The goal of these new provisions is to manufacture fraud where none exists.īy manufacturing fraud, Republicans create controversy that can be exploited after Election Day by Republican candidates who do not prevail. Some of these laws target voters, whereas other provisions are aimed at election workers. Several states, including Georgia, Iowa, Kansas and Texas, have criminalized practices that were previously legal. Since they cannot force voters to commit fraud, they are redefining the term. Republicans learned from 2020 that the absence of virtually any fraud was a stumbling block to their efforts to overturn elections. This misguided effort ignores the fact that voting rules that maximize participation result in fewer disputed outcomes, while complex and restrictive rules create a larger pool of disputed ballots that can be used to justify post-election challenges. It also ignores the reality that presidential elections are not the only ones being targeted for subversion. It ignores the fact that election subversion begins with the rules used for voting and continues through state certification processes. While no one questions that this Act needs reform, the idea that we can fix democracy simply by revising this one law is simplistic and wrong. Specifically, they obsess over the outdated and imprecise Electoral Count Act - the process by which states select and Congress certifies presidential electors. Together they would rival the magnitude of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, yet neither has prospects for success as long as the Senate’s filibuster rule applies.įacing this grim reality, some have begun to urge Congress to ignore voter suppression and focus exclusively on the potential for election subversion in 2024. Colorado, which prides itself on its vote-by-mail law, rejected 29,000 mail-in ballots, two-thirds of which were from voters under the age of 35.Īt the federal level, Democrats have proposed two pieces of significant voting rights legislation, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Virginia requires an ID to vote in person and a witness signature to vote by mail. New York still has many restrictive voting laws, including a ban on providing food and water to people waiting in line at the polls. Where they control state power, Democrats have not expanded voting rights at the same pace as Republicans have restricted them. Meanwhile, Democratic efforts in the states have been more limited. Most recently, they began using their power in the redistricting process to ensure Republicans control the U.S. They created false narratives of election irregularities and rallied their supporters around the Big Lie. They enacted new voter suppression laws optimized to disenfranchise Black, brown and young voters. 6, Republican state legislatures began laying the groundwork for 20. Immediately following the insurrection on Jan. The future of our democracy rests on whether those committed to free and fair elections will prepare as well. While they failed, Republicans learned from the experience and are prepared to try again. In the days following the November 2020 election, Trump and his allies executed a plan to subvert the election results. Too few people paid attention, discounting it as the ravings of a soon-to-be failed candidate. More than a year ago - before Election Day - Donald Trump made clear that he would not accept the results of free and fair elections if he did not win. We are one, maybe two, elections away from a constitutional crisis.
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