Count votes, don’t suppress them

I am an old -fashioned kind of guy. I have tried hard not to speak ill of ex-wives, the flatulent, yelling guys on stools next to me in my favorite sports bar or conservatives across the country intent on suppressing voting.

Always being civil has not been easy, but I have been successful most of the time. Until recently. Today it is impossible not to see conservatives for what they are up to: intent, determined and relentless in threatening our democratic voting process. The endless Trump contention of widespread voter fraud is not actual, honest, or even possible. And it destroys faith in who we are, with a history of an ever-expanding democracy.

Texas, Arizona and Georgia are among the best examples of voter suppression, though it goes far beyond their borders and can be seen far beyond. It is a national problem, even if it is not in all states. It is like a little bit of cancer. It is likely to get worse.

Start with Texas, the long-horrid state. Virtually from its beginning, it has done whatever it could to keep Black Texans from voting. At one time, if you weren’t white, you couldn’t vote in primaries. I don’t know how they did that. They were either smarter than I am, or simply more devious, corrupt, politically amoral. From the end of the Civil War until the 1965 voting rights act, the eyes of Texas saw only white folks encouraged to vote. They’ve honed their skills.

Texas does not permit anyone to register online. Other states do, without problems. In Texas you must register 30 days before the election. In most other states, you can register up to Election Day, and that covers your ballot previously mailed. To vote by mail in Texas you must be at least 65 years old or expect to have a baby within the three weeks before voting day. They generously don’t require both conditions in a single voter.

Voter suppression is theoretically colorblind, but, in fact, impacts the lives of Black citizens far more and on purpose. You don’t have to sound racist to be racist. For conservatives it is a matter of principle, quietly when possible. The guiding principle is that you think Black citizens are Democratic voters, so keep them away from the ballot box any way you can.

In a recent election 18,742 ballots were tossed in 16 of the 20 Texas counties with the most voters. And the Associated Press reported “after a survey of 187 of the state’s 254 counties, that 22,898 mail ballots — 13 percent of the total — were rejected this year.”

Arizona ranks with Texas in abuse of voters’ rights. They also make voting by mail harder, babbling endlessly that the 2020 election in large part was stolen by mail in ballots.

Georgia is a little more creative than either Texas or Arizona. It is against the law to give water or a snack to anyone waiting in line to vote. Those lines are often in Black neighborhoods and much longer than in white neighborhoods. Drop boxes are now inside instead of at curbside.

If there is a way to keep suspected Democrats from voting, Conservative’s will find it. Ask Liz Cheney.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.