Voting rights come up in a Democratic debate after years of silence
Towards the end of Wednesday evening’s Democratic debate in Atlanta, moderator Rachel Maddow did something historic: she asked the candidates on stage a question about voting rights.
There hadn’t been a single question about voting rights during any of the four Democratic debates in 2019. Nor were there any in the 25 presidential debates in 2016 cycle, according to the Nation. The omission was glaring, especially as Democrats held debates in Florida, Michigan, Texas, Ohio and Georgia – all states with brutal fights over voting rights – and as voter suppression emerged as a top political issue for the Democratic party. One that could determine who is president next year.
The question on Wednesday evening came after Cory Booker connected a question about Georgia’s controversial abortion law to voter suppression. He noted that voter suppression made it possible for lawmakers to pass a bill, like a restrictive abortion law, even if it was vastly unpopular with voters.
Booker said: “When you suppress people’s votes to get elected, those are the very people you’re going to come after when you’re in office. And this bill opposed by over 70% – the heartbeat bill here [was] opposed by over 70% of Georgians – is the result from voter suppression.” The comment prompted Maddow to segue into a question, submitted by a viewer, about voting rights. After noting that states have vastly different policies on early voting, polling place locations and other voting measures, Maddow asked Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, what he would do to improve voter access.
“What will you do at the executive level to ensure that every American has equal access to the ballot box?” Maddow asked.
It was especially significant that the question came up during a debate in Georgia. Last year, voter suppression emerged as a core issue in the governor’s race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp.
At the time, Kemp was the state’s top election official, and Abrams and other Democrats accused him of aggressively removing people from the voter rolls and putting them through bureaucratic hurdles in order for him to win the governor’s race. Abrams and many of the 2020 Democrats maintain that voter suppression cost them the gubernatorial election.
In his response, Buttigieg didn’t directly say what executive measures he would take, but addressed a range of reforms to support voter access.
“We know that with the White House in the right hands, we can make, for example, election day a federal holiday,” he said. “We can use carrots and sticks to induce states to do the right thing with automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, making it easier for people to vote and, in particular, recognizing that we cannot allow the kind of racially motivated or partisan voter suppression or gerrymandering that often dictates the outcome of elections before the voting even begins.”
The reforms Buttigieg listed have all been widely embraced by Democrats and were included in a package of voting reforms House Democrats introduced in their first piece of legislation earlier this year.
Amy Klobuchar, who also called for ending gerrymandering and voter purges earlier in the debate added she had sponsored several bills in the Senate to reform voting laws. Tulsi Gabbard also said “voting rights are essential for our democracy. Securing our elections is essential for our democracy.”
Abrams praised the attention to voting rights in a tweet after the debate and thanked the moderators for finally asking the question.