I had my rhetorical spring training today.
As the floor leader on death penalty repeal, I will be speaking quite a bit tomorrow and Friday.
Today, I had a little practice.
Our Republican friends were blustering against my legislation to authorize the Attorney General to seek a court injunction if there are reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of our laws against voter suppression is about to occur.
For instance, if word had leaked about the robo calls that urged voters to relax and not go to the polls, a court could have intervened before the dirty trick was perpetrated.
It took me less than a minute to make four points about my bill:
It sanctions conduct, not protected 1st Amendment speech;
There is a similar provision in the federal Voting Rights Act;
An impartial judge must decide that unlawful action is about to take place; and
The House of Delegates has passed this bill before (only to see it die in the Senate).
The bill passed, 91-45.
