A fascist Christian GOP attack on democracy and voting: Fix a non-existent problem

The Washington Post reports that an investigation into significant voter and election fraud by Republican lawmakers in Michigan concludes there was none. The investigation's final report was blunt that all the allegations of voter fraud and election fraud were false, had no basis in fact or even understanding of the process of voting and vote counting. WaPo writes:

On Wednesday, a Republican-controlled state Senate committee issued a report forcefully rejecting the claims of widespread fraud in the state, saying citizens should be confident in the results and skeptical of “those who have pushed demonstrably false theories for their own personal gain.”

The report even went so far as to state that people who pushed the election fraud lies should be investigated for committing criminal fraud and prosecuted if the evidence would support a prosecution.

One would think that would be the end of Republican concerns in Michigan about vote and election fraud. One would be wrong. 

Fixing what isn't broken

Immediately after releasing the investigation report, Michigan Republican lawmakers announced that they are going to pass 39 new laws to regulate voting in Michigan. The reason given was that strict limits on voting are necessary to address citizen beliefs that elections are fraudulent. Republicans claim they are making elections and voting even more secure than they are now. 

Thus, despite clearly acknowledging there is no problem with voting and election security, Michigan Republican lawmakers reinforce GOP voters' belief in election fraud by writing and passing new election restriction laws. People who believed all along that there was widespread voter and election fraud will feel vindicated in their false beliefs. After all, if the legislature is passing laws to prevent fraudulent elections, there must have been a reason to do so. 

In essence, fascist Republicans have found a way to reinforce unfounded fears of election fraud by saying it does not exist but also passing laws that are argued to make elections more secure.

This represents a sophisticated attack on voting rights. Most Republican politicians and leaders now understand that the tyrant-wannabe ex-president, and his mouthpiece liars, were lying about election fraud. GOP politicians and leaders can no longer pretend it is otherwise. Given that Republican leaders know that voting needs to be restricted for Republicans to win elections, they have no choice but to limit voting. So they are going to limit voting and rig elections as best they know how. 

The trick Republicans face is how to advantage Republican voters, while suppressing enough Democratic votes to tip elections for republican candidates. How can this kind of selective targeting be done?

From what I have seen so far, it looks like the job can be done by limiting voting access in urban areas to rough parity with rural area access. For example, a new law in Texas limits ballot drop boxes to one per county. In a county with hundreds of thousands of voters, tens of thousands of voters will not have access to the drop box. By contrast, one drop box in a rural county will limit access for lower proportion of voters. More Democratic drop box votes will be suppressed compared to suppressed Republican votes in rural areas.

Tactics that Republicans use to preferentially target Democratic areas also include (i) expanded rights for Republican poll monitors to intimidate voters and poll workers, and (ii) intimidation of poll workers who try to help voters cast their ballots. Republican poll monitors are deployed in urban areas where Democrats dominate. The argument is that Democrats commit vote fraud, not Republicans. The most severe attack comes from laws that give Republicans power to simply overturn election results they do not like. That effectively nullifies all voter power wherever that power is available and exercised.

Republican intent is clear. They see an existential threat in open and accessible voting. That dictates rigging elections to favor Republican candidates as much as possible and to disadvantage Democratic candidates as much as possible. Obviously, some Republican votes will be suppressed as unavoidable collateral damage in a political war of Republican fascism against democracy and the rule of law. 

The big question

The key question is this: How effective will fascist Christian Republican laws be in rigging elections to favor Republicans. We should have some kind of an answer within a few weeks after the 2022 elections. If it appears that Republican voter suppression laws are not effective enough for Republican satisfaction, one can reasonably expect fascist Christian republicans more laws to pass laws intended to be more effective at election rigging. In that case, the results of the 2024 elections will provide more data points for the fascist Christian GOP to use to improve the effectiveness of targeting Democratic votes.

If the 2022 laws and election results prove to be satisfactory, what the party might do thereafter is not clear. That might depend on how American voters react, assuming they react in any significant way.