The Flip Side: September 21, 2018

State Battles Won — and Fights Still Unfinished

We’re back! Here’s our latest roundup of the good, the bad, and the ugly in state policy and the fight for progressive values.

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Win: California delivers a political one-two punch to carbon emissions

Last week, the California State Legislature passed a bill promising clean, carbon-free electricity by 2045. That’s big, but not as big as Governor Jerry Brown piggybacking on the legislation with an executive order committing the state to economy-wide carbon neutrality, also by 2045. That’s zero carbon, one hundred percent of the time. Way to go, California!

…but on the flip side, 4,000 low-income Arkansans were just stripped of their Medicaid coverage

Thanks to the state’s new work requirements program, which was championed by the Trump administration. The worst part? These 4,000 people are only the first to go in a series of back-to-back removals. Those who fail to meet a monthly 80-hour minimum for time spent in school, volunteering, or actively searching for work for three consecutive months will be kicked off the Medicaid roll for the rest of the year — and they can’t regain eligibility even if they start meeting requirements.

That means over 5,000 individuals, who are currently at the two-month mark, are expected to lose coverage this October, followed by another 6,174 in November.

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Win: Wisconsin Democrats revive gerrymandering lawsuit after SCOTUS dismissal

Three months after the Supreme Court dismissed Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering case Gill v. Whitford for lack of legal standing, Democrats are coming back with a new round of lawsuits to challenge the state’s electoral maps. Thanks to the maps, which were drawn by the GOP-controlled state legislature in 2011, Republicans won 60 out of 99 state Assembly seats in the last election — despite only winning half of the popular vote.

The goal of the lawsuits is to get a ruling that confirms the unconstitutionality of Wisconsin’s district lines and throws out the existing maps before the 2020 election.

…but on the flip side, Latino voters continue to face electoral disadvantage in Texas

A federal judge in Texas decided that partisanship, not race, explains the dilution of Latino votes in electing judges to the state’s highest courts. Lawyers for the plaintiffs felt otherwise, highlighting the pattern of losses among Latino candidates for the Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals. (An especially eyebrow-raising trend in a state with the second-largest Latino population in the country, at 39%).

Plaintiffs proposed the creation of Latino-majority voting districts, which would give their preferred candidates a better shot in the polls. But the change was denied because the judge found insufficient evidence that voters of color faced race-based discrimination in an elections process that built a mostly white, mostly Republican bench of high-level judges.

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Win: A Florida ballot initiative to restore former felons’ voting rights is gaining traction

Florida is one of a few states to automatically and permanently bar anyone who has committed a felony from voting. For life. In November, Floridians will vote on Amendment Four — a ballot initiative that aims to restore voting rights to people with felony convictions who have completed the terms of their sentence (with the exception of convicted murderers and sex offenders).

Volunteer efforts by the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Second Chances Florida have succeeded in spreading the word across the state. And with added support from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, Florida is on the verge of a historic voting-rights victory.

…but on the flip side, Iowans are struggling to get licensed on the road and, by extension, in the poll booth

In Iowa, it can take multiple trips to the DMV — each with hours-long wait times, plus confusing guidelines surrounding acceptable proof of identification — to get a driver’s license. And a driver’s license is the main form of ID accepted at voting sites throughout the state.

Such a taxing process can deter eligible voters of many stripes: low-income, young, elderly, and people with limited mobility may not be able to make the required multiple trips to DMV stations, while new residents often lack the documentation required to apply.

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