Analysis

Democrats Are Desperate To Brand Voting Integrity Measures As ‘Racist’ Suppression

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Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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Democrats have spent months trying to convince Americans voting laws meant to preserve election integrity are “racist” and amount to voter suppression.

The Supreme Court recently issued a landmark ruling in favor of an Arizona voting law that places restrictions on absentee voting and ballot harvesting. Arizona’s law requires in-person ballots cast on Election Day at the wrong precinct to be discarded. The law also limits ballot harvesting to family caregivers, election officials and mail carriers.

“Arizona law generally makes it very easy to vote,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. “One strong and entirely legitimate state interest is the prevention of fraud. Fraud can affect the outcome of a close election, and fraudulent votes dilute the right of citizens to cast ballots that carry appropriate weight. Fraud can also undermine public confidence in the fairness of elections and the perceived legitimacy of the announced outcome.”

While the high court has made a seemingly non-partisan ruling on election integrity, President Joe Biden was quick to criticize the decision as having done “severe damage” to the Voting Rights Act. Biden claimed the ruling upholds “a significant race-based disparity in voting opportunities.”

President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sherrilyn Ifill criticized the Supreme Court’s decision, noting claims that there is “fraud” is a “rationale employed by state’s to restrict voting.”

An increasing number of Democrats, the president included, have deemed attempts to safeguard elections as “racist.”

The Ninth Court originally upheld the two provisions, finding that so-called ballot harvesting was actually needed in rural and remote parts of the state where people have limited access to cars and polling booths. The court ruled this piece of evidence did deny minorities the right to vote, according to NPR.

“Democracy is on the line,” Biden added, calling for the “For The People Act” to be pushed through. (RELATED: Rep. Burgess Owens Lived Through Jim Crow, Says It’s ‘Demeaning’ To Compare Voter ID With Actual Racism)

But this wasn’t the first time Democrats took aim at voting laws. Several prominent Democrats labeled Georgia’s new election laws as “racist.” The new law requires voters to provide identification when they apply for an absentee ballot and when they vote in person.

Democratic Georgia State Rep. Donna McLeod called the legislation “Jim Crow 2.0.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams echoed that sentiment by also calling the efforts “unconstitutional” and “nothing less than Jim Crow 2.0.”

“[T]hese blatantly unconstitutional efforts … are nothing less than Jim Crow 2.0.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice would sue Georgia over the voting laws, alleging the law was racially discriminatory. Despite the DOJ’s claim, a 2019 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found voter ID requirements do not amount to voter suppression.

Instead, the Democrats proposed the “For the People Act” which they claimed would mitigate the “racist voter suppression” laws. The legislation claims to “expand voter rights” by allowing for same-day and automatic voter registration as well as expanding voting by mail and early voting.

But for a bill aimed at expanding “voter rights,” the legislation ends voter ID requirements and mandates states cannot require identification for obtaining an absentee ballot or casting a mail-in ballot. This provision would change the law in 36 states which require some form of identification at the polls.

Ballot harvesting, a practice that allows a third party to collect ballots for voters, would be legalized. Harvesters could collect as many ballots as they want without limitations. This provision could be subject to change, however, given the Supreme Court’s recent ruling.

Another provision gives felons the right to vote.

Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott criticized the Democrat-led legislation. He said the “For the People Act” would “make it easier to cheat and harder to vote.”

“As a Black man who has voted in the South all my life, voting rights are personal to me,” Scott wrote in a Fox News op-ed. “Their plan would make fraud harder to detect by allowing unlimited ballot harvesting all across the country.”