Washington Post Editorial Board: Texas Republicans declare war on democracy

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/texas-is-on-the-cutting-edge-of-voter-suppression/2021/03/15/5c274fce-85cd-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html



TEXAS IS already one of the toughest states in which to cast a ballot, and Texas Republicans want to make it even harder. As in many other GOP-dominated states this year, the pretext is restoring faith in the election system, following then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 torrent of lies about fraud. The real goal is to suppress voting in Houston and other areas trending blue. The consequence ought to be voter backlash against a party that displays such contempt for democracy. Texas GOP lawmakers introduced on Friday a wave of anti-voting measures. One proposal would force counties to close polling places at 7 p.m., making it harder for shift workers to vote.

Most Texas voters already may not vote by mail; a Republican plan would require those claiming disability as a reason to cast an absentee ballot to provide onerous levels of written documentation to prove they qualify. Another proposal would bar counties from distributing absentee ballot applications unless voters formally request them. These are only a few of the useless hassles Texas Republicans want to impose on the state’s voters. Drive-through and outdoor voting would be banned. Texans would be restricted from dropping off completed absentee ballots. Deputy voter registrars, who help voters sort through the process of registering and casting ballots, would be eliminated. Volunteers who drive voters to polling places would be discouraged. Mass voting sites would be effectively eliminated. Overzealous voter roll purges seemingly designed to disqualify many eligible voters would be mandated.

Texas Republicans are almost surgical in their cynicism. Many of their proposals are in direct reaction to the methods that Harris County, home of Houston, used to ease voting in 2020. This despite — or, perhaps, because of — the fact that Texas ran a smooth, high-turnout election last year. After 22,000 hours of work, the Texas secretary of state’s office demonstrated only 16 instances of minor fraud — such as voters providing inaccurate addresses on their registration forms — in last year’s elections, according to the Houston Chronicle. If there was a threat to election integrity, it was that the state’s gratuitously strict voter-ID law and mail-in ballot policies deterred eligible people from voting.

But that, after all, is the point. Take it from Arizona state Rep. John Kavanagh (R), as he defended GOP voter suppression proposals in his state. “If somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they’re totally uninformed on the issues,” Mr. Kavanagh said on CNN last week. “Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.” In a follow-up interview with The Post, Mr. Kavanagh said that he does not favor an information test to vote, but that “I don’t think people who are disinterested should be forced to the polls in the interest of turnout.” Declining to purge people from voting lists is not “forcing” people to the polls. Neither is sending out absentee voting applications, keeping voting locations open, allowing ballot drop boxes or permitting drive-thru voting. The primary “quality” many Republican officials — not all, but a disturbingly large number — appear interested in cultivating is a preference for Republican candidates. This should only steel voter determination to navigate the obstacles and throw them out of office.

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