“If voting made a difference, they would make it illegal.” – Emma Goldman
Actually, Goldman might not have written that. The quote is also sometimes attributed to Mark Twain, who definitely didn’t say it.
Nonetheless, today’s Republican Party subscribes to the underlying message: If voters might actually make a difference, it’s best to make voting illegal. If abolishing an election isn’t feasible, do what is necessary to prevent the wrong people from voting, or at least minimize their impact.
So, a well-funded Supreme Court legitimizes grossly gerrymandered districts to make sure that Black votes are so dispersed that it is virtually impossible to elect a person of color. A plethora of barriers are erected to make it difficult for Black and poor people to vote, such as reducing the number of polling places, making long lines inevitable (and even making it illegal for volunteers to bring water to those sweltering in place for the chance to vote), and finding arcane ways to invalidate legal registrations.
The foundational claim is that opposition voting is illegal and fraudulent, oblivious to the mountains of evidence that such allegations are not only wrong, but purposely fabricated.
There is nothing new here. For a century following the Civil War, white supremacists from the South made up the bulk of that era’s Democratic Party. They used a plethora of tactics to prevent Blacks from exercising their right to vote – from poll taxes and impossible literacy tests to economic pressure and — when all else failed — outright intimidation and violence.
Until Congress passed voting rights legislation in the 1960s, majority Black communities in the South often had only a handful of registered Black voters. It was too difficult, demeaning, and dangerous to register, much less try to vote. That was a hallmark of what is today called the Jim Crow Era. Or, as Republicans refer to it, the Good Old Days when America was Great and everyone knew his place.
Today’s Republicans do more than yearn for that era; they actively pursue it. Thus, Mike Rogers — a Floridian who every two years pretends to live in Michigan so that he can run for U.S. Senate — told supporters that his dream is to recruit police officers to be poll watchers so that they can intimidate voters.
Does he want them to man the polls in lily-white Livingston County where he grew up? Or in suburban Oakland County where he claims to live?
He does not.
Rogers specifically wants them in Detroit, which is about 80 percent Black. He all but begged such police officers to smack around anyone who objected to their presence.
The justification for such extreme measures is the allegation that elections are fixed. Democrats are given troves of fraudulent votes, voting machines are manipulated, and fake ballots appear like magic after polls close.
These claims have repeatedly been invalidated, and the folks repeating them know that they are false. Still, they’ve created a voting base that begs to be lied to. And they deliver.
Donald Trump blusters that the United States is the only nation in the world to practice mail-in voting. Not only do about 34 nations aggressively practice and promote mail-in voting, but Trump himself often votes by mail.
Last week, two items appeared in my mail box that showcase the cynical and lying nature of the conservative campaign to limit voting rights.
First arrived a taxpayer-funded voting information card from my state senator, a very conservative Republican named Lana Theis. It’s a good piece that lists vital information about voting in this year’s primary and general elections. Among the information is detailed information about how to vote absentee, including the steps for mail-in voting. Not a word about how fraudulent such voting could be.
A couple of days later, a Conservative Voter Alert arrived from a PAC that is helping to fund Mike Rogers’ bid for the Senate.
Was the alert a warning about the evils of mail-in voting?
It was not.
The card detailed the ease of voting absentee and explained that such ballots can be mailed in starting June 25. “It’s Safe and Secure” is the large-type message on the card’s front. Safe and secure.
Conservatives know they are lying through their teeth about voter fraud. It’s an understandable strategy. With an illegal and seemingly endless war in Iran, the protection of sexual predators in the Epstein Files, and skyrocketing gas, food, and utility prices, it’s a fool’s game for Republicans to rely on the decision of voters.
Far better to disenfranchise those who will vote against them. If that fails, the next step – as Emma Goldman may have tried to warn us — is to make elections illegal. If that prospect seems extreme, then you’ve already forgotten the lessons of Jan. 6.
