There is no more important story in U.S. politics today
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
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We’re writing to you today to ask for your support in our efforts to cover one of the most consequential stories we’ve ever reported: the escalating attack on democracy by the Republican Party.
Last year, as Republicans and right-wing media raged about alleged voter fraud and Donald Trump’s “big lie,” 34 bills across 19 states were passed into law to make it harder to vote. Advocates call it the most sweeping attack on voting rights since Jim Crow.
Yet with Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema standing in the way, congressional Democrats’ push for federal voting rights legislation is set to fail.
Now, emboldened by their success and Democrats’ failure to respond, Republicans are readying an even more extreme series of attacks... on voting rights during this year’s state legislative sessions.
Compounding the danger to our democracy is the crisis in local journalism. Statehouse newsrooms have been gutted, and hundreds of local newspapers have been consolidated into oblivion or shut down entirely.
We can’t afford to let state and local politicians act with impunity just because nobody’s watching. The Intercept’s investigative reporting team is aiming to expand our coverage of state legislatures — and we’re counting on you, our readers, to help make this critical reporting possible.
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The new voting restrictions passed last year include laws that shorten early voting, reduce polling places, purge voter rolls, increase strict voter ID requirements, and even ban giving out water to people waiting in line to vote. This year, a total of 165 bills are already lined up for passage in 2022, and extreme partisan gerrymandering could lock in Republican majorities in Congress for a decade to come.
In addition, Trump loyalists are running for secretary of state and other key state-level positions that oversee elections in which they can challenge or simply throw out any election results they don’t like.
Given the failure of Democrats in Congress to pass nationwide voting rights legislation, the door is now open for Republicans to make it even harder to vote as the 2022 midterm elections approach.
There is no more important story in America today than the threat to our democracy, and The Intercept keeps our website ad-free and accessible to everyone, without a paywall. That’s why we’re asking you to chip in whatever you can to help fund The Intercept’s expanded investigative coverage of the attacks on our democracy.
Thank you,
The Intercept team
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