Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. What do those states have in common, besides seceding from our country in 1861 and having Republican legislatures and governors today? All three are red states turning blue.
We're not seeing voter suppression here in Nebraska, because there's no need for it. We're a solidly red state. Republicans don't need to suppress voting, because they're going to win every election, anyway.
But Barack Obama won North Carolina in 2008, and he won Florida in 2008 and 2012, though it was very close in both years. And believe it or not, Texas isn't far from that, unless Republicans can successfully suppress Hispanic voting (and keep gerrymandering districts to keep the state government overwhelmingly Republican).
Southern states couldn't do this until the five Republicans on the Supreme Court overthrew the Voting Rights Act of 1965, despite the fact that it was renewed by Congress in 2006 on votes of 390 to 33 in the House and 98 to zero in the Senate. (So much for Justice Scalia's concerns about invalidating "democratically adopted legislation," huh?)
Well, Republicans will do anything, apparently, to maintain their political power. They're not doing this in every state - not seriously trying, at least - because they don't need to. But if this works, they will. After all, it's either that or change.
And when you're talking about people who still call the Civil War the 'War of Northern Aggression,' change doesn't come easy.
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