Saturday: As Trump Menaces Elections, SB Indivisible Sponsors Voting Rights Protest to Honor John Lewis
The rally focuses on one of the crucial issues to which the civil rights icon devoted his life: the basic right to free and fair elections.
This just in: Our friends at Indivisible Santa Barbara invite community members to join a nonviolent, grassroots rally on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., on the beach side of Cabrillo Boulevard on both sides of the Dolphin Fountain.
The protest is part of a national “Good Trouble Lives On” Weekend of Action honoring the late Rep. John Lewis, focused on the civil rights icon’s call to “Teach, Reach, Preach” in defense of voting rights and mobilizing voters.
The event comes at a time when Donald Trump — fearful of a Democratic takeover of Congress in the midterms that would hold him accountable for the corruption, cruelty and chaos of his administration — has escalated his long-running attack on free and fair elections.
On Thursday, Trump delivered an Oval Office address aimed at ginning up distrust about the Nov. 3 elections and seeking last-minute congressional support for his failed efforts to clamp federal restrictions on the constitutionally ensured rights of states to conduct elections. Prominent pro-democracy writer Robert Hubbell, succinctly describing it as “a nothingburger speech,” put it this way:
The speech consisted of old lies delivered in a low-testosterone manner that showed even Trump doesn’t believe the B.S. he is peddling. You shouldn’t believe it, either.
That said, Trump has been peddling election lies since his 2020 defeat, and there’s no reason to think he plans to stop his efforts to interfere with and undermine public trust anytime soon, as Robert Reich explained in a recent analysis deconstructing MAGA’s six-part strategy.
In the 108 days before the midterms, it is crucial for those who oppose Trump’s authoritarian project to push back on multiple fronts, including Saturday’s rally.
I was a poll worker for several elections here in SB and never heard of even one instance of voter fraud or that anyone had ever been investigated or prosecuted for it. But never, not even one vote fraud case. So, I'm interested, when you say you've seen a lot of fraud, I'm wondering if you saw it on Fox news and not in the real world?
I think requiring a Voter ID is a fair and smart idea. Yes, it's easier for me to vote by mail, but I've seen a lot of fraud with that, and I don't mind going in person with my license to fix this broken system. The SAVE Act will be a much fairer and a more secure system for all citizens.