Last year, all 99 state legislatures and more than 7,000 state legislators met to formulate the legislative agenda. Legislators are free to introduce legislation on any subject they like, but there is no guarantee that legislation will pass. In fact, the majority of proposals never make any progress in the legislative process. Bills can be stalled in committees, rejected on the floor, or vetoed by the governor. Examining any bill, even one that has not yet been enacted, often reveals where the energy and interest of legislators lies.
Republican state legislators are incorporating this approach in drafting legislation as the Republican Party becomes more radical in its attacks on free and fair elections. From banning polling stations in K-12 public schools to repealing one person, one vote, Republican lawmakers across the country introduced some of the most egregious bills in the last Congress. Thankfully, none of these bills made it through the first stage of the legislative process, but the fact that they were introduced in the first place shows where the Republican Party, which has become increasingly plagued by election intrigue, has gone. It’s a clear sign of where to go.
Republicans have taken aim at electronic voting machines and want to change how votes are counted.
Last year, in Cochise County, Arizona, news broke that officials tried to hand-count ballots during midterm elections in response to unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about voting machines. Shasta County, California, is trying to do something similar ahead of next year’s general election. But efforts to ban voting machines and hand-counting ballots are not limited to isolated rural counties.
Republican legislators in many states sought to require all ballots to be hand-counted in all elections. Kansas, Missouri, Montana, south carolina and texas. These bills are based on the false premise that voting machines are susceptible to tampering and are less accurate than manually counting votes. What none of these lawmakers understand is that the opposite is actually true. Counting ballots by hand can introduce more errors.
Also, the manual counting process is resource intensive in both time and money.occupied a small county in Nevada 7 hours With just 317 ballots counted last year, Shasta County election officials estimated it would cost “at least … $1,651,209.68 and 1,300 staff” to conduct the manual ballot counting. If counting votes in a sparsely populated area takes that long, it’s hard to imagine how long it will take in a state like Texas, where more than 10 million votes were cast in 2020.
Other Republican lawmakers introduced modifications to the counting process that could seriously jeopardize voters’ ability to count votes. In Connecticut, invoice Restricting vote-by-mail ballot counting to polling day only, potentially leaving some votes uncounted.Similarly, the invoice is Montana All ballot counting must be completed within 3 hours, a requirement in many counties Worried they won’t be able to meet
Perhaps the most egregious intrusion into the ballot counting process, Iowa The bill was intended to require observers from both parties to sign all ballots before the votes are counted. Any objection from these observers would likely have left many ballots uncounted and the ensuing confusion, and even if there had been no objection, all polling places in the state would have It will be difficult to find a lifeguard.
Most fundamentally, one bill in North Carolina would change voter numbers and change long-standing precedents for how elections are conducted. The proposal would abolish one person, one vote in the state Senate, giving rural voters far more influence over national politics than urban voters. Mecklenburg and Wake counties, with more than 1 million people, will have as many state senators as Tyrell County, with just 2,000 people.
Other MPs tried to usurp electoral power.
In some states, Republicans have introduced measures to increase their influence over elections. Missouri and texas Both bills were seen as intended to dichotomy the election by creating completely separate registration lists and ballots for federal and state elections.
Both states’ proposals were intended to circumvent Congress’ ability to regulate federal elections. Rather than allowing state elections to comply with federal rules, these legislators prefer to keep state elections completely independent in order to maintain their control. This dichotomy of elections creates enormous difficulties for election officials, confuses voters, and greatly complicates both voting and election administration.
Meanwhile, a proposal Montana It is intended to give state legislatures final authority over which laws are constitutional and is not the typical state supreme court in our judicial system. This resolution was a reflection of public opinion. Frontier Independent State Legislative Theory, argues that state legislatures have special powers to enact electoral laws for federal elections. But the resolution goes further, asserting legislative authority in all areas, not just elections.
The practical effect of such a resolution is unknown, but it was a clear statement that legislative Republicans in Montana should be able to exercise their legislative powers without being checked by state courts.
Republicans say school and voting cannot be confused.
Public schools are commonly used for polling stations across the country. It’s large, easily accessible, and well known in the local community. But some Republican lawmakers decided they shouldn’t be allowed to vote there.
I have an invoice new jersey, new york And Texas would ban polling stations from public schools and remove convenient and popular polling places. For example, in Travis County, Texas (with the state capital, Austin), 38 polling stations at school last year. All of this would need to be transferred once such a ban is enacted.
Other Republicans have introduced bills that go even further, making it harder for college students to vote.the same member of parliament texas Those who tried to ban polling stations in K-12 public schools also tried to ban polling stations on college campuses, but in that case, students would need proper transportation and access to off-campus polling stations. Despite the lack of access, they will have to travel farther to vote. (Banning college polling stations is also a priority for Republican attorney Creta Mitchell, who denies elections.)
Elsewhere, the bill is new hampshire Only college students who pay tuition in the state will be allowed to vote, which means students moving to New Hampshire for college will likely not be able to vote in the state. Republicans have again said they would rather stop people, especially the younger generations, from voting, than win support.
For Republican lawmakers, these bills are just the tip of the iceberg.
This Congress won’t be the last time Republican legislators will try to pass legislation aimed at the ballot-counting process, power seizures and curbing student voting. As long as election conspiracy theories continue to swirl within the Republican Party unabated, expect similar proposals in various states next year, especially as the 2024 presidential election heats up. These fringebills failed to cross the finish line this time, but their fate isn’t necessarily decided. Today’s addendum will become tomorrow’s Republican consensus.
