ballots confidentially. they are not to be questioned about for whom they voted or why. certainly in the polling place. and they should be firm about that. look, you step back. it s clearly to me i think to most people and to most republicans that at the national level, the party is out of ideas. they ve concluded that the only way they can win is by cheating. and that s what all these voter suppression laws are about. that s what the hyperpartisan gerrymandering is about, it s about all the money flooding into politics has been about and what the big lie is about. and i think there need to be two responses to this. one is we do need action by the congress, and i hope we get a chance to talk about that. but we need to be organizing at
role and the people have theirs. first of all, the congress have a couple of proposals in front of them right now. the john lewis voting restoration act is one. there s also a bill that would end the flood of money into politics, so much of it dark and curb the hyperpartisan gerrymandering. there was an effort in the senate that senator manchin led to try to get a compromise bill. it was a pretty good bill, actually, and it was brought up for a procedural vote just recently, and after all that work to bring all those republicans along with the 50 democrats, it failed to move forward. and i think that ought to teach us all something, not least of which senator manchin, who s a friend of mine and whom i respect. and that is we need changes in the senate rules, and in the
end the, you know, flood of money into politics, so much of it dark, and curb the hyperpartisan gerrymandering. there was an effort in the senate that senator manchin led to try to get a compromise bill. it was a pretty good bill actually, and it was brought up for a procedural vote just recently. and after all that work to bring all those republicans along with the 50 democrats, it failed to move forward. and i think that ought to teach us all something, not least of which senator manchin, who is a friend of mine and whom i respect. and that is we need changes in the senate rules, in the filibuster in particular, when democracy itself is under question. well, we ll see if he is listening to his friend. former massachusetts governor deval patrick, thank you so much for being here tonight, helping us talk through some of these
republicans, that at the national level, the party is out of ideas. and so they ve concluded that the only way they can win is by cheating, and that s what all these voter suppression laws are about. that s what the hyperpartisan gerrymandering that will happen in redistricting in many locations is about. it s what all the money flooding into politics has been about. and it s what the big lie is about. and so i think there need to be two responses to this. one is we do need action by the congress, and i hope we get a chance to talk about that. but we also need to be organizing through local groups at the grassroots, encouraging voters to stay engaged not just in time for elections, and that s something else we re working on. in terms of the piece about cheating, i think it s an interesting term to use in this context. do you think voters see these voter suppression laws, the partisan gerrymandering and the