Where’s The Action? Critics Press Biden After Sharp Speech

?? Hello readers! 
President Joe Biden gave a major speech on voting rights last week, but as state-level restrictions and sham “audits” proliferate around the country, some critics wondered: What’s the plan? 

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Criticism of Biden Speech: Where’s the action?

For all of his sharp rhetoric about attacks on voting rights around the country, Biden’s much-heralded speech on voting rights last Wednesday laid out relatively modest action items: “Perhaps the most important thing we have to do,” he said, is “forge a coalition of Americans of every background and political party -- the advocates, the students, the faith leaders, the labor leaders, the business executives -- and raise the urgency of this moment.”

Yes, he mentioned strong congressional measures that would strengthen voting rights -- but not the Senate’s filibuster rules, which right now have stopped all voting rights legislation cold.

Critics wanted more: “We’d like for him to fight for voting rights as hard as they’ve been fighting for infrastructure,” Ezra Levin, co-founder and executive director of Indivisible, told Mother Jones. “Speeches are good but we need action,” Bishop Dwayne D. Royster told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund reminded Biden of a recent meeting: “We believe, as we shared with the President directly in a meeting at the White House last week, that the urgency of this moment requires an end to the use of the filibuster to block critical legislation that is needed to protect the right to vote.”

So, attention turns to legislators

...who aren’t showing much, either: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) told our own Josh Marshall, when asked about potential voting rights legislation:

>>> “I don’t know yet, I really don’t know yet.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), one of two Senate Democrats holding up voting rights legislation due to their opposition to filibuster reform, met last week with Texas Democrats who fled the state in a desperate attempt to stop passage of a new voting restriction bill. Afterward, he said he still opposed changing the filibuster, even a simple carve-out for voting legislation. He and the Texas Democrats did apparently discuss the possibility of severely pared-down voting legislation, though.

The Senate Rules Committee, led by Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) made a rare field trip to Georgia Monday to amplify the impact of state-level restrictions.

>>> “The point is we have a bigger jurisdiction, and that’s our democracy,” Klobuchar said of her committee’s field hearing in Atlanta today, contrasting it with the Rules’ committee’s normal work dealing with congressional process.

Actually, requiring photocopies of IDs to vote is a burden

One recurring theme in new voting legislation around the country is the addition of ID requirements for voting absentee or by-mail, particularly ID proposals that require physical paperwork.

Vice President Kamala Harris was ridiculed by the Republican Party for saying that requiring voters to photocopy their IDs could prove restrictive, especially in rural areas where “there’s no Kinkos, there’s no OfficeMax near them.”

>>> “Of course people have to prove who they are, but not in a way that makes it almost impossible for them to prove who they are,” Harris said.

Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), ranking member of the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Elections, made light of Harris’ comments several times during a hearing last week: “I found this new invention that I don’t think was there when Vice President Harris first ran for Senate, but is available now here in rural America, and it’s called a camera phone,” he said at one point in the hearing, and later: “My tour of rural Wisconsin continues. I’ve not found a Kinkos, but I find more and more people that do have access to camera phones.”

That misses the point: On top of the large chunk of voters who don’t have a government-issued photo ID, in some states, physical paperwork -- not virtually-submitted pictures -- is required.

The Bipartisan Policy Center explored the impact and future of voter ID requirements in an illuminating new report last week:

>>> “Requiring that copies of identification documents be submitted with an absentee ballot or absentee ballot application hinders voter access without proportionate improvements to election security,” the report read. “This policy creates burdensome barriers to absentee voting that disproportionately exclude lower income populations. Not only are certain forms of photo identification less widespread among lower income communities, young people, and communities of color, requiring a printed copy of identification documents further restricts access. Many households lack the tools necessary to make copies at home, and getting copies made commercially incurs costs onto the voter.”

So, how to confirm voters’ identity without incurring an undue expense? Signature matching is still the “gold standard” of remote identity verification, the report says, but it can be costly and can “over-correct.” Some other options include simply verifying voters’ data against on-file government information, or even two-factor authentication.

Around The States

In OHIO, a new law makes it illegal for election officials to “collaborate with, or accept or expend any money from, a nongovernmental person or entity” on voting-related measures -- such as working with barber shops to increase voter registration.

A revived proposal in MASSACHUSETTS would allow no-excuse absentee voting and an expansion of in-person early voting.

NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed into law a package of changes that would, among other things, allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted. It also pushes back the deadline for requesting a mail-in ballot: Applications for such ballots must now be received by election officials 15 days before Election Day, back from seven days under the old schedule.

Dozens of new voting rules in ARKANSAS will go into effect this month. Among them: a measure allowing the state election board to take over local election administration if county officials commit a violation that the board thinks would threaten even “the appearance of an equal, free and impartial election.” Also, the possession of more than four absentee ballots now “creates a rebuttable presumption of intent to defraud.”

In LOUISIANA, Republican legislators are set to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ (D) veto of several legislative items, potentially including one bill instituting rules for hand-delivering absentee ballots and another allowing political parties (rather than candidates) to name poll watchers to election precincts and parishes.

Three new bills in NORTH CAROLINA would restrict the window for election officials receiving mail-in ballots, take steps toward implementing new voter ID rules, and prohibit private donations for election administration.

In INDIANA, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that parts of the state’s voter purge process were unlawful.

In MICHIGAN and COLORADO judges are starting to take a harder line on attorneys that pushed bogus fraud claims in court. 

The Latest In Audit Mania

In a news conference Friday, the men running ARIZONA’s sham “audit” of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results sampled some red meat they’re likely to throw out to conspiracy theorists when they release their report on the election in coming weeks. They also simply got the facts wrong on some salacious -- but ultimately meaningless -- data that they implied showed possible unlawful voting.

In NEW HAMPSHIRE, turns out that hasty folding was to blame for errors in ballot-counting.

One of three PENNSYLVANIA counties targeted by another politicized audit doesn’t want third parties touching its machines.

In one MICHIGAN county, no one seems to know why Sheriff Dar Leaf (remember him?) has appointed a private investigator to probe the last election.

WaPo: Inside the secret plan for the Texas Democratic exodus: A phone tree, a scramble to pack and a politically perilous trip

NPR: After Record Voter Turnout, Youth Activists Turn Energy To 2021 Redistricting

Popular Information: How corporations give Republicans a massive financial advantage in state politics

Jamelle Bouie in NYT: Republicans Now Have Two Ways to Threaten Elections

TPM: How The Roberts Court Laid The Groundwork For 2021’s All-Out Assault On Voting Rights

Georgia Public Broadcasting: Absentee Drop Box Use Soared In Democratic Areas Before Voting Law Change