With the die cast for the 2024 US Presidential election, and both the Republican and the democratic conventions being held and the verbal brickbats being thrown, and the less than 14 days before voters go to the polls on Nov. 5, and the polls grinding out data, right and left, and every utterance from Donald Trump, JD Vance, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz being treated as sacrosanct, there is one important aspect that does not seem to get as much attention from voters, as it should be, and that is voter access, specifically conservative groups making unsound allegations and charges of voter fraud towards state election boards.
Voter access is certainly not a new issue as American history has shown, especially during the turbulent 1960s when Black Americans were not given equal access, and blood was spilled, and demonstrations held, notably by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that garnered headlines in Alabama and Georgia, to name but two states.
In the Southwest, Mexican Americans also fought a bitter fight to get voter equality with the white majority. And, the battle continued recently with efforts by now Chief Justice John Roberts, and his success at efforts to nullify the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And, while literacy tests were outlawed, those Southern states who had the most egregious laws of inequality have lost their examinations, called preclearance, to ensure that the laws were adhered to, but now there are efforts to disenfranchise voters across party lines, as well as those of race and ethnicity.
The loss of the White House in 2020 by the GOP has stung them ever since along with the continued falsehood that Trump was cheated by the Democrats to get Joe Biden elected, and conservative groups have marshaled their armies to examine state voter rolls looking for voter fraud, and charging that non citizens have, and are continuing to vote despite the lack of evidence, even from former Trump administration officials.
Earlier this year Scot Hoen, Carson City Nevada’s chief election official, has kept his eye on the ball of election integrity believing, as reported by The Alabama Reflector, that he was doing the right thing for democracy. Little did he know that this was going to be as heroic, even tortured, as imaginable.
He was named in a lawsuit by the Republican National Committee, along with Nevada county clerk, as well as the secretary of state, alleging “that five localities had ‘inordinately high’ voter registration rates, and that the state is violating federal law by not having what are known as ‘clean’ voter rolls.”
The state responded by saying that there was flawed data used by the RNC and that their analysis was like “comparing apples to orangutans.”
Notably, as reported, “Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers assert without evidence that more than 1,500 dead Nevadans voted in 2020 and that an additional 42,000 in the state voted twice.”
Humor aside, these efforts have continued unabated and, now that Harris has exceeded her post convention “bump”, the stakes are high, as we said previously that the race, with her entrance, is no longer his to lose.
Unsurprisingly, these are occurring in “the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the centerpiece of Democratic campaigns that have won the White House in recent decades,” as identified by the Associated Press.
Historically, accusations by the GOP have been around since the 1960 election, with beliefs that John F. Kennedy was elected over Richard Nixon due to dead people voting.
Now with a deeply polarized nation, beset by concerns about asylum seekers and illegal immigration, police brutality against Black persons, and LGBT people, and the rights of parents of transgender children, plus economic concerns, American votes are at stake.
Aided by technology, conservative groups are pumping out mass challenges to plant falsehoods, and in another battleground state, Michigan, officials also faced a similar lawsuit, filed by the RNC in the same month.
David Becker, founder and executive director of the center for Election Innovation & Research, a nonpartisan organization that advises local election officials nationwide, told the Reflector, “When you see efforts to do mass challenges in the midst of the presidential primaries and months before a major election, i've got to wonder whether the intent is to create chaos and confusion amongst voters rather than legitimate list maintenance.”
Adding fuel to the fire the Republican led Georgia state government passed a recent bill that has been to “challenge voters and for how much evidence is needed to a successful challenge. It would also cut off registration removals within 45 days of an election,” as reported.
Indiana’s governor, Republican Eric Holcumb signed into law a bill that easily facilitates removal of voters with a comparison of “voter registration lists with motor vehicle lists for noncitizens,” and if a voter is flagged they would have 30 days to prove their citizenship.
Aided by tech, specifically a company called Eagle AI, that was developed to scan Georgian’s voter records, all of which not only places the onus on voters, in some states, but occupies valuable time of election officials.
The conservative groups have morphed to more than just that one, and there are those that have pushed back forcefully, and among them is All Voting is Local Action, a voting rights group, and Kristen Nabers, the Georgia state director, has said, as reported: “They’re perpetuating these lies that our voter toll are full of fraudulent voters and bloated.” and noted, “The burden on election officials is really considerable.”
Another stalwart is the Public Interest Legal Foundation, whose director Lauren Bowman Bis is quoted as saying that there have “been a lot of questions” for the 2020 election, continuing the mythology of a stolen election that defeated Trump, and she has claimed that she”has gone to cemeteries in Michigan, she said, she has seen name of active voters on tombstones.”
This group has outposts in Hawaii, Michigan and South Carolina, and “they have successfully sued Illinois and Maryland and gained access to those state’ voter lists,” reported the Reflector.
Their reach has even extended as far north as Maine, in another successful lawsuit to gain access to voter rolls.
The Voter Reference Foundation, sued Pennsylvania in February to gain similar access, and as with the others claiming that their goal is voter integrity, but at question is with the methodology, where outdated rolls are used in comparison to current data, a not so sleight of hand trick to make false claims.
Another route is using change of address forms when mail is forwarded, with current rolls but as the Brennan Center for Justice has stated, there is no accounting for people with the same names. But, they point out that “the good news is that county election boards have consistently rejected these challenges of the last few years. Over and over, the boards said that challengers don't provide enough evidence to remove anyone from the rolls.”
While these groups are undeterred, says the Center, it’s also obvious that in an already close presidential election with a history of the GOP using obfuscation, and falsehoods, which resulted in violence with the January 6th Capitol riots, that the road ahead is littered with minefields, and have stretched from voter access to disenfranchisement that will increasingly become difficult for some voters, who may feel hesitant to vote, especially with some vigilante groups predicting violence at the polls.
Adding even more fuel to the fire was a recent proposal by the Georgia Election Board requring that the computerized ballot boxes be broken open and that each ballot be handcounted to match the electronic tally, a move that Democrats and poll workers feel would unnecessarily delay the certification of the votes, but also that worker fatigue might result in errors.
The GEB is dominated by Trump loyalists and the proposal, while not welcome, is not entirely surpising.
Two Georgia judges recently reversed that move; one with a temporary bock and the other with a final order. As Reuters reported, in part: "Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said in his decision on Tuesday that it was appropriate to pause the vote counting rule because it introduced fresh uncertainty into the process just weeks before Election Day."
"Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public," according to the decision.
Furthermore: "The administrative chaos that will - not may - ensue is entirely inconsistent with the obligations of our boards of elections (and the State Election Board) to ensure that our elections are fair, legal, and orderly," the judge wrote.
While an appeal is expected, the block prevents another obstacle in the free and fair elections in the US.
Updated Oct. 25, 2024, 2:36 p.m. CDT
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