By Editorial Board
Today at 1:52 p.m. EST
It is 2022, and Republicans are stuck in a time warp — still hung up on the 2020 presidential vote.
Regarding one point about that election, no one should forget. For the first time in modern U.S. history, a major presidential candidate refused to accept a valid decision by the American people. New revelations about defeated incumbent Donald Trump’s determination to overturn the vote in his presidency’s waning days continue to surface. They include his interest, thankfully never acted on, in ordering federal agents to seize voting machines. The House Jan. 6 committee continues its work to document how Mr. Trump’s lies instigated an attack on the Capitol.
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Mr. Trump continues to lie about his loss and demand that other Republicans do the same, just this week declaring that Congress should investigate former vice president Mike Pence for refusing to overturn the 2020 vote. Many are acceding to him and to a GOP base that polls would indicate has bought into his alternate version of reality. Whipped up against supposedly rampant election fraud that does not exist, Republican state lawmakers are continuing their anti-democratic efforts to crimp access to the ballot box, as new legislative sessions get underway across the country.
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Arizona Republicans last year cracked down on absentee voting and ran a shambolic partisan “audit” of President Biden’s narrow 2020 win there — which found the count to be sound. They have nevertheless proposed a raft of new voting bills. One would ban automatic voter registration. Another would eviscerate mail-in voting and empower the legislature to reject primary and general election results. Under the proposal, if state lawmakers chose to reject the count, they could force a new election.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) last year blocked GOP voting bills, so Republicans are attempting to use an unusual provision in the state constitution that would permit the legislature to impose restrictions over Ms. Whitmer’s opposition. They would create strict new voter ID requirements, call for an Arizona-like “forensic audit” of the 2020 vote and bar voting officials from proactively distributing absentee ballot applications.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wants to create an election police force under his control to hunt down voting crimes — the likely result of which would be to intimidate people doing legitimate election work. Georgia Republicans, who last year passed a wide-ranging voting restriction bill, have proposed forbidding ballot drop boxes. In Pennsylvania, GOP lawmakers have called for banning no-excuse absentee voting, which many Democrats have used during the pandemic.
Even in Virginia, where the GOP won substantial victories last November under the state’s current rules, Republicans want a crackdown, filing bills to ban drop boxes, reimpose voter ID requirements, cut the early voting window, eliminate the permanent absentee list and repeal same-day registration.
Not every one of these bills will become law, particularly in states, such as Virginia, in which Democrats maintain some power. But their existence shows Republicans’ anti-democratic drift. It also exposes their lack of faith in their ability to win by appealing to a diverse and growing electorate with their candidates and their policies. Mr. Trump may be an instigator, but many more in the party are accomplices in his campaign to undermine U.S. democracy for partisan gain.
Today at 1:52 p.m. EST
It is 2022, and Republicans are stuck in a time warp — still hung up on the 2020 presidential vote.
Regarding one point about that election, no one should forget. For the first time in modern U.S. history, a major presidential candidate refused to accept a valid decision by the American people. New revelations about defeated incumbent Donald Trump’s determination to overturn the vote in his presidency’s waning days continue to surface. They include his interest, thankfully never acted on, in ordering federal agents to seize voting machines. The House Jan. 6 committee continues its work to document how Mr. Trump’s lies instigated an attack on the Capitol.
Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.
Mr. Trump continues to lie about his loss and demand that other Republicans do the same, just this week declaring that Congress should investigate former vice president Mike Pence for refusing to overturn the 2020 vote. Many are acceding to him and to a GOP base that polls would indicate has bought into his alternate version of reality. Whipped up against supposedly rampant election fraud that does not exist, Republican state lawmakers are continuing their anti-democratic efforts to crimp access to the ballot box, as new legislative sessions get underway across the country.
ADVERTISING
Arizona Republicans last year cracked down on absentee voting and ran a shambolic partisan “audit” of President Biden’s narrow 2020 win there — which found the count to be sound. They have nevertheless proposed a raft of new voting bills. One would ban automatic voter registration. Another would eviscerate mail-in voting and empower the legislature to reject primary and general election results. Under the proposal, if state lawmakers chose to reject the count, they could force a new election.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) last year blocked GOP voting bills, so Republicans are attempting to use an unusual provision in the state constitution that would permit the legislature to impose restrictions over Ms. Whitmer’s opposition. They would create strict new voter ID requirements, call for an Arizona-like “forensic audit” of the 2020 vote and bar voting officials from proactively distributing absentee ballot applications.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wants to create an election police force under his control to hunt down voting crimes — the likely result of which would be to intimidate people doing legitimate election work. Georgia Republicans, who last year passed a wide-ranging voting restriction bill, have proposed forbidding ballot drop boxes. In Pennsylvania, GOP lawmakers have called for banning no-excuse absentee voting, which many Democrats have used during the pandemic.
Even in Virginia, where the GOP won substantial victories last November under the state’s current rules, Republicans want a crackdown, filing bills to ban drop boxes, reimpose voter ID requirements, cut the early voting window, eliminate the permanent absentee list and repeal same-day registration.
Not every one of these bills will become law, particularly in states, such as Virginia, in which Democrats maintain some power. But their existence shows Republicans’ anti-democratic drift. It also exposes their lack of faith in their ability to win by appealing to a diverse and growing electorate with their candidates and their policies. Mr. Trump may be an instigator, but many more in the party are accomplices in his campaign to undermine U.S. democracy for partisan gain.
