Episode 32767: Open Democracy Minute for October 4, 2021 - Delays in the Freedom to Vote Act in the U.S. Senate, NH Redistricting Hearings Tuesday & Thursday

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. First a national update. The For the People Act, now revised as a new bill called the Freedom to Vote Act has been put on the back burner while dealing with the debt ceiling, and while Democrats squabble over the size and scope of the social infrastructure bill.  Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomes this distraction and hopes the clock will run out on the Freedom to Vote Act, which would set minimum standards for U.S elections, modernize voter registration, disclose Dark Money donors, and set up an optional small-donor election funding system for Congressional races. It is increasingly clear that hopes for protecting American Democracy depend on changing or doing away with the archaic filibuster rules.  There are two important state issues as well this week. On Tuesday & Thursday, the NH House & Senate redistricting committees hold hearings in Rockingham and Coos Counties. These will likely be your only opportunities to call for a fair, nonpartisan process, or to call out the committee for its 2011 violations of the NH Constitution which kept 62 towns from getting their own House Districts – 11 of which were in Rockingham County. Then Wednesday, Oct 6, the NH House Election Law Committee takes up retained bills, one of which takes away “domicile” from students living in dorms in the state. The work session starts at 10 AM at the Legislative Office Building in Concord.  As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.”  For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm  Brian Beihl.