Voting Rights

BE SMART ABOUT is our unfortunately endless series highlighting examples of those in power who you need to stay informed about so you can share this knowledge and together we can Be Smart and Actively Dissent.

Today we discuss Trey Trainor who was nominated by Trump in September 2017 to be one of six members of the Federal Election Commission.  He faces Senate confirmation which has yet.  Why does this matter?  Why is Trainor noteworthy?

Dictators stay in power by not allowing a vote for their position at all or staging an "election" that is controlled in a manner that pre-determines the results.  In the United States, something so brazen seems unimaginable.  Wake up.

Another person who fundamentally hates the mission of the department they are picked to lead is about to be chosen by Trump.  In this case it's Thomas Brunell, a Texas professor with no government experience likely to lead the Census Bureau. 

Brunell, a political science professor, has testified more than half a dozen times on behalf of Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts, and is the author of a 2008 book titled “Redistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections Are Bad for America.”

US District Judge Nelva Ramos granted "an injunction that bars state officials from enforcing" the recent changes to the state's 2011 voter ID law.

Despite arguments to the contrary from the Trump / Sessions Department of Justice, Judge Ramos cited the Voting Rights Act to rule...

....that the law was enacted with the deliberate intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton plans to appeal the decision on the basis of revisions to the law the state legislature passed over the summer.

In early May 2017, Director John Thompson of the U.S. Census Bureau abruptly resgined after Congress refused to provide adequate funding for the upcoming 2020 census.

An administration uninterested in staffing federal agencies, at war with facts and eager to help Congress cut the budget is further endangering a cornerstone of American democracy: the duty to count all who live here.

In May 2017, an executive order was signed to create a commision on "election integrity."  Their work began in early July with significant opposition and loud dissent.

Dictators stay in power by not allowing a vote for their position at all or staging an "election" that is controlled in a manner that pre-determines the results.  In the United States, something so brazen seems unimaginable.

Dictators stay in power by not allowing a vote for their position at all or staging an "election" that is controlled in a manner that pre-determines the results.  In the United States, something so brazen seems unimaginable.  In May 2017, an executive order was signed to create a commision on election integrity.

In early May without much national attention, Iowa signed into law a measure that overhauls their state election laws.  Republicans claim the changes will prevent (non-existent) voter fraud while Democrats argue it will suppress votes.  It is the classic and repeated Republican playbook for voter suppression based on the repeatedly disproven, yet believed, lie that there is a voter fraud issue in the U.S.

An executive order was signed earlier this month that allows tax-exempt churches to actively participate in politics without risking the loss of their tax exemption.

Trump's order directs the Internal Revenue Service to "alleviate the burden of the Johnson Amendment"... Under that amendment, the tax code prohibits organizations that enjoy tax-free status from participating in a political campaign or supporting any one candidate for elective office.