Legislatures that have been captured by the Religious Right and run by authoritarians and cult leaders, that already have all sorts of gerrymandered districts, severe restrictions on voting - and control of the voting/elections apparatus.
Which means we as liberals really, really, really have to be on top of registration games as well as election tampering up to and past the actual election and vote counts.
These states also already have restrictions to reproductive rights on their books that are only being held back by Federal courts because of Roe, Griswald (individual's right to access family planning and contraceptives), and more importantly, Doe v Bolton - a little known case in Georgia at the same time of Roe v Wade that decided that abortion after viability cannot restrict the rights of the mother for health reasons as determined by the woman's doctor, and that "the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors - physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age - relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health."
The Right Wing uses reproductive rights to get their base out as well as we do. They fire up their base every Sunday, or drive time, or in the waiting rooms with their media mouthpieces constantly spewing out the latest propaganda to captive audiences.
But Right Wing also doesn't have to coax and hold hands to get that 35% apathetic, day-to-day living, or "too busy to care about others" types who "hate politics"; those who believe "both parties are the same" or don't (want to) understand that just because they've "been working hard enough" that things are reasonably acceptable in their personal lives doesn't mean they get to ignore or avoid dealing with other people's pain as well as their own.
We have to. And that's far more difficult than most people understand, because while it's easy to convince people you know, it's very difficult to convince people who don't want to be bothered and don't know you.
Here's a suggestion. Why not get all the wealthy liberals and celebrity types who come from those areas to give up some of their profits and profiteering, go "home" to these Red and Fuchsia states starting in August and work hard at GOTV targeting the "undecideds" and "never registered" types with massive rallies up to the day of the elections, to the level of the "War Bond" efforts of WWII. Do some groundwork and figure out the messages that will work early - positive, negative, or a ratio of both - and GOTV.
Hey, how much to you think would a ride to the polls or the Registrar of Voters for early voting in a bus with a celeb like Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, or, hell - Bumpas Rodgers (the voice of Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants born in Arkansas) work? How much do you think of a celebrity picking a critical polling place in an otherwise red district to stick around for 10 or so hours, handing out snacks, water, and joking/entertaining people in line (so long as they don't talk about the election itself) will increase turnout?
We can't just hope that people are politically aware. The sad truth about America is that the "Average Citizen" - that 40% - 50% of the political middle, don't really care about laws or politics in general unless some law, fee, or regulation is already adversely affecting them. The evidence is there - the Right Wingnuts wouldn't be able to get the numbers they currently get if they stuck to real life issues, so they "lie for the Lord" and gin up all sorts of fear of unknown dangers and paint fellow citizens as vicious enemies trying to take everything away from individuals just to get enough voters to pass their restrictions on democracy and civil liberties.
If you want the undecided to come out and vote, you have to interest them.
Haele
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