As the Senate prepares to vote on proceeding to Floor consideration of S.1, we wanted to remind you that not only are Republicans in 48 states jamming through legislation designed to stifle the vote, they are also working to target election officials they don’t agree with – at every level of government – and expand partisan control of elections. Don’t miss this write up in the New York Times on what’s at stake – our very democracy hanging in the balance:
New York Times: How Republican States Are Expanding Their Power Over Elections
“In Georgia, Republicans are removing Democrats of color from local boards. In Arkansas, they have stripped election control from county authorities. And they are expanding their election power in many other states.”
“Across Georgia, members of at least 10 county election boards have been removed, had their position eliminated or are likely to be kicked off through local ordinances or new laws passed by the state legislature. At least five are people of color and most are Democrats — though some are Republicans — and they will most likely all be replaced by Republicans.”
“G.O.P. lawmakers have also stripped secretaries of state of their power, asserted more control over state election boards, made it easier to overturn election results, and pursued several partisan audits and inspections of 2020 results. The new laws are targeting high-level state officials, in particular secretaries of state — both Republican and Democratic — who stood up to Mr. Trump and his allies last year. Republicans in Arizona have introduced a bill that would largely strip Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state, of her authority over election lawsuits, and then expire when she leaves office. And they have introduced another bill that would give the Legislature more power over setting the guidelines for election administration, a major task currently carried out by the secretary of state.”
“Under Georgia’s new voting law, Republicans significantly weakened the secretary of state’s office after Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who is the current secretary, rebuffed Mr. Trump’s demands to ‘find’ votes. They removed the secretary of state as the chair of the state election board and relieved the office of its voting authority on the board.”
“‘It’s a thinly veiled attempt to wrest control from officials who oversaw one of the most secure elections in our history and put it in the hands of bad actors,’ said Jena Griswold, the chairwoman of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State and the current Colorado secretary of state. ‘The risk is the destruction of democracy.’”
“These partisan moves aren’t limited to state-level offices. Republicans are also moving to target local election officials, a move that will surely see bipartisan boards of election in Republican areas move firmly to the right.”
“More immediately, it is local election officials at the county and municipal level who are being either removed or stripped of their power. In Morgan County, east of Atlanta, Helen Butler has been one of the state’s most prominent Democratic voices on voting rights and election administration. A member of the county board of elections in a rural, Republican county, she also runs the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a group dedicated to protecting the voting rights of Black Americans and increasing their civic engagement. ‘I think it’s all a part of the ploy for the takeover of local boards of elections that the state legislature has put in place,’ Ms. Butler said. ‘It is them saying that they have the right to say whether an election official is doing it right, when in fact they don’t work in the day to day and don’t understand the process themselves.’”
New York Times: How Republican States Are Expanding Their Power Over Elections
“In Georgia, Republicans are removing Democrats of color from local boards. In Arkansas, they have stripped election control from county authorities. And they are expanding their election power in many other states.”
“Across Georgia, members of at least 10 county election boards have been removed, had their position eliminated or are likely to be kicked off through local ordinances or new laws passed by the state legislature. At least five are people of color and most are Democrats — though some are Republicans — and they will most likely all be replaced by Republicans.”
“G.O.P. lawmakers have also stripped secretaries of state of their power, asserted more control over state election boards, made it easier to overturn election results, and pursued several partisan audits and inspections of 2020 results. The new laws are targeting high-level state officials, in particular secretaries of state — both Republican and Democratic — who stood up to Mr. Trump and his allies last year. Republicans in Arizona have introduced a bill that would largely strip Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state, of her authority over election lawsuits, and then expire when she leaves office. And they have introduced another bill that would give the Legislature more power over setting the guidelines for election administration, a major task currently carried out by the secretary of state.”
“Under Georgia’s new voting law, Republicans significantly weakened the secretary of state’s office after Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who is the current secretary, rebuffed Mr. Trump’s demands to ‘find’ votes. They removed the secretary of state as the chair of the state election board and relieved the office of its voting authority on the board.”
“‘It’s a thinly veiled attempt to wrest control from officials who oversaw one of the most secure elections in our history and put it in the hands of bad actors,’ said Jena Griswold, the chairwoman of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State and the current Colorado secretary of state. ‘The risk is the destruction of democracy.’”
“These partisan moves aren’t limited to state-level offices. Republicans are also moving to target local election officials, a move that will surely see bipartisan boards of election in Republican areas move firmly to the right.”
“More immediately, it is local election officials at the county and municipal level who are being either removed or stripped of their power. In Morgan County, east of Atlanta, Helen Butler has been one of the state’s most prominent Democratic voices on voting rights and election administration. A member of the county board of elections in a rural, Republican county, she also runs the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a group dedicated to protecting the voting rights of Black Americans and increasing their civic engagement. ‘I think it’s all a part of the ploy for the takeover of local boards of elections that the state legislature has put in place,’ Ms. Butler said. ‘It is them saying that they have the right to say whether an election official is doing it right, when in fact they don’t work in the day to day and don’t understand the process themselves.’”