The Republican Party Is Driving the Nations Democratic Decline

The most outrageous provision of the Election Integrity Act of 2021, the blanket election bill signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp last week, is one that makes it illegal for anyone except poll workers to directly offer food or water. to the voters lining up. Defenders of the law say this is aimed at stopping the election campaign at the polls; Critics say it is a direct response to the volunteers who helped those Georgians, many of them black, who waited hours to cast their votes in the 2020 presidential election.

Less outrageous but more insidious is a provision that removes the secretary of state from his post as chairman of the State Board of Elections and replaces him with a new nonpartisan member selected by the majority of the Republican-controlled Georgia Legislature. The law also gives the board, and by extension the Legislature, the power to suspend low-performing county election officials and replace them with a single person.

In the background of this "reform" is glimpsed the conflict of current Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger with Donald Trump, who pressured him to subvert the elections and give Trump a victory. What earned him the praise and admiration of Raffesnsperger from Democrats and mainstream observers has seemingly doomed his perspectives within the Republican Party, where "stopping theft" is dogma and Trump remains the rightful president for many. It's not even clear if Raffensperger will take office after he ends his term in 2023; He must fight a primary challenge next year from Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia's 10th Congressional District, an outspoken defender of Trump's attempt to roll back the election.

Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times

This is what it looks like when a political party turns against democracy. He's not just trying to restrict the vote; creates mechanisms to subvert the vote and attempts to purge officials who may get in the way. Georgia is in the spotlight, for reasons past and present, but it's happening across the country where Republicans are in control.

On March 24, for example, Michigan Republicans introduced bills to limit the use of the ballot box to cast ballots, require photo identification for absentee ballots, and allow partisan observers to monitor and record all ballots. seals audits. "Senate Republicans are committed to making it easier to vote and harder to cheat," said State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey in a statement. Shirkey, as you may recall, was one of two Michigan Republican leaders to meet with Trump at his behest after the election. He also described the attack on the Capitol on January 6 as a "hoax."

Republican lawmakers in Arizona, another swing state, have also introduced bills to limit absentee voting in line with the former president's belief that greater access hurts his campaign. One proposal would require identification for mail ballots and shorten the window for mail-in voters to receive and return their ballots. Another bill would remove from the state list those who are automatically mailed a ballot to any voter who did not cast a ballot in "both the primary and general elections for two consecutive primary and general elections."

An Arizona Republican, John Kavanagh, a state representative, gave an idea of ​​the party's intent when he told CNN: "Not everyone wants to vote, and if someone is not interested in voting, that probably means they are not fully informed about the topics". . He "he continued:" The quantity is important, but we also have to look at the quality of the votes. "

In other words, Republicans are using the former president's failed attempt to roll back the election as a guide to how he would change the system to make it possible. In Georgia, as we've seen, that means taking power away from an unreliable supporter and handing it over, in effect, to the party itself. In Pennsylvania, where a state Supreme Court with a Democratic majority unanimously rejected a Republican lawsuit claiming universal vote-by-mail was unconstitutional, it means working to end the state's choice of judges, essentially manipulating the court. In Nebraska, which the Republicans won, it means changing the way the state distributes its electoral votes, from a district-based system in which the Democrats have a chance to win a potentially critical vote, as did Joe Biden and Barack Obama, winner-take-all.