Block The Vote: The GOP Uses A State Office To Steal Voters’ Rights

Political junkies know enough to keep a careful eye on one particular state-level office when it comes to protecting the rights of voters, but most citizens are not aware of this very powerful office. Here, courtesy of HuffPo‘s Steve Rosenthal, is a little “Civics 101”:

At the cornerstone of the GOP strategy is an assault on voting rights in state after state, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in this country in decades. The right wing understands that their views are out of step with the rapidly increasing progressive majority in America — women, people of color, union members, LGBT and young voters. And the only way they can win is by attempting to prevent this new progressive majority from voting. If we are to turn things around, finding new ways to defend fair and equal access to the ballot must be a top priority for progressives.

One crucial office that is often overlooked when these battles are being decided is that of secretary of state. In many states, secretaries of state have far‐reaching influence over the electoral process. Their powers often include controlling the certification of names of candidates on the ballot and ballot proposals/initiatives, maintaining the lists of registered voters in their state, overseeing voter registration procedures, conducting recounts, overseeing the testing and implementation of voting machines, as well as certifying and registering campaign expenditure reports by both candidates and outside groups. With so many important issues being decided by secretaries of state, increasing our involvement in their elections is vital.

One needs to look no further than Michigan in 2012, where Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson played a critical role in defeating Proposal 2, the collective bargaining initiative. Through the powers of her office, Johnson appointed a panel that rammed through lopsided ballot language, which framed the proposal as an attack on the state’s constitution rather than protecting workers’ right to collectively bargain. Internal polling showed support for the initiative dropped more than 15 percent based on the ballot language alone, and supporters were never able to make up that lost ground. In Colorado, Secretary of State Scott Gessler has used his office to weaken Colorado’s strict campaign finance laws, tried to stop county clerks from mailing ballots to inactive voters on the permanent absentee list, and embarked on an aggressive voter purge effort aimed at alleged non-citizen registrants.

Rosenthal briefly touches on the state of play:

The bad news is that Republicans dominate this office. They have a leg up, and they’ve been investing in these races for the last few years. As a result, of the 26 secretary of state races up in 2014, Republicans currently hold 17 of those seats.

The good news is that unlike many down-ballot races that are uncompetitive due to partisan gerrymandering, these are statewide races, and many of them are located in swing states. This provides progressives with a great opportunity to pick up seats in 2014. And, by and large, the money raised and spent in these races is significantly less than other statewide offices, so relatively small amounts of money can go a long way toward deciding the outcomes.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.