Part One: Miles Rapaport
The Case for Universal Voting
Universal civic duty voting would represent a milestone in the two-century-long struggle to expand the franchise.
We discuss the concept of a universal vote in the US. There are other countries that practice this, notably Australia. The idea of voting as a civic duty would enable people to begin to see this as a routine. There would be no advantage to anyone to do voter suppression. While citizens would be required to participate, they could, of course, vote or not vote for a candidate once they are part of the process. The goal at present is to bring it up for discussion, and perhaps introduce as legislation. . This would apply to general elections at the federal level.
Miles Rapoport and E.J. Dionne Jr. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-case-for-universal-voting
Bio: Miles Rapoport, a longtime organizer, policy advocate, and elected official, brings to the Ash Center four decades of experience working to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in the United States. Prior to his appointment to the Ash Center, Rapoport was most recently president of the independent grassroots organization Common Cause. For 13 years, he headed the public policy center Demos.Rapoport previously served as Connecticut’s Secretary of the State and a state legislator for ten years in Hartford. He has written, spoken, and organized widely on issues of American democracy. He was a member of the Harvard class of 1971.Rapoport is the first fellow appointed as part of the Ash Center’s new Senior Practice Fellowship in American Democracy, which seeks to deepen the Center’s engagement on fundamental issues of democratic practice. This new fellowship is also intended to expand the connections between scholarship and the field of practice of people and organizations working to defend and improve our public institutions.
Part two: Steven Rosenfeld: Why Conservatives’ Attempts to Prevent $300 Million in Election Grants From Reaching States Will Fail
In Florida, as in other states. Republicans are attempting to stop individuals’ attempts to enable voting by former felons. They have gone as far as the courts. to attempt to stop it, under various pretexts. As a result of the pandemic, local governments are short of money to support the elections. Private individuals, including Arnold Schwartzenegger, Mark Zuckerberg, and Blumberg have contributed money for this cause.
After federal inaction, Facebook’s founder and his wife stepped in. Now Republicans are suing in three swing states. by Steven Rosenfeld https://billmoyers.com/author/stevenrosenfeld/
bio: Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including America’s retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights, and campaigns and elections. He is the author of Count My Vote: A Citizen HYPERLINK “https://books.google.com/books/about/Count_My_Vote.html?id=UbAbAQAAMAAJ”‘ HYPERLINK “https://books.google.com/books/about/Count_My_Vote.html?id=UbAbAQAAMAAJ”s Guide to Voting (AlterNet Books, 2008), and the co-author of Who Controls Our Schools: How Billionaire-Sponsored Privatization Is Destroying Democracy and the Charter School Industry (AlterNet eBook, 2016)
