By Laureen Scharps, FAWCO Rep, AIWC Frankfurt Taunus Rhein-Main
On January 6, violent extremists attempted to overturn the result of the US Presidential election. Multiple states are making new efforts to increase the difficulty of voting. More than ever before, Americans must advocate for our democracy and support all citizens’ Constitutional right to vote.
To help protect our right to vote and the democracy it ensures, call on Congress to pass two laws that will support democracy, protect the right to vote and enable more Americans to exercise their rights more easily:
- The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would safeguard Americans against racial discrimination in voting laws by restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act; and
- The For the People Act (H.B. 1 and S. 1) a comprehensive package of voting reforms.
Tell your Representative and Senators to pass these bills into law by calling the Congressional switchboard (+1 202-224-3121) and asking the operator to connect you with their offices in Washington, DC.
Threats to democracy from domestic extremists and falsehoods about voting
Armed white supremacists’ violent attempt to overturn the free and fair 2020 election by attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6 should sear into our minds the fragility of American democracy. The big lie – that the election was stolen – spread like a virus on social media and spurred many of the insurrectionists. The underlying motivation behind the big lie is something civil rights organizations and activists have fought for many years: attempts to suppress the votes of African Americans and other people of color.
The threat of further attacks on the US Capitol and elsewhere from far-right extremist groups remains high. Secretary of Homelend Security Alejandro Mayorkas warned, “Today the most significant terrorist threat facing the nation comes from lone offenders and small groups of individuals who commit acts of violence motivated by domestic extremist ideological beliefs.” And a new report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence says that the US intelligence community:
assesses that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and militia violent extremists (MVEs) present the most lethal [domestic violent extremists] threats, with RMVEs most likely to conduct mass-casualty attacks against civilians and MVEs typically targeting law enforcement and government personnel and facilities.
Racist voter suppression, in the forms of disinformation and intimidation, was widespread in the lead-up to the 2020 general election. Here are just a few examples in various states.
- In Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and New York, robocalls targeted voters of color, conveying falsehoods around how their data would be shared through voting by mail.
- In Detroit and other cities, right-wing activists targeted minority voters to discourage them from voting.
- In states from Florida to Arizona, disinformation efforts targeted Black and Latino voters, seeking to divide and discourage the electorate.
- During early voting in North Carolina, groups of white supremacists tried to intimidate voters at and around polling sites in Black and brown communities.
The misinformation and disinformation did not end there. Many political and media figures inundated all voters were with false claims about voter fraud (which is extremely rare) and discouraged using mail-in ballots. Consuming so many inaccurate claims encouraged millions of voters to distrust the outcome of the presidential election. Recent reports from the US intelligence community and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security say the foreign governments, particularly that of Russia, tried to influence the election by, for example, sowing distrust in the electoral process, and not to interfere with voter registration, ballot casting or tabulation, or reporting of results. FAWCO stands by the results of the election.
Everyone should be wary of all news sources unless they pass muster. How can you decide if a source is trustworthy? See the US Voting Committee’s earlier advice, and Mike Caulfield's recommended steps to determine the trustworthiness of a claim, which include the following.
- Find out if an online article or claim has already been debunked (FactCheck.org or PolitiFact).
- Go upstream to check the original source. Websites rarely use original content.
- Read laterally: find out if the original source has a good reputation.
- Circle back: find a different source if the claim is not trustworthy.
Multiple new proposals to suppress the vote
Multiple US government officials declared the 2020 US election the most safe and secure in history, and turnout in the election was the highest in a century, thanks to, for example, wider use of mail-in ballots, the extension of early-voting periods and other measures to keep voters safe from COVID-19. Advocates of US democracy and voting have called for building on these successes to encourage voting after the pandemic.
Accepting the big lie, however, multiple state legislatures have made a growing number of proposals that would make voting harder, not easier. Since November 2020, 43 states have proposed 253 bills making voting more difficult, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Arizona leads with 19 proposals, followed by Pennsylvania with 14 and Georgia with 11. States such as South Carolina, New Hampshire and Texas have made the following proposals to hinder voting.
- A South Carolina proposal would impose a signature matching requirement for absentee ballots.
- A New Hampshire bill would allow anyone to observe polls “without obstruction” from a distance of six feet.
- A Texas plan would strip county clerks of their authority to register voters and require the Department of Public Safety to verify voters’ citizenship.
States use many other tools to reduce voter turnout. These include reducing the number of polling places or siting polling places in hard-to-reach locations, reducing early-voting periods and the operating hours of polling places, imposing onerous requirements for absentee voting, requiring forms of identification that some voters are unlikely to have and reducing the hours of state offices at which voters can secure acceptable identification. Not to mention partisan gerrymandering.
What we can do to fight vote suppression
As always, FAWCO and the US Voting Committee strongly recommend that FAWCO members register and vote in all local, state and federal elections for which you are eligible. Choose candidates who support voting rights, including those of overseas Americans, and write or call elected officials to tell them about your concerns.
We now call on FAWCO members to contact their Representatives and Senators, to insist they pass legislation to restore full voting rights, including:
- The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would safeguard Americans against racial discrimination in voting laws by restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act; and
- The For the People Act (H.B. 1 and S. 1) a comprehensive package of voting reforms.
The For the People Act would revitalize American democracy, making voting easier and more accessible, particularly for voters shut out by current policies, and strengthen protections against disinformation and voter intimidation. It enacts automatic voter registration nation wide and outlaws partisan gerrymandering – and improves service for overseas voters, as well as imposing accountability on social media sites and reforms that protect Americans from hate speech and exhortations of violence.
Tell your Representative and Senators to pass these bills into law by calling the Congressional switchboard (+1 202-224-3121) and asking the operator to connect you with their offices in Washington, DC.
Conclusion
The spread of extremist violence and attempts to suppress voting makes it more important than ever to advocate for democracy and speak up against any kind of voter suppression and disinformation. Our right to vote and our democratic values are precious and currently under threat. Make sure you vote for lawmakers who not only share those values but also fight for truth and justice for all.