As the founder of Democracy Docket and Elias Law Group, Marc Elias is a nationally recognized authority in voting rights, redistricting and law. In 2020, Marc led the historic legal effort to protect voting rights, winning over 60 lawsuits in 2020 against the GOP’s efforts to suppress the vote. As Republicans continue to mount aggressive challenges to voting, Marc continues to fight back in court and on Twitter. Fighting for democracy by his side is Marc’s Portuguese Water Dog named Bode.
Trump alone cannot move the election, and it is unlikely that Congress will agree to rewrite federal law to change the date. However, that doesn’t mean we can relax our fears about the ways in which COVID may impact the election
Vote by mail is always good policy, but right now it is a critical part of democracy. However, we must ensure that all eligible citizens are given a fair opportunity to cast their ballot and have that ballot count.
Sometimes a suppressive or unfair law remains in place because no one focused on its implication for the rights of voters. And, more often than not, a newly enacted suppressive law copies existing precedent in another state.
Imagine having $20 million and using it to oppose voting rights. That is what the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Trump campaign announced they will do in response to voting rights lawsuits my firm and I filed.
We have an epidemic of uncounted ballots. In every election, hundreds of thousands of voters nationwide are given the right to vote but not the right to have their vote counted. This creates a dangerous illusion of democracy.
Opposing minority voting rights is not the exception in today’s Republican party, it is the rule. It is a feature of what makes the Republican party attractive to its supporters, not a flaw the party wants to fix.
We must continue to bring cases. We must continue to do everything we can do to make the legal system work for justice for all. We will now have to do so without the hope of Justice Kennedy, but we cannot not give up.
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