NYT: HR1 voting bill doesn't fully address the counting of votes, just the casting of votes

[ecstatic]

I just assumed the 'For the People' / HR1 bill addressed everything. As a resident of Georgia, my ability to cast a vote hasn't changed. The problem here is that QOP partisans have the ability to commandeer local election boards and toss out just enough votes to overturn the election results in blue/purple counties.

Congress Needs to Defend Vote Counting, Not Just Vote Casting

In the face of these threats, Democrats in Congress have crafted an election bill, H.R. 1, that is poorly matched to the moment. The legislation attempts to accomplish more than is currently feasible, while failing to address some of the clearest threats to democracy, especially the prospect that state officials will seek to overturn the will of voters.

But the bill needs to go further. Congress also should establish uniform rules for vote counting, certification and challenges. It should also clarify its own role in certifying the results of presidential elections to prevent the possibility that a future Congress would overturn a state’s popular vote.

A new election law in Georgia highlights the shortcomings of H.R. 1. The Georgia law, passed in March, imposes a host of restrictions on voter registration and on voting, most of which would be reversed by the federal legislation. It also changes the rules of vote counting in ways that are not addressed by the federal legislation. It facilitates third-party challenges to the legitimacy of votes and arrogates to the state legislature, the General Assembly, the power to appoint most members of the state board of elections, who in turn have the power to replace county boards of elections. The legislature removed Georgia’s secretary of state from the State Election Board after the incumbent, Brad Raffensperger, refused to help Mr. Trump stake an illegitimate claim on the state’s electoral votes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/opinion/voting-law-rights-congress.html

[Firestorm49]

1. More words of dismay to brighten your day. (An oldie but a goodie)

“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”

Joseph Stalin

Wake up, democratic leaders.

[targetpractice]

2. The first time I read this quote...

... Was when I joined DU during the Florida recount in 2000.

Stalins quote was prescient.

2000 was Republicans practice run, and they've been doing stuff ever since to control the count. The biggest (and simplest) fraud that occured in Florida in 2000 was that Jeb Bush and the FL Republican legislature only approved budgets for advanced optical ballot machines (.1% error/reject rate) and for punch card boxes (10% error/reject rates) in Democratic counties long before the Bush v. Gore election. It was a foregone conclusion prior to election day, but nobody talks about it.

[dalton99a]

3. +1. And the counting is decided at the state level.

Which is why we need federal legislation

[housecat]

4. Yes! It's not how many votes, but how they are counted. Focus on that.

[Pepsidog]

5. Protecting the counting of votes is vital especially in view of what Rs tried to do in 2020. I fear

Rs are so far ahead of us that with their devious plans to steal the votes that complacent, “it can’t happen here Dems” are in for a rude awakening. 2022 will be like Fla. 2000 Bush vs. Gore but on steroids. We need our version of the Koch Bros. See the impact The Lincoln Project had, these people play hardball like Dems used to play back in the Clinton Admin. Rs tried and failed for 8 years to get Clinton out but Dems back then were fierce. We have intellectual fierceness but we need people who know how to go low and knee-cap Rs and make States and their lawmakers pay a price for these shenanigans. Any military bases need closing in Az? By the same token, with the sorry state of affairs in WV it would seem to be pretty easy to throw some pork at the State to win over voters. Residents in Az and WV need to know specifically what they will lose if the filibuster remains and who is to blame. And these ransomware attacks are just set runs for Russian interference in 2022. Putin orders all kinds of disruptions timed perfectly to to make Biden look incompetent in the run up to 2022.