Republicans are making voting harder

Child molesters and illegal aliens are the prime targets of Democratic efforts to improve voting procedures in our country. We know that because Sen. Ted Cruz has told us so in a recent speech to a cheering conservative conference.

Cruz is an outlier and an embarrassment to some Republicans, but they have unanimously voted against the For the People Act in both the House and, procedurally, in the Senate. The act is described, by its advocates, as 'intended to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering and create new ethics rules for federal

officeholders.”

It aims to make voter registration easy by use of modern technology to increase the convenience of time and place for voting. It seeks to keep campaign financing open, disclosing dark money donors.

Historic turnouts in 2018 and 2020 have attracted 'regressive bills aimed at restricting access to the ballot, including by sharply restricting mail-in ballots, cutting back on early voting and slashing voter registration opportunities.”

Today, in contrast to the Democratic and democratic effort, legislatures in 43 states, including Iowa, seem determined to make voting difficult for many, essentially impossible for some. Their effort may keep child molesters and illegals away from voting, but it will, without any doubt, keep law-abiding American citizens away. The Brennan Center, a nonpartisan think tank in D.C., estimates there are tens of millions of eligible people who don't register and, thus, can't vote. It doesn't have to be so.

Retiring pen, ink and paper, and using modern technology, familiar and available to most Americans, saves money. That ought to appeal to everyone. Using lists from government agencies, like motor vehicle departments, for automatic registration makes it easy and does it at minimal cost.

The bill goes beyond registration to the cost of campaigns, which has grown to absurd levels. The U.S. Senate race in Iowa in 2020 cost a combined $234 million. Although less was spent in most other states, the total national expenditure was likely greater than the gross national product of some nations.

That much money doesn't come without strings from people who are into buying and selling more than philanthropy. In the last election, 11 individuals contributed a total of a billion dollars to super PACS and there were 3,500 people who contributed at least $100,000.

It ought not be that way, and Republicans knew it years ago. When Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1984, because of a government matching program, he held no fund-raisers. None. He depended on a small donor program, later killed by his heirs.

The Brennan Center study cites The Federalist Papers: 'Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor, not the learned, more than the ignorant, not the haughty heads of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States.”

That inspiring wisdom of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison should be a guide for all of us.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey's press secretary, and wrote a memoir, 'From Nowhere to Somewhere.”