Credit.Illustration by Arsh Raziuddin, Photos via Getty
About two years ago I did something foolish: I wrote an optimistic column arguing that a polarizing issue was ripe for de-escalation and compromise.
The issue was voting rights, where Republicans have long championed voter ID laws as a bulwark against alleged voting fraud, while Democrats have countered that such restrictions unfairly burden many Americans, racial minorities especially, in the exercise of their hard-won right to vote.
The good news, I said back then, was that lots of studies suggest that voter ID laws don’t do either thing. They don’t prevent much (or any) fraud, but they also don’t have much (if any) effect on turnout, for minorities or any other group. So conservatives could stop pushing them, liberals could stop freaking out about them, and without either side losing anything substantial, compromise and conciliation could rule the day.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments on an Arizona case that could further undermine the ability of the Voting Rights Act to protect access to the ballot.
Weeks of demonstrations and a deadly crackdown have roiled the nation since a Feb. 1 coup brought back full military rule following years of quasi-democracy.