliance.” While many suspects are given minutes to comply with police, Trump was given months. In this special report, MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber exposes the GOP’s double standard on “police rules.””

Howard French, The Pernicious Delusion of Colorblind Policymaking.  Foreign Policy, Jul 12, 2023.  From the United States to France, rich democracies are ignoring racial realities—and hurting social policy.

Sam Levine and Andrew Witherspoon, Revealed: Florida Republicans Target Voter Registration Groups with Thousands in Fines.  The Guardian, Jul 13, 2023.  “Fines on list given to the Guardian were levied by agency created at Ron DeSantis’s behest to investigate voter fraud, which is rare”

SemDem, Alabama Town Gets First Black Mayor, But the Previous One Won’t Leave.  Daily Kos, Jun 16, 2023.  “Stokes and the alleged council members deny any wrongdoing in response to the lawsuit. They claim that no one will be able to prove the existence of a conspiracy, and that they are immune from lawsuits just because Alabama law in these situations isn’t clear.” See Joseph Guzman, Alabama Town That Inspired To Kill a Mockingbird Elects First Black Mayor.  The Hill, Sep 1, 2020. 

Rayna Reid Rayford, The First Black Man Elected Mayor Of An Alabama Town Says White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve.  Essence, Jul 24, 2023.  “Meanwhile, just weeks after Braxton’s default victory in August 2020, Stokes and his council colleagues allegedly “met in secret to adopt a ‘special’ election ordinance.” The meeting was not advertised, and the organization scheduled a special election for Oct. 6, 2020. According to the lawsuit, no notification of that election was ever published. Because the election was not made public, only Stokes and his council colleagues were eligible. They then “effectively reappointed themselves” to their positions, according to Braxton, and “unlawfully assumed their new terms” and were sworn in in November, as Braxton was assembling his own town council.”

Aaliyah Wright, Power Struggle Unfolds Between Alabama Town’s 1st Black Mayor and White Officials.  WBUR, Jul 31, 2023.  

Chris Hayes, Republicans Threaten to Impeach Wisconsin Justice Before She Has Ruled on Any Case.  All In | MSNBC, Sep 1, 2023.  

Symone Sanders Townsend, How Houston’s Mayor is Fighting Back Against Republicans’ Preemption Power Play to Attack Democracy.  Symone | MSNBC, Sep 2, 2023.  GOP state legislators preempt Democratic mayors on public education, labor rights, and investigations of judges and public officials.

Joe Jaworski, Paxton’s Acquittal Has Nothing to Do With Justice—and Everything With Money.  The Daily Beast, Sep 16, 2023.  “Thanks to his wealthy donors, Paxton is now back in power and free to become the MAGA hero he aspires to be. That’s not good for Texas.”  See also Mike Allen, Scoop: How the GOP Pressured Texas.  Axios, Sep 17, 2023.  Kyle Kulinsky, Most Corrupt Man In Texas Gets Off In Rigged Trial | The Kyle Kulinski Show, Sep 18, 2023.  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was on trial for impeachment and acquitted.

Bill Britt, Dark Money: The Backstory of Alabama’s Redistricting Defiance.  Alabama Political Reporter, Sep 16, 2023.  “There appears to be a significant connection between Alabama’s post-Milligan map redrawing process and a powerful national dark money network.”  The effort is to flip Kavanaugh’s vote at his invitation to appeal on a different legal ground.  “The Alabama government’s briefs before the three-judge panel in September referenced a concurring opinion by Kavanaugh that questioned whether “race-based redistricting” can “extend indefinitely into the future.” Alabama further relied on arguments — also rejected by the U.S. District Court — that a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decision this same term ending affirmative action in college admissions (called Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ) compels the Court to find that a state’s use of a map in which “race predominates” now violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. As in Milligan, Kavanaugh filed a concurrence in Students for Fair Admissions, emphasizing the potential for time limits on race-related policies.”

Jessica Denson, New Democratic Star Exposes Corrupt Republicans in His Own State in Must-See Interview.  Lights On with Jessica Denson | Meidas Touch, Sep 24, 2023.  “The GOP’s at war with itself it Texas, where the fractured party just “acquitted” corrupt attorney general Ken Paxton in the state Senate, after Republicans voted overwhelming to impeach the staunch Trump ally in the Texas House. Democratic state representative James Talarico joins Jessica Denson to shine a light on the corruption behind Paxton’s acquittal and how the same factions are driving Gov. Abbott’s new attack on public education.

Brian Tyler Cohen, Breaking: Democrats to Gain a House seat with Major Victory.  Brian Tyler Cohen, Oct 28, 2023.  From 2022, Republicans have a 5 seat majority in Congress.  But courts struck down five 2022 maps as unconstitutional:  Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.  

Vox, How Michigan Explains American Politics.  Vox, Jan 11, 2024.  Republican gerrymandering of district lines is a big part of the story. 

Brian Tyler Cohen and Mark Elias, Massive Surprise Court Ruling Rocks Justice System. No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen, Feb 2, 2024. The Eighth Circuit Court, which covers many Southern states, voted that only the Department of Justice could bring suits related to voting rights and redistricting, as opposed to individuals and civic groups.

Rachel Maddow, Court Keeps Oregon GOP Senators Off Ballot Over Constitution Violation; Ominous Parallels for Trump. The Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC, Feb 6, 2024.

Brian Tyler Cohen and Mark Elias, Republicans Score Devastating Setback in Court. Brian Tyler Cohen, Feb 20, 2024. Legislators have undone Republican gerrymandering in Wisconsin.

Brian Tyler Cohen and Mark Elias, Republicans Go Public with Nightmare Attack. Brian Tyler Cohen, Feb 25, 2024. Republican states are lining up behind Brad Raffensperger's plan to gut the Voting Rights Act by making the federal Department of Justice the only entity that can sue to enforce the Voting Rights Act, as opposed to private parties or lower level governments.

Marc Elias, Trump, Project 2025, the Supreme Court and the Election with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Democracy Docket, Apr 19, 2024.

Marc Elias, Supreme Court Issues Voting Rights Victory in Louisiana. Democracy Docket, May 16, 2024. There will be a second black opportunity district in Louisiana.

Bryan Tyler Cohen and Mark Elias, Finally: Court Hands Down Ruling We’ve Been Waiting For. Bryan Tyler Cohen, May 17, 2024. Arizona Republicans wanted to throw out the election manual. The Arizona State Supreme Court rejected this effort. Commentary on Republican efforts to restrict voting rights in the name of election integrity.

Democracy Docket, White Leaders in Alabama Town Are Blocking Black Mayor From Office. Democracy Docket, May 15, 2024. An update on Greensboro, Alabama. Patrick Braxton, a Black man, was lawfully elected mayor. But the outgoing mayor organized White supporters to hold another sham election, and carried off an insurrection.

Brian Tyler Cohen, Must-See: Reporter on Eliminating the Electoral College. Brian Tyler Cohen, Jun 16, 2024. Brian interviews Ari Berman who specializes in the Supreme Court and pro-democracy efforts. Brian and Ari discuss ways in which Republicans have come to rely on minority rule.

Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Narratives of the Civil Rights Movement. C-SPAN, Jul 8, 2024. An excellent 90 minute video. Using Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the focal lens of the Civil Rights Movement pushes ordinary men and women, grassroots organizing, and the nation-wide scope of both White supremacy and Black civil rights efforts.

Democracy Docket, Black Alabama Mayor Allowed to Lead Town After White Officials Blocked Him From Office. Democracy Docket, Jun 26, 2024.

Mark Elias, How Voter ID Laws Keep Millions of People From Voting with Lauren Kunis. Democracy Docket, Aug 16, 2024. College students and young people are particularly targeted and discouraged. Nearly 50 million Americans lack an active ID with their current state address, meaning they cannot vote.

Ayman Mohyeldin, The GOP's Plan to Challenge a Harris Victory. Ayman | MSNBC, Aug 26, 2024. Trump supporters are now Georgia state election officials.

Margaret Hoover, Counting The Vote: A Firing Line Special with Margaret Hoover. PBS Firing Line, Aug 27, 2024. A very important one hour documentary starting from election integrity reforms passed by Florida after the 2000 election between Bush and Gore. The U.S. has the world’s best election system, including voting by mail. Ironically and amazingly, mail-in voting would have enabled Trump to win in 2020. But he doubled down on the conspiracy theory that mail-in voting is insecure. If he had insisted that people vote by mail, and just maintained and insisted on transparency, he would have won.

Michael Popok, Trump Vote Scheme Put On Ice by Supreme Court. Meidas Touch, Aug 28, 2024. The Supreme Court voted narrowly, 5-4, against the Republican National Committee to use restrictive Arizona law to prove your citizenship before you get to vote. Federal law (the NVRA) uses the honor system of swearing an oath. Arizona Republicans passed a law to require a passport or birth certificate. Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh with voter restrictions.

Roland Martin, Trump's Extreme Anti-Blackness And Hate Exposed In New Ad: A Racist With Racist Policies. Roland Martin, Sep 8, 2024. Brave New Films has released one of the most hard hitting and truth telling campaign ads about Donald Trump.

Thom Hartmann, How the Republican War on Women Extends to Voting Rights. The New Republic, Sep 19, 2024. Most women vote Democratic. And most still change their name when they marry. And that’s where the GOP sees an Achilles’ heel. It’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote. “As NBC News noted: “The Brennan Center found just 30 suspected noncitizen votes amid 23.5 million votes in 2016, suggesting that suspected noncitizen votes accounted for 0.0001% of votes cast. Trump’s own election integrity commission disbanded without releasing evidence of voter fraud, even though he’d claimed 3 million undocumented immigrants had voted in 2016 costing him the popular vote.” But “The SAVE Act is a proposed federal law, so, first off, it would put a future president (say, Trump) in charge of enforcing it, taking that power away from the states. Millions of voter registrations in any states the president decides are problematic could be removed until those voters “cure” their registrations, and state authorities would have no say in it. And what will the law require citizens who want to vote do? Lacking a passport or other proof of citizenship with their married names, they must produce both a birth certificate (with the seal of the state where it was issued; no copies allowed) and a current form of identification—both with the exact same name on them. That could instantly disqualify about 90 percent of all married women without passports or other proof that matches their birth certificates or proof of a legal name change.”

New York Times Opinion, How Tennessee Keeps Nearly Half a Million People From Voting. New York Times Opinion, Sep 21, 2024. Felony convictions strip people of voting rights. Earning back one’s voting rights is possible but is absurdly complicated.

Tim Craig, Four States Reject Ranked-Choice Voting, Approved in District. Washington Post, Nov 6, 2024. Alaska and Maine already use ranked-choice voting, which supporters say could lead to more moderate politics. Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon rebuffed efforts to adopt ranked-choice voting in their future elections, dealing a setback to a group of wealthy donors who wanted to dramatically change how Americans choose their elected officials. The one bright spot for advocates of ranked-choice voting was the District, where a referendum was approved by a wide margin.