State Republicans have in recent weeks put forward a series of proposals that would restrict access to the polls, a measure that voting rights experts have warned would happen after President Joe Biden’s victory.
State lawmakers are considering more than 100 laws that would make it more difficult to vote, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. That number represents almost three times the number of equally restrictive bills under consideration last year, according to the analysis.
These bills, underway in 28 states, seek primarily to limit access to voting by mail, add voter identification requirements and make it more difficult to enter or remain on the electoral lists, according to the Brennan Center. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there are almost 2,000 bills passing through state legislatures with the aim of addressing issues related to elections in general.
The postal vote proved to be the key to Biden’s victory, as more Democrats than Republicans adopted the method, rather than meeting at the polls as an uncontrolled pandemic grew. Experts attributed this division to then-President Donald Trump’s relentless effort to sow doubts about the integrity of the 2020 race with false claims that postal voting is inherently fraudulent and calls on his supporters to vote in person.
Republicans have now focused on postal voting for new restrictions and reversals, in some cases targeting laws that the Republican Party had defended years before the pandemic.
Republican National Committee Chair, Ronna McDaniel told Fox News recently that reversing pandemic changes in elections, such as expanded postal voting, was “an absolutely important effort” for the party. She added that the RNC would be “playing a very important role” in efforts to clear voter lists. Trump has falsely claimed that thousands of dead have voted in Georgia and, while maintaining lists is a normal part of elections, experts warn that the purging of voter lists that some Republicans have defended in the past is very aggressive, removing eligible voters from the books.
Conservative supporters of these laws say they will make elections more secure. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the American elections, although there is a large body of evidence that the American elections are protected from hackers and fraud. Still, for years Republicans have warned of electoral fraud, despite the lack of evidence, something that voting rights experts say has caused a significant number of Republican voters in 2020 to believe Trump’s lie about a stolen election.
“People are planting the seeds, laying the groundwork and saying, ‘Look, people are fearing exactly what I said they were afraid of’, although there is no evidence or basis for that,” said Eliza Sweren-Becker, a lawyer for the Center Brennan who worked on analyzing state legislative proposals.
There is an even more prolific effort to expand access to voting, with more than 400 bills in 35 states proposing to expand access to voting.
But with Republicans controlling most state legislatures in the United States, supporters of the right to vote say they are on high alert for new laws that make it more difficult for voters to vote in future elections.
Sweren-Becker said he is particularly concerned about the states of Georgia, Arizona and Texas, which have a blue tendency, partly due to the rapid diversification of the electorate. Georgia and Arizona changed positions in the last presidential election, supporting Biden instead of Trump; these victories have been fueled in part by major demographic changes in recent years, combined with significant efforts to organize and educate voters by Democrats and grassroots groups.
Suppressive laws “always have a greater burden on voters of color,” she said. “It is impossible to separate these efforts to restrict access to voting with efforts to keep black and brown voters away from the polls.”
Laws designed to restrict voting by mail – and delivery boxes
At least half a dozen states want to limit or modify postal voting systems.
In Pennsylvania, there are three different proposals that would eliminate voting without excuse, notes Brennan, less than two years after state lawmakers of both parties voted to pass the law.
In Georgia, Republican Party lawmakers pledged to revoke the postal vote without apology more than 15 years after the party implemented the system. The proposed law would limit the practice to those over 75, disabled or absent from the police station on election day.
In Arizona, a Republican lawmaker wants to prevent infrequent voters from automatically receiving their ballots.
In Pennsylvania, a Republican state senator announced that he would seek to eliminate the permanent early voting list, a system that allows voters who choose to vote normally.
Lawmakers in Virginia and Georgia have also proposed eliminating collection boxes, a popular way to return ballots by mail. There is no evidence that the use of these mailbox-like containers invites voter fraud, but it was a major complaint from Trump and his campaign during the race.
Voter identification laws
Lawmakers in 10 states, including Pennsylvania, Virginia and Minnesota, introduced 18 bills to add voter identification requirements or make them more stringent, the Brennan Center said.
In New Hampshire, lawmakers want to require voters by mail to send photocopies of their photo IDs, while Georgia Republicans want driver’s license numbers and birthdates to be presented with ballots.
In Missouri, Republicans hope to reinstate the components of a voter identification law that the state Supreme Court declared unconstitutional last year.
Laws relating to obtaining and remaining on voter lists
Lawmakers in Connecticut, Montana, New Hampshire and Virginia proposed to terminate the electoral registration on the same day, while legislators in Alaska and Georgia proposed to terminate automatic electoral registration.
At least six states are also considering more aggressive purging practices. Maintaining voter lists is a normal part of elections, but very aggressive purges can deprive qualified voters.
Laws to change the way a state allocates presidential voters
Some states are also trying to rethink how the electoral college votes are allocated in the presidential race.
In Wisconsin and Mississippi, Republicans proposed to distribute voters proportionally, based on the results of each congressional district, rather than a statewide distribution where the winner takes it all. It’s a system that only Maine and Nebraska use, but that could also change: Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature proposed to give all of their voters the winner across the state, after Biden won one of the state’s electoral votes.
Lawmakers in Oklahoma and Arizona proposed to remove voters from the process, empowering themselves to allocate state voters to a candidate. Arizona would give lawmakers the power to override the secretary of state’s voting certification, nominating voters for a candidate of their own choosing. Oklahoma would give lawmakers the power to nominate voters, unless there is a federal law requiring voter identification and auditable paper ballots, in which case the power would be returned to voters. That project was sent to the committee this week.
Meanwhile, 11 states have submitted proposals to adhere to an interstate pact that would undermine the structure of the traditional Electoral College. If enough states join, participating states agree to allocate voters to those who win the popular vote across the country.