I penned these thoughts back in July, to commemorate the death of John Lewis. They seem appropriate now, after following the marches and speeches urging Congress to pass sweeping voting rights legislation and halt efforts to enact bills that restrict voting access.
I offer it in support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
I listened to a NPR program on Sunday featuring singer-songwriter Dion. By the final verse of his timeless “Abraham, Martin, and John”, I was in tears.
“Has anyone hear seen my old friend Bobby, Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walking up over the hill, With Abraham, Martin, and John.”
If you can, imagine these great men now joined by John Lewis. A host of men and women who sacrificed so much to secure equal rights for all.
How dare we insult their memory and their work by passing legislation that suppresses voter rights? Especially when these laws are transparently aimed at the poor, the elderly, and people of color.
Should Abraham, Martin, or John (Kennedy or Lewis) glance back at Georgia, I fear they would be appalled. I know that I am.
Suzanne Sports
Peachtree City, Ga.
It is rather ironic to see the Georgia Republican legislators (who universally purport to be Christians) criminalize the very behavior that Jesus advocates in Matthew 25:40-45. I guess it is easier for Trumpians to say they love Jesus than to actually bother to read or follow his actual teachings.
As always, truth is stranger than fiction.
More fiction from Stranger. What the law actually states:
“(a) No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector, nor shall any person solicit signatures for any petition, nor shall any person, other than election officials discharging their duties, establish or set up any tables or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast
(1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is established;
(2) Within any polling place; or
(3) Within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.”
Groups are not suppose to loiter around the polls and must stay 150 away from the polling place to prevent voters from feeling intimidated because they are exercising their rights to vote. Imagine how someone might find it intimidating if the Klan was handing out water at the polls. But of course Dems call these laws Jim Crow 2.0.
Sir – Thank you for providing the exact wording for how this prohibition to assist others was codified by embedding it with campaign propaganda. It fools no one.
Eighteen (18) states nationwide have enacted new laws making access to the vote more restricting. Several have provisions to make faulty voter purges (including election officials with oversite) now more likely while some have sweeping limitations on voting activity overall. Now at the same time mind you, there are at least twenty-five (25) states with provisions to expand voting access.
So as you can see, the promise of the Right to Vote is increasingly more dependent on where one lives in this country. But make no mistake, there is a continued deepening national divide here, all brought on primarily by false claims of voter fraud and because the ’20 election didn’t turn out as the Orange One had hoped.
Please explain to me how, exactly, these voting laws discriminate against “…people of color …”? Last time I checked, we are all “people of color” …lots of different colors; this is just “code” for blacks. Why don’t you just say that dear poster?
So now that the code has been cracked, explain how Georgia’s new voting law specifically targets blacks? Have you read Georgia’s new voting law? I’m guessing not …easier just to spew Democrat propaganda and lies; why confuse yourself with facts. I’ve read the new law and I’ll be damned if I can find *anything* that discriminates against any of the “victims” on your list …including blacks. Maybe you should read it for yourself …educate yourself to what it really says. How does Georgia’s voting law specifically target any of the supposed “victims” listed in this tribute turned political rant? You’re the one who made the statement, now explain it.
*Every* elderly person on medicare or medicaid must have an ID to show when they go for medical care. I’m on Medicare and I have to show an ID at any treatment facility I go to. If you’re on Medicaid there’s a good chance your poor …and I can guarantee you every “poor” person shows their ID to get medical care via Medicaid. The Democrats are okay with a “vaccine passport” but showing valid ID to vote? Oh no, that’s discriminatory, particularly against blacks …as if any and all blacks are too stupid to be able to acquire a free, state-issued ID card. What a crock.
Maybe you should read the law, educate yourself a bit, before regurgitating false Democrat talking points that are nothing by lies.
jocko463–
To me “people of color” is a respectful way of referring to anyone other than white.
And no, I don’t go in for long and detailed tirades, reciting statistics and offering my own slant on them. Mostly because I suspect you already know the truth and simply won’t admit it.
Surely the timing says it all.
The Republican Party lost the presidential race; and then the GA race in the Senate.
The solution is not to make it more difficult to vote.
And yes, the new law does make it more difficult for those with problems with transportation, finances, computer savvy, health,
even thirst as they wait in lines to vote.
I am very glad that your life seems blessed.
Not everyone is that fortunate.
Their votes still count.
Good grief……the new law makes it more difficult for those with problems with thirst to vote? Right there – you show you have no cognitive ability to reason. The new law does not stop polling places from providing water. It does not stop voters from bringing water. It only prevents political candidates from trying to buy votes by providing (bribing) voters with water.
Stop being so dang partisan and dramatic and try seeing things from a right/wrong perspective instead of a right/left perspective.
the_wing_t
As I say, “I am very glad that your life seems blessed. Not everyone is that fortunate.”
Living in PTC., the extremely long lines to vote do not effect me. And I have cases of bottles of water in my garage, easy to grab, if I do anticipate being outdoors in the heat. And thankfully I am in good health, able to stand and walk…
I view it exactly a “right/wrong” issue that because I do not experience a problem, it’s alright for someone else to.
May I never be so jaded to become convinced that cool water on a hot day is not a kindness, but a bribe.
“To me “people of color” is a respectful way of referring to anyone other than white.” Sounds awfully respectfully racist …to me.
Hey Suz, please do not make assumptions about me. And don’t try and put me in any of your little “boxes”.
I’ve read the Georgia voting law. Have you? It seems you find it easier to ignore facts and bleat partisan pablum instead. The generalized absurdities you make, to include the claim folks are going to get dehydrated in the voting line, are almost laughable. And prove you haven’t read the law. All those people you claim to be so inept and pathetic, my gosh how do they make it through their daily lives?
When people say “POC”, it’s a dead giveaway that they have no more than superficial relationships with people outside of their own race. Nobody has taken the time to explain to them what respect looks like, likely because it wasn’t worth the effort to education the “smiling fox”.
Hiya Jocko–
I make mistakes. I get things wrong. I count on the patience and advice from friends and acquaintances to instruct me.
If the phrase “people of color” is racially insensitive to people of color, I am more than happy to consider a change.
You might consider the same–listen to those who will be most effected by the new voter restriction laws; have a little compassion; and end your own insensitive support of it.
“but there WAS no [proof of] rampant voter fraud” …. and this is why democrats have pulled out all the stops to prevent any forensic audits, as they want to keep it hidden. Garland has threatened the states attempting to get to the bottom of the allegations if they conduct forensic audits.
The reason democrats don’t want accountability in balloting is it might expose their cheating, and the heart of their Jim Crow 2.0 claims.
Asking for someone to show a drivers license or state ID is not voter suppression. You have to have a DL to drive, a state ID or DL for a bank account, buy alcohol, cash a check, buy cigarettes, apply for a loan, apply for mortgage, credit card, doctors office, hospitals, flying on an airline…I could on, so why do you have a problem with requiring ID to vote? I witnessed a lady who tried to vote twice while standing in line waiting for my turn to vote. She sent an absentee ballot in and showed up to vote, she had the line backed up for 2 hours so yes, voter frauds does happen. Why should campaigns offered food outside of precincts? Why should campaigns be allowed to offer the homeless free hotel stays, showers and a meal before they vote? They could’ve cared less about these people before voting year. Why should campaigns be allowed inside nursing homes getting the elderly to vote from their beds without showing ID? Yes this happened to someone’s (I know) mother in another state. That’s why absentee voting is permitted, you’re asked to send a copy of your ID so they can match your signature to the ballot, what’s wrong with that? ID ‘s are required in court for documents, loan papers, notarized paperwork, school registration etc to verify it’s you! Only people who have something to hide or aren’t truthful people would have a problem showing their ID when asked.
Denver Bronco Fan – The most pernicious aspect of the new Georgia voting law is its heavy hand in circumventing both local election officials and the Secretary of State if the legislators don’t like the outcome of the vote. The current Republican party seems incapable of playing fairly and will gladly change the rules of the game if it suits them. Witness how the Supreme Court appointment rules changed from Merrick Garland’s nomination to Amy Barrett’s. With the wholesale denial of the last presidential election results by a majority of Republicans, it is not a stretch to see how the Georgia Republican-controlled legislature will not hesitate to modify any election that doesn’t give them the desired result – without concern for whom they disenfranchise.
The Republican candidate has garnered the majority of the popular vote in exactly one presidential election since 1988. It is not hard to see why the Republican Georgia legislature and several other Republican-controlled states are changing voting laws since they have demonstrated that they can’t attract voters. It is somewhat sad because I remember a Republican party that was principled and able to win large majorities in presidential elections by running honorable candidates who cared about the whole nation.
What does Copernicus have to do with anything? 🙂
The voter ID requirements and criminalizing giving water to a voter in line were enacted to please the 45th president and his followers, but these will do little to affect the election results. The aspect of the law that gives the legislators power to replace election officials and the Secretary of State is the scary part of the law. This is where real damage to election integrity will be introduced.
Georgia passed voter ID requirements in 2016. In that year, 513,700 blacks voted. By 2010, 741,000 blacks were participating in elections statewide. In the most recent election, 954,960 blacks voted. Clearly, voter ID requirements have been no impediment to participation for minorities.
In a 2016 Gallup poll, 77% of non-whites supported a photo ID requirement for voting. The truth about this subject is that minority voters want to see increased election integrity and accountability because they know that gaps in election integrity have historically been used to disenfranchise them and deprive them of political power.
news[dot]gallup[dot]com/poll/194741/four-five-americans-support-voter-laws-early-voting.aspx
The objection by the left wing to voter ID isn’t rooted in any realistic concern of voter suppression. For the most part, it’s rooted in the paternalism that the left holds towards everyone in general. They think regular people are too stupid to handle freedom, and that we need their patronage to do anything important. But they also fear that regular people don’t need them. That is why they are threatened by free, fair, and secure elections.
Correction – the first year of voter ID was 2006.
Beautiful tribute to John Lewis! And you are so right about the shame and guilt that GOP leaders (and voters) should feel about passing, and trying to pass, laws that restrict voting!
They make a mealy-mouthed attempt to say that because of rampant voter fraud they need to tighten up the security of the vote … but there WAS no rampant voter fraud, and they’re only aiming to prevent the most vulnerable and minorities from voting. Shameful! If your only hope of winning is to make sure others can’t vote, you really should examine whether you are on the right side at all.
“but there WAS no [proof of] rampant voter fraud” …. and this is why democrats have pulled out all the stops to prevent any forensic audits, as they want to keep it hidden. Garland has threatened the states attempting to get to the bottom of the allegations if they conduct forensic audits.
The reason democrats don’t want accountability in balloting is it might expose their cheating, and the heart of their Jim Crow 2.0 claims.