with new obstacles to voting Republicans are stacking sandbags against a rising demographic change

[Demovictory9]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/23/politics/voting-rights-republicans-bills-demographics/index.html

With their drive to erect new obstacles to voting, particularly across the Sun Belt, Republicans are stacking sandbags against a rising tide of demographic change.


In many of the states where Republicans are advancing the most severe restrictions -- including Georgia, Arizona and Texas -- shifts in the electorate's composition are eroding decades of virtually uncontested GOP dominance.

In each of those states -- and others such as North Carolina, South Carolina and, in a slightly different way, Florida -- the GOP still holds a statewide advantage primarily because of its strong performance among older, non-college-educated and non-urban White voters. But in almost all those states, the Republican edge is ebbing amid two powerful demographic currents: an improving Democratic performance among white-collar voters in and around the states' rapidly growing major cities, and the aging into the electorate of younger generations defined by kaleidoscopic racial diversity.

------------------

Big battle in Texas
To civil rights organizers, and groups that work on registering voters across these states, this year's eruption of GOP proposals that would make it more difficult to vote represents a frenzied attempt to cement the party's advantages before these potential voters enter the electorate.

"They are staring down the freight train of change and they are very afraid of it, and they are trying to put down every single roadblock they can think of," says Randy Perez, program director at the Voting Rights Lab, a voting rights advocacy group in Arizona.

In Arizona, between 800,000 and 1 million eligible voters are unregistered, more than three-fourths of them people of color and close to three-fifths under age 45, according to analysis by Chris Brill, data director for One Arizona, a coalition of low-income and minority advocacy groups there.

These systems, especially voter registration, are purposefully, intentionally designed to disenfranchise those groups. The system is working as it is intended and designed.


As with many things, the scale of this battle is biggest in Texas -- as are the stakes in its outcome. One comprehensive recent academic study rated Texas as the most difficult state in which to vote or even register to vote.

[Volaris]

1. Last paragraph of OP:

That's because they know if they lose texas in a general election, almost by definition they're a regional party and therefore utterly fucked for at least 50 years.

Texas is their Cali. They lose it, theres not much reason to TRY and come back lol...

[Demovictory9]

3. yes, the article goes on to point that out... they lose Texas, it's over.

[paleotn]

2. Can't stop the inevitable.

[Demovictory9]

4. no, article says they can push inevitable to end of decade though. with voter restriction nonsense

[Blue_true]

6. Democrats in Georgia, led by Abrams showed HOW to defeat

republican voter suppression efforts. We need to learn from that and continuously adapt as republicans try more desperate tactics to stop some eligible citizens from voting.

[PortTack]

8. ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

[crickets]

9. True. Not only that, Stacey Abrams is going to Texas to try to do it again.

She has a good chance of pulling it off.

This Is Why Texas Is the Next Georgia
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/texas-georgia-elections-democrats/

Texas at the start of this decade is actually even more promising than Georgia was at the start of the last decade. The Lone Star State has the second-largest pool of nonvoting people of color of any state in the country (second only to already-blue California), and the number of potential voters of color far exceeds the margin of difference in statewide elections. Joe Biden lost Texas by 631,221 votes, and despite the record turnout on both sides, 4.5 million eligible people of color still did not vote, according to exit polls and Census data. In 2018, Beto O’Rourke lost his Senate bid by 215,000 votes in an election in which 5.4 million people of color didn’t cast ballots. The still-untapped potential in Texas is enormous, which is exactly why the conservatives work so hard to suppress the vote there.

Much more in the article; great read.

[Blue_true]

10. What you pointed out is why some things are so maddening to me.

We often see street protests over police abuse of People of Color, particularly African Americans, yet we have hundreds of thousands, even millions of people in those groups that don’t make voting a priority. When people don’t vote, the forces of repression win, politicians get elected who don’t care about citizens who would not vote for them, those politicians that enact laws that indemnify abusive police behavior toward Black and Brown people, and turn a blind eye to issues like the spate of anti-Asian violence that we are seeing.

[crickets]

12. Agreed. It's not just vote suppression through legislation designed to target POC

and make it hard for them to register, much less vote. Targeted voter intimidation is also a thing. Apathy is a big problem. Stacey's hard work can turn that around enough to make a difference, and I dearly want her success in GA to continue and to spread to TX.

[uponit7771]

14. We can't depend on brute force voting to win against voter suppression EVERY time.

If we had GA turnout numbers every election along side a state level SoS who didn't want to suppress we'd be more progressive than Canada by now.

We need HR1, I don't see a tomorrow

[paleotn]

7. Normally, I would think so too, but....

AZ and GA both have 2 Democratic senators. If someone had predicted that 10 years ago, I'd have told them they were out of their freaking mind. AZ has been red forever and GA hasn't gone blue in almost 30 years. An impossible lift for Dems....until it wasn't.

[Blue_true]

11. In the 80s, Arizona had a Democratic Governor and a Democratic

US Senator. It had a Democratic Governor in the early 2000s (Janet Napolitano). The problem was that Hispanics there didn’t vote in strong numbers (a point that the detestable Jan Brewer pointed out). After a spate of anti-Hispanic activity in Arizona, Hispanic voters became more active voters in the state leading up to 2018.

[uponit7771]

13. +1

[Blue_true]

5. When we vote, we win and bring about change.

Republicans will try to block voting by some people, Georgia republicans DID THAT, Stacey Abrams and others figured out how to defeat they efforts and get people not only registered, but turning out to vote. If we are disciplined, republicans will have to absolutely cheat and do illegal acts to try to maintain power, but that in the end will land them in jail.

Voter suppression attempts are something that we can overcome with planning and execution. Yes, republicans make voting harder, but only we can stop ourselves from taking over governorships and state legislatures.

[Tommymac]

15. Words of wisdom. nt

[Blue_true]

16. What people don't seem to understand is that voting rights bills

won’t stop republicans. They will test those laws and hope that rightwing judges overturn the laws. The best defense against Republican bullshit is voting them out of office and making sure that none win in the future, through voting. Maybe if they can’t get elected, they will realize that their totalitarian tendencies are a turn off to the majority of Americans.

[Tommymac]

17. Yup. The job is never done. Voting Rights bills make it harder for the authoritarians

but vigilance is the only answer.

I think that once the ARA really takes hold in people's minds, the attractiveness of the right will fade somewhat as people realize the government CAN make their lives a little less hurtful and they see the opportunities for moving up in the world economically are within reach.

Financial issues can be a huge burden, even slightly relieving them gives folks a chance to remove the fear, feeling of helplessness and hopelessness from their minds. No need to turn to conspiracy theories at that point - we need to win this battle.

[Blue_true]

18. I hope that you are right about economic interests.

But I see people in Florida that are clearly dirt poor with “Trump” stickers on their shitty possessions. So, in my view, hatred of “others” may a powerful motivator for many people that can use economic help.