In the past two years, Republican states in the United States have multiplied laws that violate the right to vote under the guise of fighting voter fraud. The midterm elections on November 8th will be an opportunity to see the damage.
Two years after a presidential election contested by the loser, tensions are mounting as the November 8 midterm elections in the United States draw near. The stolen election theory put forward by Donald Trump has never been proven due to a lack of evidence of large-scale voter fraud. But several Republican states claim to fight this “fraud” with new laws. Texts denounced by organizations defending democracy as attacks on voting rights.
Overall, according to the Brennan Center For Justice, since early 2021, when Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president, 42 laws restricting this fundamental right have been passed in 21 states. Of these statutes, 33 have at least one provision that will go into effect during the midterms in 20 states. Those numbers are much higher than previous election cycles, with 2021 even setting a record high, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. However, in key states with close races, these new texts could weigh on results.
The institute distinguishes between two types of laws: those that make it difficult for voters to vote in practice, and those that are more recent and open the door to partisan interference or threats against the organizers of the election. Most of the practical restrictions focus on postal voting, which was hugely popular in 2020, particularly among the elderly, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged.
12 times more rejected ballots in Texas
In Texas, where the conspiracy theory of Donald Trump’s stolen election is particularly rampant, a law imposes additional restrictions on receiving and returning a ballot in the mail. And its effects are already being felt. About 25,000 mail-in ballots were rejected in the March 2022 primary, a rejection rate of more than 12%, 12 times higher than in 2020. Rejections were slightly higher among Democratic voters than Republicans.
Similar texts were passed in key states of Florida, Georgia and Arizona, where voters must vote Nov. 8 on an amendment to the local constitution mandating stricter identification requirements for in-person and written voting. For example, absentee voting will not be validated if the envelope containing it does not contain an identification number from the voter’s driver’s license or social security card.
While presenting an identity document to vote seems self-evident in France, this is not necessarily the case in the United States, as Lisa Bryant, director of the department of political science at California State University in Fresno and specialist in the organization of elections, explains: ” Some say everyone has ID, but that’s not true. People who live in dense urban areas and don’t drive may not have one. As well as elderly people who no longer drive, or ethnic minorities, especially those with low Note that the government in the United States does not issue ID cards. You have to pay to get one, for example by handing over his driver’s license.
Colored voters targeted
Other types of restrictions have been enacted across the country that further penalize people of color. Oklahoma has thus made it significantly more difficult for residents with no traditional address, such as the homeless or Native Americans living in tribal lands, To on the electoral rolls. Auto voting has been banned in Texas. In 2020, the practice was particularly popular — and controversial — in densely populated and multicultural Harris County, Houston.
For its part, Georgia has limited access to outdoor ballot boxes, mailboxes that allow voters to slide their ballots out of a polling station like we sometimes see outside African-American churches. In this state, during last spring’s primary, white voter turnout exceeded black voter turnout, while overall voter turnout increased. A gap of six percentage points, much larger than in previous primaries. “This does not prove that it was the new restrictive laws in Georgia that widened this gap, but it does show that things are not going in the right direction,” regrets the Brennan Center For Justice.
Political scientist Lisa Bryant recalls that in the United States elections are held on a Tuesday, a day when citizens work. From the point of view of the defenders of the right to vote, therefore, all forms of civic duty outside of D-Day are seen as welcome at the polling station in order to improve participation. However, according to the researcher, this is exactly where most of the attacks on the right to vote take place today. “Either you make voting less convenient (by restricting postal voting, as we have seen, for example by reducing the number of polling stations in certain parts of the city, leading to long queues, ed.) .”
Pressure from “poll watchers”
In addition to these practical limitations, there are partial interferences with the proper conduct of voting. Here, too, Georgia is of particular importance. Lawmakers have given more powers to “election observers,” those monitors delegated by political parties to monitor polling stations. A way to put pressure on the staff responsible for receiving voters and counting the ballots. The latter had already been put to the test in 2020 when they had to count votes under the eyes of menacing observers, some with police protection.
Lisa Bryant is concerned about the devastating impact of these types of threats on the hiring of polling station staff who depend on the proper conduct of the ballot. “Most of the time, they’re volunteers who get a small compensation of around $100 a day for working long hours from 6 a.m. to midnight,” she explains. “Historically we assume that they come to do their civic duty, to serve their community, to participate in the electoral process. Often they are retired – the median age is 67. The opportunity to vote earlier, our electoral cycle extended by a few weeks, had already caused difficulties in recruiting these volunteers, who are unavailable for so many days in a row.The problem of staff shortages is now being exacerbated because these volunteers are afraid of possible intimidation and threats from the ‘election observers’ so don’t want to come any more.”
Conversely, supporters of the “big lie” (who believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump due to voter fraud) are signing up in large numbers to serve in various positions at the polling stations, such as participating in postal ballot control commissions. “The possibility that they will try to reject certain ballots if they believe a voter is not actually on the lists is a concern,” said Lisa Bryant. The academic regrets that “electoral laws are not equipped to deal with this influx of conspiracy theorists trying to infiltrate the electoral system.”
intimidation
Republican states’ efforts don’t stop there. In Georgia, too, lawmakers gave the state electoral commission oversight of what counties do, with the ability to fire local administrators — professionals — in charge of elections. You therefore risk being replaced by partisan elements who do not know the job. And to make matters worse, another law allows the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a state agency, to investigate and refer cases of suspected voter fraud to prosecutors. Which, according to the Brennan Center For Justice, paves the way for “politically motivated” lawsuits to go to court.
“These laws are designed to intimidate polling officials, polling station staff and the voters themselves. ‘To avoid prosecution, not voter protection,’ the institute denounces.
Added to these limitations is the problem of campaigning, the famous ‘gerrymandering’. The example of Texas is significant. The election map has been redesigned to make Republicans almost immune to defeat. Some constituencies have been reorganized to dilute voting rights for ethnic minorities. Democrats would need to win 58% of the vote to hope for just over 37% of the seats in the local legislature. “The 2022 election will be fought on terrain deliberately designed to favor one party,” concludes the Brennan Center For Justice.