"Will Republicans Steal the Election?" by economist Robert Reich

[Shepherd]

I'm worried. With just over two weeks left until Election Day, Republicans have been playing dirty to try to steal this election and stop the blue wave through voter suppression.And unless we all come together and fight as hard as we can in these final weeks, their despicable plan may just work.

Republicans have seen the polls, and they have seen the resistance in the streets.

They know that Democrats are fired up. They know that the progressive platform is supported by a majority of Americans. They know that the number of registered Republicans is shrinking. Progressives are furious, and Republican ideas are total failures with the American people. So they are resorting to the ugliest trick in the book: voter suppression, especially targeting communities of color who overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.

The stories of intimidation, scare tactics, and blatantly racist attacks on voters in critical states across the country have been ramping up in recent days.

In Georgia, Secretary of State Brian Kemp (who just so happens to be the Republican candidate for governor running dead-even against progressive champion Stacey Abrams) has held up the voter registrations of 53,000 Georgians—70% people of color—in an effort to keep them from the polls.¹ And last week, officials in Georgia stopped a bus carrying a group of Black seniors while it was in transit to an early voting location, claiming that the bus did not have the proper license to drive voters to the polls.

In North Dakota, where Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp is in the fight of her life to hold on to her seat, Republican state lawmakers passed a law specifically designed to prevent Native Americans from voting—likely because Native Americans helped push Heitkamp to a narrow victory in her last election.

And in Texas, Republican lawmakers decided at the last minute to switch the voting precinct for half of the students at a historically Black college to prevent them from voting in a Republican-held district, and when a campaign staffer from the Democratic candidate went to the courthouse to challenge the change, he was arrested.

These stories are enraging, but they also show just how desperate the Republicans are to cling to power. If we can fight back against these disgusting tactics and succeed in taking back power in November, we can start the real work of defending and expanding voting rights, taking on partisan gerrymandering, and putting a stop to Donald Trump and the GOP's horrifying agenda.

And I'm feeling optimistic, because MoveOn has been executing a detailed, massive, effective, and people-powered campaign to win in November and begin the real work of building a brighter future for all Americans.

After we win in November, we will work to pass a new Voting Rights Act that will include automatic voter registration, protect early voting, combat voter ID laws targeting people of color and the poor, and take the redistricting process out of the hands of politicians. Because let's be clear: Voter suppression is nothing new, and in the five years since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, attempts by Republicans to keep voters from the polls have skyrocketed.

But first, we must we succeed in taking back Congress in just over two weeks.
Thanks for all you do.–Robert Reich

Sources:
1. "Civil rights groups sue Georgia Republican Brian Kemp over 53,000 'pending' voter registrations," CNN, October 13, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/53001?t=8&akid=218990%2E18866930%2EKlIWyv

2. "'This is voter suppression': black seniors in Georgia ordered off of bus taking them to vote," Vox, October 17, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/53932?t=10&akid=218990%2E18866930%2EKlIWyv

3. "North Dakota Native Americans fight to protect their right to vote after court ruling," ABC News, October 21, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/53933?t=12&akid=218990%2E18866930%2EKlIWyv

4. "Democratic Aide Arrested Advocating For Voting Rights In Texas," The Rachel Maddow Show, October 11, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/53934?t=14&akid=218990%2E18866930%2EKlIWyv