OPINION

BRENDA BLAGG: Worries about the stability of our democracy persist one year after Capitol riots

The new year begins with the nation at a political crossroads.

The one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is upon us. Serious questions loom about preservation of the democracy, including that most basic of democratic principles: the right to vote.

Clearly, people are concerned about how we prevent another Jan. 6, how we hold those responsible to account for the last one and, ultimately, how we move on in this troubled political environment.

For now, most of the investigative work is being done by a U.S. House select committee, which has been questioning -- or trying to question -- participants in and witnesses to the violent attack as well as those with knowledge of planning and funding for the event. The Justice Department is likely doing parallel investigations as the inquiry reaches all the way to the former president.

The concern isn't limited, however, to the politicians or to the legal community. The worry is more widespread than you might think.

It was naturally a common thread in this week's Sunday news programming, but it also showed up in Facebook exchanges among old friends on New Year's Day, who were contemplating how this year will progress, whether the democracy will stand.

A national CBS poll released over the weekend said 68 percent of its respondents consider the violent events of Jan. 6 a sign of more violence to come and that 66 percent of them say democracy itself is threatened.

Worse perhaps is the poll's finding that 62 percent expect violence from the losing side in future elections, a major departure from this nation's history of peaceful transfers of power.

That expectation of violence these days goes back to former President Donald Trump's big lie that he, not Joe Biden, won the 2020 presidential election.

He didn't win, but his lie -- and the propensity of his supporters to believe the lie --undercut the election process and triggered these low expectations in the electorate for future elections.

It led to that wrong-headed decision by the former president to rally his supporters to march on the Capitol a year ago in what proved to be a bloody but unsuccessful try to block certification of the Electoral College vote.

That same lie has also positioned Republican-led legislature in many states, including Arkansas, to alter election laws. The changes are expected to reduce voter turnout and favor Republicans in future elections.

In fact, a lawsuit challenging four Arkansas election laws passed last spring is right now being briefed before the Arkansas Supreme Court. The state last week submitted a brief arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed. The plaintiffs' response is due Jan. 10.

Plaintiffs are the Arkansas League of Women Voters, an immigrant advocacy group and five Arkansas voters, who asserted in their original filing that the new laws will make it harder for poor and minority-group citizens to vote.

They filed the suit in May, calling the new laws "voter suppression laws."

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffin rejected the state's plea to dismiss the case in October.

Lawmakers who sponsored the laws and other advocates contend they strengthen election integrity.

What the Arkansas laws do, in part, is make it more difficult for voters to obtain a provisional ballot at the polls, change how absentee ballots are verified and require absentee ballots to be dropped off in person to the county clerk by the close of business on the Friday before an election.

The Arkansas Supreme Court will decide whether these laws stand or not, unless the Congress finally addresses voting rights and sets a national policy that will protect every voter's voice in elections.

But, that decision, too, at the mercy of divided politics.

Voting rights ought to matter to every member of the House and Senate, if they believe in democracy.

Yet, because of the Senate's filibuster rule, pending legislation to address the issue will require 60 votes.

If the Democrats, with their whisker-thin majority didn't have holdouts, which they do, the Democrats might have mustered a simple majority for the legislation.

But there are holdouts who oppose changing the filibuster rule and the Democrats will otherwise need Republican votes to make up the 10-vote difference to address voting rights.

Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Too many Republicans appear more interested in perpetuating Trump's big lie than in preserving democracy.

But, if it were to happen, that might actually be a significant step away from the unsettled, scary political environment of the day.

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