Resist Voter Suppression

This week we’re going to zero in on one story that tells you all you need to know about the stakes in the 2024 election. In the full scope of things, one might argue that we need more than one event. Perhaps. But hear us out anyway.

The story starts with a 6 a.m. hard knock at the door in Texas. The residence is that of an 87-year-old grandmother, Lydia Martinez. She happened to be up, still in her nightgown, watering her plants.

On the other side of the knock were armed police and other agents of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a far-right, thuggish advocate of voter suppression and other reactionary MAGA measures. They surrounded Ms. Martinez, and for the next three hours, ransacked her home, seizing electronic devices and documents. ‘They even went through all my underwear,’ she noted.

Why Ms. Martinez? She happens to be a leader of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. It’s the oldest and most influential advocacy organization for Chicanos and other Spanish-speaking residents in the U.S. LULAC mainly does voter registration of citizens and helps everyone with legal assistance regarding immigration and the path to citizenship. You can think of them as the NAACP for this population. So imagine if raids of this type came down on the NAACP leaders in your county or city. We may not even need our imaginations as the weeks unfold.

The Paxton ‘election police’ also raided several other homes. Foremost was that of Manuel Medina, chair of Tejano Democrats. His home was forcibly entered while he, his wife, and two young daughters were still in bed. Again, his home was ransacked, seizing 65 cell phones and 41 computers. Medina used his home for phone-banking and building up voter ID databases, a practice common to nearly all local Democrats across the country working is a serious way to maximize voter turnout.

But Ken Paxton stands in opposition to maximizing voter turnout. He can read Texas demographics as well as anyone, and the trends show the prospects of increasing Democratic victories. His solution? Suppress the vote, by any means necessary, including surrounding 87-year-old grandmothers with armed thugs.

Paxton’s raids are a clear and present attack on the self-determination of Chicanos in all of the Southwest. They a also a threat to the rights of everyone. His excuses for the raids—false papers, illegal SS numbers—are baseless. But he’s sending a wider message to all MAGA Republicans everywhere. Get busy on driving down voter registration and voter turnout in all areas with populations that might lean Democratic.

So, the moral of this story is a simple one. One side in or current electoral contest wants to win by using lies, intimidation, and even armed thugs in the early morning raids to reduce voter turnout and participation. The other side wants to win by expanding the electorate and working to increase registration. They are urging the greatest number of legal voters to cast their ballots and take part in the political progress at the grassroots. 

Our task? Stand up against any all voter suppression thugs, with or without badges. And stand with all grandmothers working to enhance the political power of those held down by exclusion.

Carl Davidson.

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