[Vision2020] Fwd: LWV of Idaho Action Alert - PLEASE READ ASAP

[Ted Moffett]

On Tue, Mar 8, 2022 at 3:47 PM Roger Hayes <rhayesmoscowid at gmail.com> wrote:

"Additionally, these bills read like they have been authored by out of
state interests..."

-------------------------
The political talking point about "critical race theory" that Idaho made
into a  major issue was also likely sourced from political strategists at
the national level.  As if Idaho politicians decided independently, with no
input from outside the state, to get fired up about critical race theory,
or urgent needs to defend election malfeasance?  Millions of US voters
believe that Biden's "win" was a theft from Trump, a theory Trump promoted
and in one way or another has been supported by other republicans.

Barton Gellman in The Atlantic magazine explores in-depth the ongoing
efforts to influence the upcoming elections, an article that is a must
read!  A source for the magnitude of belief that major election malfeasance
occurred in the 2020 election is quoted from this article lower down, with
a couple of other brief excerpts.
---------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

How Donald Trump Could Subvert the 2024 Election - The Atlantic
<https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election/620843/>

January 6 was practice. Donald Trump’s GOP is much better positioned to
subvert the next election.

“The democratic emergency is already here,” Richard L. Hasen, a professor
of law and political science at UC Irvine, told me in late October. Hasen
prides himself on a judicious temperament. Only a year ago he was
cautioning me against hyperbole. Now he speaks matter-of-factly about the
death of our body politic. “We face a serious risk that American democracy
as we know it will come to an end in 2024,” he said, “but urgent action is
not happening.”

For more than a year now, with tacit and explicit support from their
party’s national leaders, state Republican operatives have been building an
apparatus of election theft. Elected officials in Arizona, Texas, Georgia,
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and other states have studied Donald
Trump’s crusade to overturn the 2020 election. They have noted the points
of failure and have taken concrete steps to avoid failure next time. Some
of them have rewritten statutes to seize partisan control of decisions
about which ballots to count and which to discard, which results to certify
and which to reject. They are driving out or stripping power from election
officials who refused to go along with the plot last November, aiming to
replace them with exponents of the Big Lie. They are fine-tuning a legal
argument that purports to allow state legislators to override the choice of
the voters.
--------------------------------------------------------

Here, the opposite happened: the more extreme the sentiments, the greater
the number of respondents who endorsed them. In the June results, just over
8 percent agreed that Biden was illegitimate and that violence was
justified to restore Trump to the White House. That corresponds to 21
million American adults. Pape called them “committed insurrectionists.” (An
unrelated Public Religion Research Institute survey on November 1 found
that an even larger proportion of Americans, 12 percent, believed both that
the election had been stolen from Trump and that “true American patriots
may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”)
On Tue, Mar 8, 2022 at 3:47 PM Roger Hayes <rhayesmoscowid at gmail.com> wrote:

I am writing to you today because I am concerned about 5 bills now pending
> in the House and Senate. They are H441,692,547,439 and S1375. These bills
> are voter suppression and there is no place in a democracy which excludes
> people from their *right* to vote. These bills severely affect the
> elderly, the disabled, people living in rural areas of our district, and
> people living on reservations in our state. Additionally, these bills read
> like they have been authored by out of state interests who have no idea of
> our lifestyles here in Idaho. We are a rural state and often it is
> difficult enough to get to the Post Office on time, particularly if one has
> impediments to travel. As far as I can tell there are no instances of
> voter fraud in Idaho, so I ask why support these awful, antidemocratic
> bills, if you do, and I sincerely hope you don't?
> Respectfully,
> Roger Hayes
> Moscow, Id
> rhayesmoscowid at gmail.com
>
> On Tue, Mar 8, 2022 at 7:13 AM Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>> See below . . .
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>> *From:* League of Women Voters of Idaho <lwvid1944 at gmail.com>
>> *Date:* March 8, 2022 at 7:00:29 AM PST
>> *To:* Susan Ripley <lwvid1944 at gmail.com>
>> *Subject:* *LWV of Idaho Action Alert - PLEASE READ ASAP*
>>
>> 
>>
>> League friends and supporters,
>>
>>
>>
>> We are sending you an Action Alert that lists multiple bills each of
>> which restricts voting for Idahoans.   This Alert is unusual and so is the
>> activity at the capitol.  Your Legislative Watch team is scrambling daily
>> to write and give testimony.
>>
>>
>>
>> Our League’s name and mission requires us to respond in force.  Please
>> add your voice to the organization’s opposition to these bad bills.   AND
>> share the alert with your colleagues that may agree.  The Alert includes
>> hyperlinks to provide additional background and contact listings.
>>
>>
>>
>> Betsy McBride, president
>>
>> League of Women Voters of Idaho
>>
>> bmcbride at ctcweb.net
>>
>>
>> This Action Alert is also included as an attachment to this email.
>>
>>
>> *ACTION ALERT: Election Bills *(*Click on the blue bill numbers to read
>> the bills*)
>>
>> *House Bills:*  *H 441 *(Troy/Souza)
>> <https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2022/legislation/H0441/>*, **H
>> 692 *(Moon/Bayer)
>> <https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2022/legislation/H0692/>*, **H
>> 547* <https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2022/legislation/H0547/>
>> (Moyle)*, **H 693* (Giddings*)*
>> <https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2022/legislation/H0693/>*,*
>>
>> *H 439** (*Okuniewicz/Souza)
>> <https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2022/legislation/H0439/>
>>
>> *Senate Bill:*  *S 1375* (Souza)
>> <https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2022/legislation/S1375/>
>>
>>
>>
>> *Bills’ Status:* These bills are moving very quickly through either the
>> House or Senate State Affairs Committees and then on to either the full
>> House or Senate for debate. If they pass both houses, they go to the
>> governor to sign into law. The only place testimony can be heard is in the
>> committees. (*NOTE:* Bills with an * have an Emergency Clause that makes
>> them enforceable laws *immediately upon passing in both houses & being
>> signed by governor*)
>>
>>
>>
>> *Bill Descriptions:*
>>
>> *H 441:* Prohibits voters in nursing care facilities from choosing who
>> can assist them with their absentee ballot. Requires only a family member
>> or specifically trained volunteers to help voters.
>>
>> *H 692: *Requires married women or others who change names to provide
>> birth certificate and marriage license or name change order to prove
>> citizenship Student ID not accepted. Proof of residency requirements are
>> too restrictive and favor property owners. Removes affidavit process.
>>
>> *H 547*:* A friend could no longer assist a disabled or unable person by
>> carrying a ballot to the elections office or mail receptacle. It is a
>> felony if the ballot is carried by someone other than a family member.
>>
>> *H 693*:* Prohibits drop boxes being used for elections. Forces all
>> absentee ballots to be mailed through the US Postal system. Many voters do
>> not trust the timing of delivery, so prefer to drop off the ballot at their
>> convenience. This is undue inconvenience and affects thousands of rural
>> Idaho voters.
>>
>> *H 439*:* Forbids unaffiliated voters from affiliating with a party on
>> election day. They must affiliate by the last day of candidate filing.
>> NOTE: Over 300,000 unaffiliated voters will have to declare a party by
>> March 11 (this Friday!) to vote in the May primary election.
>>
>> *S 1375**: Requires proof of citizenship to register and vote. Does not
>> allow one to use a single form to request absentee ballots for a whole year
>> of elections. Removes student and military IDs due to citizenship
>> requirement. If you use an affidavit, you must go to the county clerk’s
>> office within 2 days to verify ID.
>>
>> *League position:* *OPPOSE. *The League has worked for over 75 years to
>> protect voting rights. These bills create unnecessary hurdles to
>> register to vote or cast a ballot and are a form of voter suppression. They
>> do not protect voting rights and are clearly intended to discourage or
>> hinder eligible voters from registering and voting.
>>
>> *Take Action:* Write a brief, *immediate* message to your own
>> legislators (Find them here
>> <https://legislature.idaho.gov/legislators/whosmylegislator/>) and also
>> to Governor Little (https://gov.idaho.gov/contact/contact-us/) who has
>> stated his concerns about changing the rules when voters might not be
>> aware of the changes in time for the election.
>>
>> *Suggested message:* Ask your legislators to oppose these bills whenever
>> they come up for a vote in a committee or on the floor. Ask Governor Little
>> to veto these bills if they get to his desk. These bills make voting more
>> difficult. There is no evidence of voter fraud in Idaho and these are
>> unnecessary. Personal stories about how these bills will affect you is
>> extra persuasive.
>> --
>> Susan Ripley
>> Membership Chair
>>
>> lwvid.org
>> facebook.com/lwvidaho
>>
>> =======================================================
>>
>
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