My update on voting rights and the war on democracy.

It demands our attention and action. [Mother Jones]( MoJo Reader, Hi, I'm Ari Berman, and I'm a senior reporter on Mother Jones' "democracy beat." I've covered voting rights and elections for more than 10 years now, and what we're seeing in Texas and in statehouses across the country right now is the most significant attempt to strip people of their right to vote since before the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. It demands our attention and action. This is a make-or-break moment for American democracy. So when my colleagues asked me to write an update to help bring our readers up to speed, and in doing so, [also ask you to support Mother Jones' journalism with a donation during our fall fundraising drive](, I said of course I'd give it a shot. I get real fired up talking about my work, and that was a big reason I decided to join the team at Mother Jones. I knew I would be able to report deeply about voting and elections 365 days a year, not just when a big contest was coming up. I knew I'd have leadership and support from a top-notch newsroom and that our team's work would reach a passionate audience. I wanted to become a journalist in the first place because of the simple truth that when people find out what's going on, they often want to change it, and that still drives me. I do it at Mother Jones because [being funded by readers like you]( means I can give a damn, too—and not just dispassionately chronicle the brazen attacks on the foundation of our democracy as normal run-of-the-mill news. Because they are not! That's the first big thing worth knowing (and repeating often) about the spate of anti-voting and anti-democracy legislation proliferating across the country. It's not normal "partisan bickering." Voter suppression, extreme gerrymandering, pushing lies about election results, they're all designed to do one thing at any cost: preserve minority rule. Consider: - This year alone, 19 states have passed 33 new laws restricting voting access. - Out of 160 million voters in 2020, only 16 people are facing criminal charges for voter fraud. - Many of the new barriers to voting will have a disparate impact on voters of color. - Republicans could pick up anywhere from six to 13 seats in the House of Representatives—enough to take back control in 2022—through their control of the redistricting process in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas alone. - The Senate is undemocratic: Power is evenly split despite Democrats representing about 42 million more people. A voter in Wyoming has 68 times the voting power as one in California. - A majority of Supreme Court justices have been nominated by Republican presidents who initially lost the popular vote. That's quite the list—and then there's Texas. The extreme and shameful rollback of fundamental rights there is a perfect (if terrible) example of why Republicans invest so much energy into voter suppression: because it allows them to enact cruel, unpopular policies like Texas' extreme abortion ban with no accountability at the ballot box. The GOP doesn't need to have the support of a majority of the state's voters if it skews who actually gets to vote. The way I see it, the most important dividing line in American politics right now isn't between Democrats and Republicans; it's between Republicans and democracy. And journalism that isn't afraid to say that, like ours at MoJo, is one way we can push back against these attacks on the very core of our democracy. Because a big reason these well-funded, well-coordinated measures succeed, despite their fundamentally undemocratic nature, is by trying to fly under the radar. Here's their playbook, in their own words: "In some cases, we actually draft [anti–voting rights bills] for them or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe…We did it quickly and we did it quietly. Honestly, nobody even noticed." That's from the head of Heritage Action, a clearinghouse for conservative legislation, while courting a group of big donors [in an explosive video I obtained earlier this year](. And when we published it for all to see how they talk about their work behind closed doors, people did notice: My story was shared to nearly 50 million people on social media, and the video was watched close to 1 million times. It was enough for the state of Iowa to open an ethics investigation (Heritage Action was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing), and legislators (including Republican ones) asked for more information. And that's another important thing to know about the broader efforts to restrict access to voting: These laws are undeniably being pushed by big-money donors and designed to have "that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe." It's infuriating, but since I'm trying my hand at courting donors today, I hope that scoop is also a small example of the type of [hard-hitting, democracy-protecting journalism you'll be helping make possible with a donation during our fall fundraising drive](. Covering an issue as big and important as free and fair elections—and doing it justice—is about more than any individual story, as galling as many of the recent headlines have been. It's about looking at the forces behind the headlines and reporting on the systemic failures of and threats to American democracy. That's why we call it the democracy beat and have a team of reporters (and editors and fact-checkers and multimedia producers) reporting on it full time. Together, we focus not only on voting rights and voter suppression, but also dark money and who's pulling levers behind the scenes. We cover disinformation and extremism that we all watched turn into an insurrection live on television, because that's what reporting on democracy itself means in 2021. My impressive colleagues on the democracy beat help us tackle it from their areas of expertise: Nathalie Baptiste [broke down]( how the Big Lie about the November election is becoming part of a new Lost Cause. Pema Levy has been digging into [how Facebook became an engine of antidemocratic disinformation](. AJ Vicens and Dan Friedman laid out Russia's "[sprawling effort](" to interfere with the 2020 election. Even well before my time here, Mother Jones' approach to this type of reporting has been spot-on. An investigation from 2010 into the Oath Keepers movement [uncovered a blueprint]( for how radical groups were organizing police and soldiers to take up arms during the Obama years. Early in the 2016 election, our team was [among the first]( (and only) ones digging into how the Trump campaign was [intentionally mainstreaming]( white supremacist memes and ideas. Today, a team led by Mark Follman is [tracking the fallout]( from the Capitol insurrection and investigating the forces getting ready for the next violent attack. [I hope you'll support journalism like that with a donation during our fall fundraising drive](. Being funded primarily by our community of readers means we can do things differently. We can dig deep year-round. We can approach a big complicated issue from angles others won't. And importantly, we have the independence to call it like we see it—a slow-moving coup—without fear or favor. I'll admit, covering this beat can feel grim sometimes. Especially a year out from the 2022 midterms with incredibly high stakes, and with redistricting fights in the states happening right now. But knowing there are so many Mother Jones readers out there, many of whom say voting rights is the biggest issue right now, keeps me and our team motivated. You rely on us to do our jobs, and [we rely on donations from you to do them](. And at the end of the day, I still believe the same thing I did all those years ago: When enough people find out what's going on, they want to get involved to change it. That's what Mother Jones and its community of readers has always been about and why I know we're up for the hard work ahead. We have that "grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe" the big money groups behind these attacks want, because they know people power and the truth are a potent force and always will be. [If you're able to pitch in and help us keep charging hard today, I'd be grateful](. And if you can't right now, I'm glad you look to our reporting to help you make sense of the world and appreciate that you took the time to read this email. Onward, Ari Berman Senior Reporter, Voting Rights Mother Jones [Donate]( P.S. If you recently made a donation, thank you! And please accept our apologies for sending you this reminder—our systems take a little while to catch up. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755