David Domke, professor of communications at the University of Washington, streamed his third and final lecture in this series Wednesday night. Besides his university position, Domke is also a founder of Common Power, an organization working to expand voting rights across the country.
Much of this third lecture was devoted to discussing his organization's on--the-ground efforts to bring about changes from state to state -- and to encourage his viewers to take part by writing letters and emails and making telephone calls -- even while trapped in at home during the pandemic. I will just touch on those aspects of his talk of more general interest.
Common Power began as a non-partisan effort to increase voting opportunities. However, it has become increasingly clear that -- with polls showing that a majority of voters are opposed to much of the Republican agenda in general, and to the Trump presidency in particular -- a major strategy of the Republican party has become an attempt to discourage widespread voting. Trump himself has openly stated that if people are allowed to vote by mail, he'll lose the election.
Efforts to expand voting include three primary objectives:
1. Eliminate or reduce the inability of convicted felons to vote. Domke described successful or partially successful expansions in three states -- Virginia, Florida, and Kentucky -- and efforts being made in a more difficult state, Iowa. In Virginia and Kentucky, the franchise has been expanded by a Democratic governor's signing of thousands of executive pardons or commutations of sentence for felons who have completed their sentence and post-sentence paroles.
2. Automatic Voter Registration. Automatic registration has become a strong trend, but primarily in blue states. When a person interacts with a state agency -- most commonly, when obtaining or renewing a driver's license -- he or she is automatically registered to vote.
3. One-time easing of voting requirements in response to Covid-19. Traditional voting in person poses obvious health risks to voters, to poll workers, to other users of polling sites, and to persons exposed secondarily by contact with the above. Efforts are being made to decrease dangers -- even if only for this year -- from in-person voting.
One prong of attack is to avoid congestion at the polls by increasing the number of polling places, and to expand the period of voting over many days or even weeks before the formal election date.
The other prong, which received the most attention during the lecture, was to make it easier to vote remotely. Five states -- including Washington -- mandate universal mail voting. It works, it is at least as fraud-free as any other form of voting, and voters like it. But the political opposition is too strong in the other 45 states to expect any other state to adopt it this year.
Instead, states are being asked to make absentee voting easier this year. Unlike universal mail voting, an application has to be made for an absentee ballot. A request may also have to be made for an application. And in some states, the application must be based on a limited number of statutory justifications for absentee voting. Domke's organization is pushing 27 states to liberalize, in one way or another, access to absentee voting. They have been successful so far in eleven of those states.
The struggle continues, as we're within four months of the election. Voters generally want liberalization, and they want it permanently, not just in this election. Republican governors in some states sympathize with easing absentee voting requirements, this year at least, in response to Covid-19. In general, however, Republican party leaders are desperately opposed.
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