The Republican playbook has always been to imagine a problem that does not exist, swoop in to fix the imaginary problem, and then praise themselves for being the savior. The current imaginary problem is voter fraud, and voter suppression is the “fix.”
Republicans know that a straight-up vote without extraordinary gerrymandering and restrictions would set up losses for their party, especially in national elections.
The voter suppression is playing out in Congress, state legislatures, and the Supreme Court. Like many things the GOP does, it’s a mixture of the ruthlessly shrewd and the stupidly misconceived.
Almost 60 years ago, Alabama Gov. George Wallace famously said in his inauguration speech “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” He followed that up by literally standing in the door of the University of Alabama in order to block two Black students from registering.
Today, the cry of the Republican party is “voter suppression now, voter suppression tomorrow, and voter suppression forever.” And across the country, they are standing in a metaphorical door to stop people from voting.
It’s no accident that this effort of voter suppression especially targets people of color, and that it is coming to a head in Georgia and Arizona, two longtime Republican strongholds. In both, Republicans control state government, but Democrat Joe Biden won both by narrow margins, AND each state now has two Democratic US Senators.
To Republicans, this is proof that the system must be “fixed.” Democrats simply must not be allowed to achieve those kinds of gains.
In Georgia, state Republicans are playing the Jim Crow 2.0 card with a voter suppression effort so sweeping it defies the imagination. Their extraordinary provisions are:
- Limit Sunday voting to one Sunday in each county
- Limit the use of ballot drop boxes.
- Require absentee ballots to contain a driver’s license number, state ID number, or copy of photo ID.
- Make it illegal to give food or drinks to voters waiting in line to vote.
To show what “stupidly ill-conceived” provisions could pass, the bill would make it illegal to go to a polling place where voters are waiting in hours-long lines and give them water – perhaps a metaphor for a “whites only” water fountain.
These changes would make things more difficult for all voters, not just Democrats. For instance, Georgia Republicans are moving to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting — which they themselves passed to make it easier for their own Republican voters to cast ballots.
The results of the 2020 election show the expansion of mail-in voting didn’t necessarily guarantee a Biden win. It helped both parties.
Additionally, “drop boxes” didn’t advantage one party or the other; they offered a way to submit a ballot if there was uncertainty about the reliability of the mail or waiting in line. But once Republicans got it into their heads that “drop boxes” are a Democratic scheme to steal elections, the Republican Party made limiting drop boxes a top priority.
Election expert Richard L. Hasen has reported, “There’s ample reason to believe that expanding voting opportunities doesn’t necessarily help Democrats. It helps voters.” And restricting voting opportunities won’t necessarily help Republicans.
The US Supreme Court recently heard arguments about the constitutionality of two Arizona laws, one that throws out an entire ballot if it was cast at the wrong precinct, and another that bars anyone from turning in ballots on behalf of another person unless it’s a family member.
An attorney for the Arizona Republican Party, Michael Carvin, advised the Supreme Court that provisions that made it easier for eligible Americans to vote “put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats.” In other words, he asked the Court to support laws that make voting more difficult for likely Democratic voters, often people of color, as the difference between winning and losing elections.
Meanwhile, the Democrat-sponsored bill in the U.S. House is House Resolution 1, known as the “For the People Act.” It was passed just this week, and would overhaul government ethics and campaign finance laws, seek to strengthen voting rights by creating automatic voter registration, and expand access to early and absentee voting.
Yes, even as Democrats in Washington are working to help all citizens to vote, Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country continue to “stand in the door” by seeking to restrict voting rights, limit mail-in voting, and impose stricter voter identification requirements.
Interestingly, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has passed HB 574 — an election improvement bill – that keeps many of the temporary improvements from the 2020 elections, including three days of early voting, an online portal to request an absentee ballot, and vote centers if a county wishes to use them.
Republicans in Frankfort have stepped aside from standing in the metaphorical schoolhouse door. For this, they are to be congratulated. And we citizens of the Commonwealth can be thankful.
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