Without Voting Rights Act, need for protections returns
In the Louisiana v. Callais decision, Justice Samuel Alito said the “racial gap in voter registration and turnout has largely disappeared.” This is part of his rationale for finding no need for a major portion of the Voting Rights Act. He chose to ignore the obvious. i.e., that the Voting Rights Act is the reason this gap has been diminished.
Without the protections of this act, there is the very real possibility — perhaps probability — that the gap will return. Alito’s rationale makes as much sense as stopping requiring seat belts in cars because traffic fatalities are down. If we had legislators who put democracy over party, they would not use this decision as an opportunity to diminish voting rights. Sadly, that does not seem to be the case.
LARRY AUERBACH, ATLANTA
Gerrymandering is about power — for both parties
Greg Bluestein’s reporting in Sunday’s AJC nails why Georgia Republicans want to redraw the congressional and legislative maps: opportunity. They hold the power, so they’re using it. Fair enough.
What the coverage leaves out is why Democrats are furious. It isn’t grief for democracy. It’s grief over a lost opportunity of their own — the chance to draw lines that reserve seats by race to their benefit, an option the Supreme Court has just narrowed.
Strip away the slogans, and it’s the same motive on both sides: power. Only the packaging differs. Where Democrats can gerrymander, they do it joyfully and call it good government. Where they can’t, they reach for the old favorites — “voting rights,” “civil rights emergency,” “erosion of democracy.”
I work the polls in Fulton County, on a diverse team whose only job is to provide a great experience for every voter. Race never enters the room. Every Georgian has the right to vote — but not the right to a guaranteed representative of their own race. That’s a set-aside, not a right.
Both parties gerrymander. Only one pretends it’s a moral crusade.
PAUL MILLER, ALPHARETTA
What’s taking the FBI so long?
I am pretty surprised that “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker ran into the same wall as other “liberal” journalists. Challenging President Donald Trump regarding evidence of election fraud is a losing proposition. He just shuts down the interview.
Better questions are “When will the FBI reveal their findings from their seizure of the Fulton County ballots?” and “Has the FBI provided you with any preliminary findings?” and “When will the FBI release their findings?” Audits of the results of the 2020 election for all of Georgia were completed far faster.
Let’s put this to rest before the Fourth of July so we can really celebrate our freedom.
BOB ROSEN, DUNWOODY
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