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Leigh Finke, Opinion contributor Published 5:00 a.m. ET Sept. 14, 2020 | Updated 10:42 a.m. ET Sept. 14, 2020

LGBTQ rights have come a long way in the U.S. But the community still faces threats in the form of legalization, discrimination and even violence. USA TODAY

Making a 2020 wedge issue out of transgender lives ignores the real lesson of 2004: Republicans cant stop human empathy, no matter how hard they try.

At this very moment, there is a man sitting in a room deploying a strategy to re-elect the current president based on the belief that it is unacceptable for me, a transgender woman in middle America, to exist. According to this man, the extension of basic human rights to transgender people specifically transgender children and youth is so self-evidently repugnant, that posing the question of our humanity will swing voters away from Joe Biden and towards Donald Trump.

This isnt hyperbole or conjecture. This mans name is Terry Schilling. He runs the American Principles Project in Virginia. Hes already been profiled in a Politico feature that centers on this very strategy. Schilling, the piece reports, is in the process of rolling out a campaign, starting in Michigan, targeting Biden and Democrats for supporting transgender youth.

Schilling and his supporters want to make transgender rights a kitchen table issue in this election. He believes that opposition to transgender rights for young people should define the Republican Party going forward.

We heard Cissie Graham Lynchdeploy this strategy at the Republican National Convention. Graham Lynch misgendered transgender students, falsely claimed that Democrats pressured schools to change their policiesand argued that trans youth were a risk to schools and students, despite no evidence to support such a claim.

This is very scary, Ill admit. As Schilling moves forward with his national strategy, voters are going to hear a lot of anti-transgender messages that are harmful, cruel, and just factually inaccurate.

The facts on transgender youth are known and accepted by medical and psychological experts: Gender affirming health carefor transgender and non-binary youth saves lives. Full stop. Familial acceptanceand transitional health careare the foundational building blocks of a happy and fulfilling future. Transgender affirming care harms no one. It saves lives. These are not opinions. These are facts.

Leigh Finke on April 16, 2020.(Photo: Family photo)

Also true: transgender people, especially transgender women and girls of color, are among the most vulnerablepopulations in the United States. The countryhas lost at least 28 transgender people (that we know about) to violence so far this year already surpassing last year's horrific record of violence.The Trump administration has spent the last four years weaponizing the departments ofDefense, Health and Human Services, Housing and Educationagainst transgender people seeking to serve their country, requesting health care and a safe place to sleep and go to school.

LGBTQ+ leaders: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the most pro-equality ticket in US history

Politically exploiting transgender youth for electoral purposes makes it more dangerous to be transgender. Ad campaigns designed to demonize usencourage violenceand puts transgender lives at greater risk. Unfortunately, there are many people in this nation (like, our president and his family) that appear more than willing to make us casualties in their war for more power.

Culture war fights based on LGBTQ+ rights are not new in a presidential campaign, of course. It does feel like the stakes this time seem higher than ever (I am trans, after all), but campaigns based on weaponizing the fear of queer people have a pretty recent history, and we can all learn from that history as we embark on the next twovery awful months.

In 2004, PresidentGeorge W. Bush narrowly defeated Sen.John Kerry in part by embracing a strategy of fear-mongering about the dire consequences of marriage equality. Bushcalled for a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage, and conservatives in 13 states put such bans on their November ballots.

The idea was to help boost turnout by so-called family values voters. And it worked. Sort of.

All 13 ballot initiatives passed, its true. And Bush did squeak out another term. But ask yourself: Was that second term for George Bush really worth it? Are the voters who were persuaded by the threat of marriage equality better off because of the failed leadership of the Bush administration and all the calamitous results he brought us, including the worst economic recession since the Great Depression?Oh, and before you answer, dont forget Republicans actually lost that culture war a decade later when marriage was legalized nationwideand none those dire consequences actually happened.

More: Don't let Trump hide brutal LGBTQ record behind 'religious freedom' rhetoric in 2020 race

The anti-campaign we are seeing is making the same bet in 2020. Terry Schilling and his ilk are using the same scare tactics to exploit vulnerable lives in an attempt to re-elect I cant believe I have to write this another failed president who led us into the new worst recession since the Great Depression.

Making a wedge issue out of our lives ignores the real lesson of 2004, which is that the Republican Party cant stop human empathy, no matter how hard they try. In 2004, 31% of Americans supported marriage equality, and their culture war campaign worked. Today, only 31% of Americans oppose marriage equality. It is the majority opinion in the United Statesthat the Republican Party was wrong in 2004. Transgender rights are following in the wake of the marriage equality fight. No matter how hard you wedge us into your campaign, youre wrong, and whether its this year, or next, Americans will realize it.

Campaigning against the rights of transgender people especially transgender children and youth should be seen for what it is: hateful, bigoted, and wrong. Dont fall for it.

Leigh Finke is an author and filmmaker from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her book, "Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christians," came out August 25. Follow her on Twitter:@leighfinke

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Transgender scare tactics are back on the Republican agenda. Here's why they won't work. - USA TODAY

As the dust settles on the New Hampshire state primary Sept. 8 the first test of voting in the time of the pandemic many elections officials have declared an operational success with record-setting numbers of voters coming to the polls and sending in absentee ballots.

Towns and cities are now working to ramp up their operations ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election, which is expected to see an even bigger surge in live and absentee voting.

In the meantime, the Secretary of States office has released data on how the Granite States COVID-19 voting trial turned out. Here are some of the takeaways from Tuesdays vote totals.

One question thats been answered: The college town vote remains strong despite the virus. Amid uncertainty from some progressive groups over how the pandemic would affect turnout and how many people would stay home from college and vote in their state, college towns in many cases saw their highest turnouts in the past four years.

Hanover, for example, received 2,394 votes for the Democratic ballot a 70% increase compared to 2018, when 1,406 people voted.

Durham and Keene set modest increases over 2018s record, but both were way up for the 2016 state primary. Where 993 people voted in Durham in September 2016, 2,273 voted last Tuesday.

The reasons for the swell in Democratic enthusiasm are likely nationally driven; interest in the presidential election appears to have grown significantly. According to the numbers, that surge has, for now, survived a pandemic.

Cultural divisions between the two American political parties have only increased in the last 10 years. Now, they even vote differently.

On Tuesday, New Hampshire Democrats took to absentee voting far more than Republicans, the numbers show.

Of the 147,695 Republicans who voted in total, only 16% voted absentee or 23,671 in all. The other 124,024 Republicans showed up to the polls in person.

The Democrats, in comparison, had 42.6% out of 156,976 voters send in absentee ballots a total of 66,651.

Still, neither party saw a majority of its voters voting absentee.

However, the total votes cast 304,671 beat the record for a state primary, which was set in 2018. The total number of absentee votes 90,322 was also easily record-setting, Gardner said.

The partisan differences between voting in person versus absentee played out at the county level, in most cases. In Merrimack County, for example, 41% of Democrats voted absentee, versus 15.1% of Republicans.

In Hillsborough county, the split was 43% of Democrats voting absentee to 15.8%, respectively.

But in other counties Democrats were more evenly divided with the divide between in-person and absentee ballot voters hovering around 50-50 in Grafton and Carroll counties for instance.

Overall, Republicans were more united in their preferences. In every county, a strong majority favored going in person.

The grand New Hampshire tradition of crossing party lines on a general election ballot to mix and match the politicians you like is alive and well. Granite State political history is brimming with examples of voters sending a Republican to the governorship but a Democrat to the mayors office or Congress.

But this year its happening in the primaries, too. According to data released by the Secretary of States office, a high number of voters who picked up a Democratic ballot and voted for Democratic candidates decided to write in Republican Gov. Chris Sununus name in the race for governor, rather than choosing Democrats Dan Feltes or Andru Volinsky.

In total, 4,276 Democratic voters opted for Gov. Sununu on the ballots around 3% of the vote. And around 14,600 voters pulled a Democratic ballot but did not vote for governor at all.

The effect was present on the other side too, but to a lesser extent. Of the 147,695 Republican voters, 133 wrote in Dan Feltes.

The dynamic is an example of the challenges that Feltes faces as he revs up his campaign operation for November: With a well-known governor with high ratings for his coronavirus response still in office, getting independents and even some Democrats on board could be harder than it looks.

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Democrats turned out at three times the rate of Republicans in last week's primary - Concord Monitor

close up of political voting pins for 2020 election on white(Photo: liveslow, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

MUNCIE, Ind. With the election rapidly approaching and the COVID-19 pandemic still in full swing, the usualcircuit of forums and debates associated with an election year have gone virtual.

COVID-19 continues to be a barrier for citizens to meet safely in large gatheringsand for candidates tocampaign like during a normal election.

To combat this, several community partners have created the Community Candidate Forum Series,a lineup ofvirtualforums that will serve as anopportunityfor candidatesrunning for local, state and federal officeto answer moderated questions alongside theiropponentsfor the election.

Eachvirtualforumwill beconductedvia Zoom video conferencing and broadcast via Facebook, as well as on The Star Press website.

Community partners that made the event possible include the Bowen Center for Public Affairs atBall State University, Citizens of Delaware County for Good Government, League of Women Voters of Muncie-Delaware County, Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, Muncie Action Plan, Muncie Resists, NAACP Muncie Branchand Shafer Leadership Academy.

All forumswill be moderated by Ball State University'sChip Taylor with theBowen Center for Public Affairs. Taylor has moderated several political forums in previous elections.

Forums for specific races will be on the following nights:

The problem for the forums is there are several campaigns, primarily Republican candidates, who have declined to participate.

Here is who is, and isn't, attending each forum, according to forum organizers:

Commissioner candidates

Delaware County Council candidates

State Representative candidates

6th District Congressional Candidates

Victor Whitehead, the local Republican Party chairman, told The Star Press on Monday that he had not instructed candidates not to attend the forums.

In order to learn more about the debateand submit questions for consideration by the moderators, visitcommunitycandidateforums.com.

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Local election forums begin Tuesday, but without some Republican candidates - The Star Press

A Save U.S. Postal Service rally in front of the U.S. Post Office in Santa Ana, California.

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images

About a month ago, we laid out five ways that Republicans are making it harder to vote and more generally undermining the electoral process in 2020. We focused on Republicans for two reasons. First, making it harder to vote is a more controversial and anti-democratic goal than making it easier to vote, as Democrats are aiming to do. And second, President Trump is playing a central role in these voting wars. Trump has publicly said that he is opposed to efforts in many states to make absentee voting and voting by mail (the two are functionally the same thing) available to virtually anyone who wants to vote that way. He has also suggested that higher overall voter turnout would make it harder for Republicans to win elections.

Over the last month, with the election approaching, Republican officials from county-level election administrators to the president himself have in some ways escalated their use of these tactics. So heres an update on those efforts to complicate the voting process and oppose moves that would make it easier. These five categories, which we used in the last article, are generally ordered from least alarming to most alarming. (There is no formal system tracking every lawsuit concerning voting and the electoral process in all 50 states, so this article is based on our informal tracking, which means we might have missed a key development in a state or two.) Heres whats happening:

This is different from the prior category (and more concerning) because in these instances Republicans are seeking to overturn decisions already made to ease the voting process.

There are plenty of Republican officials, even in some of the states listed above, taking steps to make it easier to vote. Texas, for example, increased the number of days in which early voting is available. So its not that all Republicans are trying to complicate the voting process. Rather, most of the officials trying to complicate the voting process are Republicans. Also, Republicans arent the only people filing a lot of lawsuits and pushing a lot of changes to the voting system its just that Democrats extensive legal efforts are generally pushing to make it easier to vote.

So the most surprising aspect of the voting process is what we have laid out here: One party seems to be systemically making it harder to vote and taking other steps that undermine the integrity of the electoral process. The big question is whether these tactics will work, either by keeping anti-Trump ballots from being cast or counted, or by throwing the election results (whatever they end up being) into doubt.

Go here to read the rest:
The Latest On Republican Efforts To Make It Harder To Vote - FiveThirtyEight

In a Sept. 8 letter, Trump dishonestly claims GOP is still Lincolns party, the writer correctly points out that during the debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858, Lincoln clearly stated that he thought Black people were inferior to white people. Nevertheless, Lincoln always believed that they should not be enslaved, and he was against the expansion of slavery and wished that it would eventually be abolished.

Then came the Civil War and Lincolns views toward Black people gradually grew more liberal. During the war there was another man by the name of Douglass who Lincoln came to know. The mans first name was Frederick and he was one of the leading abolitionists in the country. In 1865, the president met with Douglass and told him that there is no man in the country whose opinion I value more than yours.

Now the question becomes: Which man should the modern-day Republicans claim as their own? Should it be the Lincoln of 1858, or should it be the Lincoln of 1865? Even better, perhaps Republicans should claim that they are the party of Frederick Douglass. After all, Douglass, like Lincoln, was a Republican.

Neil Schechter St. Louis County

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Letter: Which Lincoln do Republicans want to be in the future? - STLtoday.com