Monday, January 31, 2022
Monday, January 17, 2022
Poltico/Morning Consult poll on voting issues
Freedom to Vote Act, which will be brought up this week in the Senate? Many of its core provisions receive majority support:
— Expanding access to early voting: 65% support, 23% oppose
— Prohibiting partisan gerrymandering: 64% support, 19% oppose
— Making it illegal to prevent someone from registering to vote: 62% support, 24% oppose
— Making Election Day a federal holiday: 61% support, 26% oppose
— Expanding same-day voter registration: 56% support, 30% oppose
— Expanding access to voting by mail: 55% support, 35% oppose
— Allowing Americans with prior criminal convictions to vote: 54% support, 32% oppose
— Expanding automatic voter registration: 51% support, 33% oppose
Finally — and these numbers are more surprising — our poll found an even split when voters were asked whether the Senate should require a majority or a supermajority to pass legislation:
We asked: As you may know, the Senate has 100 members representing the 50 states. Which of the following comes closest to your opinion, even if neither is exactly right?
— Bills in the Senate should be required to have at least 51/100 votes to pass: 40%
— Bills in the Senate should be required to have at least 60/100 votes to pass: 41%
— Don’t know/ No opinion: 19%
Charlie Cooper
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Thursday, January 13, 2022
New House elections bill is not exactly the same as FTVA and JLA
Marc Elias, chief elections lawyer for the Democratic Party gives an overview of new provisions in the House bill that passed today, 1/13/22.
Charlie Cooper
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Constitutionalist Lawrence Lessig on barriers to reforming Electoral Count Act
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/01/gorsuch-sabotage-congress-2024-election-reform.html
Lessig lays out a noxious theory of total power for state legislatures in electing a president. The problem is that some Supreme Court justices may agree. Congress must debate these issues carefully before proceeding on ECA
Charlie Cooper
Saturday, January 8, 2022
Effort to defeat Freedom to Vote Act by substituting Electoral Count Act
This article also says that Manchin and Sinema might possibly support requiring 41 opponents to be on the floor to sustain a filibuster.
Personal comment: the rise of this targeted Republican effort to talk about Electoral Count Act may indicate that they are worried that Freedom to Vote will pass. – Charlie Cooper
Friday, January 7, 2022
Options for filibuster reform
Filibuster is the major obstacle in the U.S. Senate for political equality reforms. This article reviews options for how it might be reformed.
Charlie Cooper