By Clay Jones
One political party wants as many Americans to vote as possible. The other wins when fewer people vote. That should tell you who to vote for.
The Republican Party doesn’t just discourage more Americans from voting, they work to suppress votes. From cumbersome voter ID laws to tricks like moving places where black Americans can get photo IDs, providing the wrong address to list on the IDs of college students, to removing minorities from voter rolls, to moving voting locations outside city limits, to invalidating thousands of Native Americans in North Dakota, Republicans cheat.
In 2012, fewer than 3,000 votes decided the Senate election in North Dakota and sent a Democrat to Washington. Republicans who run the state decided they can’t allow that to happen again, so they changed some rules. They targeted the Native American citizens of their state who tipped the scales and sent Heidi Heitkamp to the Senate.
Native Americans who live on reservations in North Dakota don’t have street addresses. The Post Office delivers to P.O. boxes so that’s what’s on their IDs. The state made a new law that for an ID to be accepted for voting, that it must have a street address. The Supreme Court upheld it refused to overturn it. Last week, Native Americans sued the state in U.S. District Court to prevent the law from taking effect in counties with reservations, the judge denied their request.
He expressed concerns in his denial and wrote, “The allegations in the complaint, the motion for a temporary restraining order, and the attached affidavits give this Court great cause for concern. However, a further injunction on the eve of the election will create as much confusion as it will alleviate.”
So, confusion is a legal standard? Confusion is a greater threat than suppression, greater than denying voting rights? I’m confused.
The real irony is that Native Americans have to prove to descendants of immigrants that they’re eligible to vote in this nation.
Republicans, who are already lying about the issues and their positions, don’t want honest elections because fewer Americans vote for Republicans.
You and I need to vote. We’re not just voting for ourselves. We’re voting for those Republicans are suppressing. I wrote it last week but I’m going to say it again.
To win, we need more of us to participate honestly than there are Republicans cheating.
