Truthout contributors Victoria Collier and former Vermont State Sen. Ben-Zion Ptashnik talk about the Republican agenda to rig voting systems and suppress democracy.
The 2014-midterm elections in the US were, in a way, a replay of the 2010 shellacking Democrats got four years ago. In so-called off-year with no Presidential elections, the party that does not control the White House usually picks up seats in both houses of Congress. And so it goes with the Republican majorities that will be in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2015. Clearly, the Republican base was motivated to vote in this recent election – and the coalition who voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012 didn’t go to the polls in the numbers needed to thwart a Republican takeover of the Senate. However, what happened in this recent election was also part of a GOP agenda to suppress the vote of groups who tend to support progressive policies. Through voter ID laws specifically targeted at progressive voters, vote rigging of computerized voting systems, and gerrymandering districts to favor GOP candidates, the right and Republicans have created barriers for democratic participation aimed at shutting out progressives, liberals, Democrats, and those who generally favor a left-leaning political point of view. Truthout Contributors Victoria Collier and Ben-Zion Ptashnik have written extensively on voter suppression efforts by the right and expand on their work in this Truthout Interviews.
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