There is presently a national movement among GOP-controlled state legislatures to mount the most extensive contraction of voting access in generations. This GOP ‘voter suppression’ crusade is gaining momentum much to the detriment of our cherished democracy. There are now nationwide 253 GOP voter restriction bills in the hopper. 

Recently the Georgia GOP passed a sweeping law to restrict voting access in the state, introducing more rigid voter ID requirements for absentee balloting, limiting the number of drop boxes, expanding the legislature’s power over elections while stripping the secretary of state of some of his authority, imposing new oversight of county election boards, restricting who can vote with provisional ballots and making it a crime to offer food or water to voters waiting in line to vote. In addition the GOP has already passed a similar law in Iowa and efforts are underway to restrict voting in other states including Arizona, Florida and Texas.

The GOP justifies this ‘voter suppression’ crusade based on Trump’s big lie of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. This is indeed a big lie as confirmed nationwide by every secretary of state overseeing the election and the courts right up to the Supreme Court. The GOP is conducting this crusade for no other reason than political gain but unfortunately at the expense of participatory democracy. Clinton won the popular vote by a 3 million vote margin in 2016 and Biden by a 7 million vote margin in 2020. The GOP does not want to see large voter turnouts that apparently put their candidates at an electoral disadvantage. Thus the GOP answer is voter suppression to keep voter turnouts as low as possible. 

I certainly hope this GOP national anti-democratic movement can be stopped and rolled back so that every eligible American will be given the constitutional right to vote in our elections without going through hoops of fire and/or jumping over hampering high hurdles.