Last night's election results were a good illustration why the Republican Party is trying so desperately to push forward on voter suppression tactics. The incredible overreach from the party is coming back to haunt them in a big way. Last night gave us a glimpse of that.
Union busting bills went down. The architect of the Arizona immigration was recalled. In Maine voters rejected the end of same day voter registration at the hands of Republicans, just to name a few.
It will be interesting to see what this all means for Florida, where we currently have a Governor who so far sees overreach as a job description, and an out of control Republican legislature equally as bold.
This is not to say there isn't some push back. Democrats in Florida are seeking an investigation into the new restrictive Florida voting laws put in place by those very same Republicans in addition to others. Florida Reps. Alcee Hastings, Corrine Brown, Ted Deutch, Frederica Wilson and Kathy Castor have joined other members of Congress in a letter asking for the House investigation. You can read the letter here.
Sen. Bill Nelson has also asked the Justice Department to investigate voter suppression efforts.
In other news, the Republican War on Women scored a big win when Mississippi personhood went down in flames, which unfortunately won't stop the movement in Florida. The head of the group, Personhood Florida, says he is undeterred from his goal in spite of the loss in Mississippi. The fetal personhood amendments would not only define personhood as the moment of conception, but could make miscarriages a crime and outlaw contraception, and even target in vitro fertilization.
Chair of the DNC, Florida's Debbie Wasserman Schultz said last night that yesterday's election results may give hope to Democrats in Florida.
We can only hope she's right.
