- After Biden’s victory, Republicans across the United States are implementing new restrictions on voting.
- Republican leaders say the proposals are aimed at maintaining voter integrity, although fraud is a rare occurrence.
- Here are some of the voting proposals that are being debated across the country.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
President Joe Biden has been in office for less than two weeks, but in the United States state legislatures, Republicans still recovering from the electoral defeat of former President Donald Trump are developing ways to restrict voting, from the elimination of ballot boxes to the requirement to recognize the identity of absent voting requests.
In 2010, Republicans made historic gains in state legislatures, opening 24 chambers that year, allowing them to control the redistricting process over the past decade. In addition to obtaining dozens of safe seats in the Republican Party Chamber, the party promoted a wave of socially conservative legislation that focused on restricting abortion rights and minimizing the collective bargaining power of public sector unions.
While Biden and Trump won 25 states in the 2020 presidential election, Biden became five states that Trump won in 2016, which included Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district.
These decisive presidential states now house some of the most dramatic electoral proposals that have been presented or presented in the legislature for voting. However, even in states where Trump easily won, including Mississippi and Texas, voting restrictions stand a good chance of passing.
According to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, 106 bills aimed at restricting access to voting have been filed or filed in state legislatures in 28 states, representing an almost three-fold increase over the same period last year. .
The proposed laws ignore overwhelming evidence that electoral fraud is incredibly rare.
Last November, contrary to Trump’s unmasked denunciations of voter irregularities, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the November 2020 election “was the safest in American history”.
Here are some of the voting proposals that are being debated across the country:
Arizona
Since 1952, Republicans have beaten Arizona in every presidential election, except for Bill Clinton’s victory in 1992 and Biden’s victory last year.
Biden beat the state by less than 11,000 votes out of about 3.3 million votes, outperforming Latin voters and even winning over a segment of the state’s Republican voters.
With the support of prominent Republicans, including Cindy McCain, wife of the late Republican Senator John McCain, and former Senator Jeff Flake, Biden took advantage of the independent nature of the state, similar to the campaign strategy of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, who defeated Republican Senator Martha McSally last November.
Read More: Trump tested the Constitution and fragmented traditions. Biden and the Democrats have their own big plans for what to do next.
However, conservative activists vigorously challenged the election results, including Trump, who criticized Republican Governor Doug Ducey for certifying the election results, a normally routine process. Since the Republican Party controls the state legislature in Arizona, a series of restrictive bills are being examined in committees.
According to The Arizona Republic, Republican lawmakers have proposed bills that:
- Allow the legislature to override the results of a presidential election “anytime before the presidential inauguration”
- Give the legislature the power to grant two of the 11 votes of the state’s Electoral College
- Grant the state’s electoral votes by electoral district in place of the current system the winner takes all
- Reduce and / or terminate postal voting
- Limit voting by correspondence to those who cannot physically reach an electoral zone
- Limit polling centers in each county according to population size
- Require postal voting envelopes to be notarized or returned in person
Arizona’s Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, sharply criticized House Bill 2720, introduced by Republican Party Representative Shawnna Bolick and which would allow the legislature to overturn the election results.
“It’s a punch in the face of voters,” she said in an interview with NBC News. “This absolutely, 100%, allows a legislature to shake voters’ will.”
Her too tweeted: “So really, should we just get rid of the presidential election at once? In reality, this is what this project would do.”
Georgia
Georgia was the scene of deep political consternation for the Republican Party. Last November, Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1992. Trump insisted that he won the state for months, asking Republican Party Governor Brian Kemp to overturn the election results and even putting pressure on the Secretary of State Republican Party’s Brad Raffensperger to “find” the approximate 12,000 votes he would need to overcome Biden’s margin of victory.
In the end, Trump caused so much internal political turmoil in the state that Democrats, fresh out of Biden’s victory, had an enthusiastic advantage for two run-off Senate elections that featured the then GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue running against Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively.
Democrat Raphael Warnock addresses his supporters during a rally with Jon Ossoff in Atlanta on the first day of voting in the second round of the Georgia Senate election.
Ben Gray / AP
Warnock and Ossoff won their disputes, handing over Senate control to Democrats and giving the party its strongest anchor in the Deep South in years.
Georgia Republicans, shaken by the losses, now hope to implement additional voting restrictions.
High-ranking state officials, including Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, are supporting a more rigorous voter identification process for absentee voting.
A Republican Party legislator proposed a bill that would require proof of identification, twice, to vote absent.
Last year, House Speaker David Ralston suggested depriving Georgia voters of their ability to choose the secretary of state by putting a measure on the ballot that would allow voters to hand over that responsibility to the Republican-controlled legislature.
Michigan
Michigan voted for all Democratic presidential candidates from 1992 to 2012. When Trump achieved a small turnaround in 2016, Democrats pledged to overcome the Republican Party and win back the Midwest state and its 16 electoral votes.
In 2018, the party had an exceptional year, electing Gretchen Whitmer as governor, Dana Nessel as attorney general and Jocelyn Benson as secretary of state.
Last November, Biden won the state by more than 150,000 votes and a margin of almost 3% (50.6% -47.8%), ensuring a victory in a state that Democrats were thrilled to put back in his column. .
The state legislature is still in the hands of the Republican Party, a prolonged result of the party’s 2010 electoral sweep, but Whitmer also serves as a check on any far-reaching proposals.
Michigan Republican Party Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey told The Detroit News that he would like to improve the archives of qualified state voters and party leaders, including home state Republican National Committee chairman Ronna McDaniel, said last year that the state needed “electoral reform”.
Pennsylvania
With its 20 electoral votes, Pennsylvania has long been a top prize for Democrats, who won the state by combining overwhelming victories in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with growing suburban strength and support from workers in cities like Allentown and Scranton.
Democrats beat Pennsylvania in all presidential elections from 1992 to 2012, but similar to Michigan, Trump caused a small turnaround in 2016.
Biden, who was born in Scranton and represented the neighboring Delaware in the Senate for 36 years, won the state by 50% -49% over Trump last November.
Democrats, eager to take advantage of Biden’s victory, have already focused on the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Pat Toomey in 2022 and the governor’s race to succeed Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, with a limited term, in the same year.
However, Republicans, who have repeatedly tried to reverse the results of the 2020 elections, including millions of votes by mail, are firmly committed to imposing new restrictions.
Currently, there are proposals from the Republican Party on the table to prevent absentee voting without excuse and make it easier for state officials to issue non-signature ballots if the ballot is not fixed within six days after notification, according to the Brennan Center .
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is another key state in the midwestern Democratic presidential election puzzle. After narrow victories in 2000 and 2004, the party easily won the state in 2008 and 2012, before seeing Trump narrowly win the state in 2016.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is portrayed on October 16, 2020.
Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images
After a hard-fought race, Biden won the state over Trump by about 20,000 votes in more than 3.2 million votes cast.
Read More: Trump tested the Constitution and fragmented traditions. Biden and the Democrats have their own big plans for what to do next.
The Trump campaign, enraged because votes in Democratic Milwaukee County put Biden at the top, called for a recount in Milwaukee County and Dane, home of Madison, the state’s liberal capital. Biden’s victory was not only reaffirmed by the recounts, but he won additional votes.
A Republican Party legislator is proposing to allocate eight of the state’s 10 electoral votes by congressional district, starting with the 2024 election, and the party may also seek additional restrictions on absentee voting.
Democratic Governor Tony Evers has the ability to use his veto pen, but he could also be re-elected in 2022.
2nd congressional district of Nebraska
Last year, Biden conquered Nebraska’s congressional district based in Omaha, the first time a Democrat has won the district since Barack Obama in 2008.
The victory was a breakthrough for the otherwise overwhelmingly Republican state party.
Since 1991, Nebraska has granted two electoral votes to the overall winner across the state, with the remaining three votes attributed to the winner in each electoral district.
In 2020, Trump secured four electoral votes against a Biden electoral vote.
A new Republican Party bill introduced in the state legislature would put a system in place the winner takes it all; had it been in place in 2020, Trump would have won all five electoral votes.
The 2nd congressional district contains considerable black and Latino populations, and opponents of the bill argue that the legislation would be detrimental to minority voters.
American Civil Liberties Union Nebraska executive director Danielle Conrad said this in an interview with ABC News.
“You see very clearly that there was a lot of excitement, especially from colored voters in the Omaha metropolitan area, who have been involved in this process in the past election cycles because they have had this significant opportunity,” she said.