Ever since Donald Trump declared a national emergency last week, many elected officials and pundits have highlighted a wide range of issues which are far more deserving of emergency status. From climate change to gun violence, there is no shortage of policy issues that are quite literally matters of life or death.

Racist voter suppression is rampant – and corporate silence is complicity | Rev William Barber and Rashad Robinson Read more

Of all the emergencies that this country currently faces, the electoral process and the overall health of US democracy may be the most daunting. I say “may be” only because the crisis of US democracy is itself a symptom of the country’s original sin: racism.

Nevertheless, the damaged electoral process is the emergency which determines whether other emergencies can be successfully addressed. Without fair and free elections, the county cannot adequately deal with the threat of climate change, massive student debt, crumbling infrastructure or healthcare for all.

On Tuesday, I along with former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and several other witnesses provided testimony to a congressional field hearing examining recent voter suppression in Georgia. The wide range of suppression tactics implemented in Georgia included the mass purging of voters, blocked voter registrations, faulty election machines and uncounted provisional and absentee ballots. The state is now intensifying its failure to protect elections by moving toward new machines that remain hackable but at a higher price tag, rather than responding to voter demands for paper ballots that are far more secure and easier to administer without long lines.

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In North Carolina this week, we finally saw long awaited hearings regarding the state’s contested ninth congressional district, in which allegations of ballot fraud have delayed election certification. After three days of testimony, the election board decided that a new election should be held, and many observers view this as a victory. However, until there are criminal consequences for those who planned and approved of the fraud, a new election is actually a shallow victory which actually exposes one of the major shortcomings of US democracy: those who have power are able to corrupt the system with no consequences.

It is one of many ways that US democracy is majority rule in theory, but not always in practice. And as people of color gain majority status in increasing parts of this country, we are gradually witnessing majority rule become a passing fad.

Thanks to partisan and racial gerrymandering, the balance of power in state legislatures as well as in congressional races does not reflect popular vote totals. For example, in North Carolina, Republicans won only 49% of total votes in 2018 state legislative races, but they still control 55% of seats in their state house. In Pennsylvania, Democrats won 54% of the vote for state House, but Republicans won 54% of the seats.

Meanwhile, in St Louis, Missouri, there is currently a proposal to consolidate the city and county government. This strategy, along with state pre-emption of local policies, is increasingly being used to dilute the power of black voters in urban areas. But what’s particularly troubling about the Missouri plan is that the proposal would include canceling the next scheduled election for St Louis mayor, a move that some feel is a direct response to the near-victory of a black woman, Tishaura Jones, in the 2017 election. Indeed, some argue the entire plan is in response to the growing electoral power of Black Lives Matter, which scored a major 2018 victory by helping to remove the county prosecutor who did not get an indictment in the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

How Republicans are turning US states into labs of anti-democracy Read more

Last month, congressional Democrats unveiled a bill to help restore the Voting Rights Act as well as to deal with other aspects of voting, such as partisan gerrymandering, voter registration and campaign finance. The proposed HB1 is a good step, but truly protecting voting rights must include stronger protections, enforcement and investment to help combat the type of voter intimidation that often flies under the radar in counties that don’t get much attention. My colleagues at Black Voters Matter and I witnessed this throughout the 2018 cycle, and as I mentioned during the congressional field hearing on Tuesday, voter intimidation tactics don’t get pre-cleared.

It’s not surprising that the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell declared that the legislation will be killed in the Senate. But his open admission that he views expanding voting rights as a threat to his party’s power was incredibly revealing.

The increasing failures to protect voting rights and related distortions of US democracy are an existential threat. No governance system can long exist once the vast majority of those governed no longer feel that it is legitimate. We could look at current events in other countries as evidence of this fact, but there’s really no need to look so far away. After all, the remedy for oppressive, non-representative government is found within the US Declaration of Independence: “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”