With all due respect, my comments did not mischaracterize the Georgia voting “reforms,” blatantly or otherwise. The friends and family members who brought water, folding chairs and/or food to voters prior to the 2020 vote were not involved in “electioneering.” They were helping a person forced to stand and wait in an inexcusably long line to exercise his or her most fundamental right AND responsibility as an American citizen.
Yes, you can find some some provisions in the voting laws of New York, Delaware, California, etc. that are more stringent than the “reforms” recently passed by Georgia, Texas, Arizona et al. To evaluate any state fairly you have to look at the net effect of the entire corpus of electoral laws. Do they ensure that voting is secure while still making it as convenient as possible for lawful voters to cast their ballots?
If not, they will be an impediment to the voters and will depress turnout—which is the very opposite of democracy. Unfortunately, that is the painfully clear intent of Republican party leaders. This flurry of election “reforms” is difficult to understand in any other way, given that the United States has an outstanding history of conducting free and fair elections since 1960. And 2020 was no different according to Attorney-General Barr, FBI Director Wray and cyber security director Krebbs (all Trump appointees). More than 60 court decisions align with their views.
Why, one wonders, do certain voters in Republican-controlled states have to wait for hours to vote? I have been a registered voter in Illinois, Washington and Hawai’i and have voted in approximately 60 general elections ... and not once have I had to wait longer than ten or fifteen minutes to do my civic duty.
What is the difference between those states and Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Florida? The difference is both simple and damning: the former are usually governed by Democrats while the latter are controlled by the G.O.P. Since much of the work on election day is carried out by volunteers, and red states have as many potential volunteers as blue states, there is only one logical reason why Republicans have traditionally dealt with long lines at the polls. What was once proudly referred to as the Party of Lincoln has abandoned its former commitment to the Anerican form of democracy.
And that both saddens and frightens me.
