Category: Voting rights

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Constitutional Law Voting rights

Tyranny of the Minority

Guest Contributors:  

Nancy Chi Cantalupo and Judith E. Koons, Barry University School of Law

 

No matter how one interprets the proper purposes and history of the Electoral College, if the electors who make up the 2016 Electoral College want to vote based on either Constitutional or democratic principles—and not just political expediency or blind obedience—they must vote for Hillary Clinton to be President of the United States. If the Electoral College instead proceeds as it has in the modern era, it will elect Donald Trump, who represents, at best, a minority of voters.

Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton by over 2.8 million as of early December, but because of the way the Electoral College now works, 80,000 votes in three states were decisive.  All three of these states have faced demands for a recount, an effort funded by nearly 140,000 donors skeptical about the integrity of the original vote count at least in part due to significant, credible evidence that a hostile foreign government engaged in cyberattacks to sway the election in favor of Trump.

A portion of this minority has already proven itself tyrannical in a very real way.  In the few weeks since the election was “called” on November 9th, nearly 900 hate crimes have been directed at immigrants, members of the LGBT community, people of color, Muslims, and women. Over 180 of these crimes have taken place in K-12 schools.

But the hateful threats and violence perpetrated by this minority of the minority are not the only way an Electoral College vote for Trump would enable a “tyranny of the minority.”  

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Civil Rights Race Discrimination Voting rights

Sen. Sessions: Unfit for Justice

President-elect Trump has announced his intention to name Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to the position of Attorney General.  This Confederate general namesake couldn’t be a worse fit for the job.

As you probably know by now, former President Reagan nominated Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1985 when he was serving as the U.S. Attorney for Alabama.  Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected him after evidence of Sessions’ racism emerged. The Huffington Post, provided excerpts from the hearing, including testimony that:  Sessions derided the NAACP and the ACLU as un-American and for “trying to force civil rights down the throats of people trying to put problems behind them”; referred to a white civil rights lawyer as a traitor to his race; and warned the only African American Assistant U.S. Attorney to be careful what he said to white people.

Reagan’s selection of Sessions was all the more problematic given his unsuccessful attempt to prosecute Black civil rights leaders for allegedly engaging in voter fraud just four months earlier.

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Voting rights

Election(s) Matter(s)

“Hey, Verona.”  

 In 1990 I was an attorney for the Voting Rights Section of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Much to my mother’s dismay,  I got sent to Mississippi to investigate the political and social environment in Noxubee County. The question was  whether minority voters’ rights were in such jeopardy that federal observers were necessary. Among the folks I met was a tiny white woman with cotton-candy hair and matching glasses who couldn’t get my name right and asked me the same question.

Yew behavin’ yur-self?”

My role in this woman’s play was merely to smile and nod.  After all, as a government outsider talking to Black voters about their concerns pre-election day, I clearly was not being  good girl.  Memories of that time, place, and irksome woman came to mind when I learned that federal observers wouldn’t be out in full force this presidential election.  Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder, striking down a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which also hobbled the Department of Justice’s ability to enforce the law.

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Voting rights

Down to the Wire. Have you registered?

This post is for all the procrastinators.  There was plenty of time to make sure your registration was up to date.  But not any more.

Ohio’s deadline is October 11, which is Tuesday. Right. Next week.

In Ohio, if you recently moved, changed your name, or haven’t voted since 2012, you may have be removed from the rolls.  To make certain you are registered, check here.  If you need to register, the necessary form and instructions on what to do are accessible here.   Don’t know where to vote?  Click this link to find your polling place.

Kentucky residents can register or update their voting status online. The same is true in Indiana. Twenty-nine other states and the District of Columbia also allow residents the option of registering online.  For more information and a chart to find out whether you can sign up, check, or update your registration status online, check out the National Conference of State Legislatures website.

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Don’t be this guy.  Register.

Don’t assume that you’ve got this covered.  After all, how are you going to feel when you roll up to the polling place on November 8 only to be turned away?

Just do it.

Take a step toward social justice.  Get registered.  And vote.

Categories
Voting rights

Linking Theory to Practice–Social Justice Practice, that is…

“If you want peace, work for justice.”

Pope Paul VI’s words take on extra meaning as Election Day gets closer.  Consider President Obama’s recent spin on that adage:

“If you want more justice in the justice system, then we’ve all got to vote – not just for a President, but for mayors, and sheriffs, and state’s attorneys, and state legislators.” 

Voting is essential to our work for social justice.  And, as President Obama suggested, all politics are local.  That means showing up at the polls in every election, not just for President, but also in off years to elect officials to serve on city councils, school boards, state legislatures, and more because there’s a political connection to virtually every social justice issue.

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