Some of the states have laws that were obviously made to restrict the ability of voters to cast their ballots. Texas has tried to limit the number of ballot collection boxes to a single ballot box per county. The justification was that it would limit the chances of fraud. This is, to me, absurd. Apparently the court also thought so, too; they blocked the order citing the state had not showed sufficient evidence that more ballot boxes would cause more fraud. This is another blatant attempt by the conservative Right to block the minorities from voting. It’s an attempt to tilt the playing field in favor of the Republicans.
What must be done is to enact a federal law to prohibit the states from enacting laws that cause the voters to have to go through bogus procedures to allow them to vote. The citizen has the right to vote unhindered by such hindrances as poll taxes, Identification procedures, or literacy tests. I saw that at one time the poll required a (minority) voter to tell them how many jelly beans there were in a jar before they could vote! That’s absurd!
Another federal law that must be passed is one that requires all states to remove restrictions on voting by mail. Some states require that the voter have someone witness that the voter signed the ballot, and the witness must sign, too. Some states have restrictions on who can vote by mail. The absentee ballots are limited to certain people, presumably to prevent “voter fraud”. There is almost zero voter fraud — a tiny fraction of one percent — and those restrictions are not justifiable. The obvious reason for the restrictions is, again, to make it difficult for citizens — minorities — to vote.
There are a few other laws that must be passed, or more like reinstated. These have to do with the VRA – the voting rights act. Some parts of the VRA were struck down by the Citizens United and other SCOTUS decisions. After the voting laws were nullified, the states went back to their Jim Crow era voting restrictions. These federal laws must be reinstated in a manner that will prevent SCOTUS and other courts from striking them down again.
