Episode 32767: Open Democracy Minute for November 29, 2021: While NH Gerrymanders, the federal bill which can stop it is bogged down in the U.S. Senate

Open Democracy Minute

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. While New Hampshire activists gear up to fight the NH GOP-proposed gerrymandered voting districts, the bill in Washington which would end gerrymandering, the Freedom to Vote Act, has been blocked so far by a GOP filibuster in the U.S. Senate. The last attempt to debate it was November 3rd, and since then, other Biden administration priorities have taken the front seat, like infrastructure and now, another round of debt-ceiling negotiations. As a result, there has been an increasing chorus to either end the filibuster, or carve out an exception for Democracy reform. President Biden expressed his support for changes to the filibuster, but so far has not pressured his former colleagues to get on with it and make the changes necessary. With more actions by governors in Texas, Florida and Georgia making voting harder, and blatant gerrymandering proposed in multiple states for voting districts, fixing the filibuster may be the last best hope to avoid a rigging of the elections the likes of which America has not witnessed in the last century. As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.” For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm Brian Beihl. More information is available at OpenDemocracyNH.org