Ostenibly democratic republic

The right to be let alone, wrote Justice Louis D. Brandeis in his 1928 dissent in Olmstead v. United States, is “the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” Perhaps up there with the right to privacy in our ostensibly democratic republic (ODR) is the right to vote.

To secure that right now under attack from multiple quarters in our ODR, Democrats in the U.S. Senate hope to pass a trimmed-back version of the Freedom to Vote Act. The act, says the Center for American Progress, would “set nationwide voting standards to help counteract anti-democratic laws passed by legislatures in at least 17 states” driven by “partisan, conspiracy-minded election officials [that] could sabotage legitimate election results.” CAP offers background I don’t need to repeat here, but here is the gist of what it would do:

The Freedom to Vote Act has four principal pillars:

1. 1. It would set national standards to protect and expand the right to vote.
   2. It would help protect the integrity of elections and make it harder for partisan officials to subvert valid election results.
   3. It would prohibit partisan gerrymandering and empower courts to invalidate overly partisan maps, an urgently needed change given that many states have already begun their 10-year redistricting process.
   4. It would reduce the power of big money in elections by, for example, shining a bright light on so-called dark money campaign spending and implementing a cutting-edge voluntary small-donor public financing system for House elections.

It turns out that those things are pretty popular in this ODR. So says recent polling by Navigator Research:

The polling indicates that while solid majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents believe their votes make a difference in elections, roughly a third of Republicans and independents disagree.

Three in Four Agree Their Vote Can Make a Difference and Have an Impact in Elections

Democrats are significantly more likely to feel that their vote can make a difference and have an impact in elections than independents or Republicans.

While Two in Three Are Confident In Past and Future Ballots Being Counted, Most Republicans Disagree

Among independents, three in five say they are confident their past ballots were counted correctly and believe the same of future ballots; only two in five Republicans say the same of each.

That carefully GOP-cultivated lack of faith in elections is perhaps why Republicans seem less invested in free and fair elections in the first place. Because why take chances on losing?

Half of Americans Have Heard of the Freedom to Vote Act and a Majority Support It

More than half of Americans support the Freedom to Vote Act, though a third initially say they are “not sure” without description of the legislation.

Most Americans Support the Freedom to Vote Act With or Without Partisan Cues

The difference, however, is driven mostly by Republicans (25% support with Biden, 41% without).

Michael Feinstein and Howie Hawkins complain at Truthout that, as written, the Freedom to Vote Act would terminate the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, matching moneys third parties such as the Greens rely on for getting their voices heard. The pair want the bill passed with the public finance preserved.

That quibble is likely academic since there is little chance of the bill’s passage through the Senate. “I don’t think the Republicans here are interested in short-circuiting what their brothers and sisters are doing in statehouses across the country,” Sen. Angus King (I) of Maine told reporters last week.

In this ODR, what the majority wants is no longer operative. Our window for fixing that is closing before our eyes.