Column: Republicans aren't protecting elections. They don't want democracy [View all]

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

The next time Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stands in front of a microphone to talk about election integrity, I want you to remember this: Nearly a third of voters in Louisiana are Black, and yet Black voters had control over less than 20% of the state’s congressional districts. White voters make up less than 60% of the electorate yet had control over more than 80% of the power.

When the Democratic governor vetoed attempts to suppress the Black vote, the Republican state Legislature overrode the veto. When a federal judge said another map should be drawn, the Supreme Court delayed action until it had decided a similar question about Alabama.

In that state, Black people are more than a quarter of the population but had control over just one of the state’s seven districts. For two years, Alabama fought to dilute the Black vote, until the highest court of the land rejected the state’s final plea for a gerrymandered map.

Johnson’s party has been working to suppress Black votes for decades, so what is he talking about when he trumpets “election integrity”?

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Those Southern states have been consistent in their agenda. In Rarick’s day some of the bad actors, including him, were Democrats, but now the cause has been taken up by Republicans. And why is today’s GOP so concerned about “protecting” elections? Why are they fighting so hard to stop democracy? Because they don’t want a democratic outcome. They want white control.

Johnson wants you to believe it’s the desperate migrants and asylum seekers at the southern border who are the greatest threat to democracy.

No, Mr. Speaker: It is and always has been racism. It’s baked into our nation.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-04-23/republican-election-integrity-bill-vote-fraud-democracy