“The church should continually exert a strong ethical influence upon the state, supporting policies and programs deemed to be just and opposing policies and programs that are unjust.”
United Methodist Social Principles, Paragraph 164.B
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people.”
Isaiah 10:1-2
The Church & Society/Social Justice Committee of First Church encourages advocacy and action to protect and strengthen U.S. voting rights. Let’s make sure our representatives and senators know we support a just voting system which protects and strengthens voting rights. It’s important to pass federal election legislation before the 2022 midterm election so everyone can have easy and direct access to participate in our democracy through this pivotal civic duty.
Voting rights and experience are not the same in all states. In Washington State, as in four other states (Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, and Utah), people vote by mail. (Three other states – California, Nebraska, and North Dakota – permit their counties to opt into conducting elections by mail.) Voting by mail means voters can vote on their own schedule by dropping off their ballots or sending them through the mail. It is an innovation that makes it easier to vote, something that is a bright spot in the chaos of the recent political landscape.
Unfortunately, some states have taken aggressive steps in the past year to make voting more complicated and difficult. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, as of late September, 19 states have enacted 33 laws that make it harder for Americans to vote. These laws vary. Some include stricter voter ID requirements, others include shorter windows of time for absentee voting, limits on the availability of drop boxes for ballots, and/or limits on early voting. See the Brennan Center write-up here with more information.
Why is this happening and what can we do about it?
For the why, an oversimplified explanation is that the Supreme Court, in a handful of controversial decisions in the past few years, has struck down key elements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, thus making it easier for states to change voting rules and regulations.
Many recent changes in voting laws have had a negative effect on minority communities. The Supreme Court upheld the validity of voter ID laws, which have been shown to negatively impact minority communities. (An example study out of Wisconsin is explained here.) The recent slate of state voting law changes also is a consequence of the “Big Lie” around election fraud disseminated by former president Donald Trump and the Republican party, leading to a justification of “election integrity,” despite no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Another aspect of the political landscape that impacts voting rights is how corporate money affects the political process. While the depth of the problem could be an article by itself, the basic concern is that political action committees (PACs) are able to raise and spend large amounts of money with very little oversight or limitations, thus allowing for corporate influence on our elections. Corporate spending has a negative impact on the information that voters consume prior to voting and can flood the airwaves with misleading commercials.
What can we do?
In the face of these concerns, it can be easy to feel helpless. However, there are steps we can take to make changes. Two solutions include advocacy and federal legislation.
Advocacy
Check out what Fix Democracy First – Voting Access (fixdemocracyfirst.org) – has done to expand voter access in Washington State. See Get Involved | Fix Democracy First to learn what you can do. Go to For the People Act & John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (fixdemocracyfirst.org) to learn how you can take action to support the proposed federal legislation described below.
Contact your U.S. representatives in the Congress and Senate to let them know you support the legislation described below. Share this information with family and friends in other states – and encourage them to contact their U.S. representatives.
Federal legislation to protect and strengthen voting rights
Proposed new federal election legislation would address negative impacts of changes in state voting laws. Several bills were introduced in Congress recently, including For the People Act (H.R. 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4), but so far neither bill has passed both houses of Congress.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) seeks to restore full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and thus counteract restrictive state voting laws which disproportionately suppress voter turnout among minorities, young adults, and the elderly.
The law would address voting rights violations, including cases of voter intimidation, coercion, threats, and other tactics aimed at suppressing a person’s ability to vote. The law would increase transparency by requiring reasonable public notice for voting changes. The law also would allow federal courts to immediately halt questionable voting practices until a final ruling is made. This provision recognizes that when voting rights are at stake, prohibiting a discriminatory practice after the election is too late to truly protect voters’ rights. The law would give the Attorney General authority to have federal observers present anywhere in the country where discriminatory voting practices pose a serious threat.
If it is passed, H.R. 1 would expand voter registration through automatic and same-day registration and voting access through vote-by-mail and early voting. H.R. 1 also would limit removing voters from voter rolls, require states to establish independent redistricting commissions to oversee congressional redistricting, expand prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, require additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, require additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establish an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices.
H.R. 1 bill also would require a code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, prohibit Members of the House from serving on the board of a for-profit entity, and establish additional conflict-of-interest and ethics provisions for federal employees and the White House. The bill also would require the President, the Vice President, and certain candidates for those offices to disclose 10 years of tax returns.