Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

EDITORIAL:

Law protecting voters’ rights is crucial to maintaining democracy

VOTED

Charles Rex Arbogast / AP

A roll of “I VOTED” stickers sit on a shelf as residents participate in early voting Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020, at a county courthouse in Maywood, Ill.

In 43 states, including Nevada, voting access is under assault by the Republican Party. According to a comprehensive bill tracker produced by the Brennan Center for Justice, lawmakers in those states have proposed a whopping 253 bills imposing new restrictions on voters.

Against that backdrop, it’s a relief that the U.S. House this week passed the For the People Act, a sweeping package of legislation aimed at protecting and expanding voter access, eliminating gerrymandering, reining in secret campaign funding by special interests and improving election security.

This bill is a responsible counter to Republicans’ state-level efforts to suppress the vote, establish a minority rule system to retain their power and maintain institutionalized disenfranchisement of communities of color.

Among the House legislation’s key provisions, it would:

• Require states to provide at least 15 days of early voting, along with postage-free mail ballots and drop boxes.

• Allow all eligible voters to register online (in addition to in person or by mail), and establish day-of voting registration nationwide.

• Require states to provide Motor Voter-type registration, or automatic registration when a voter does business with a state agency such as the Department of Motor Vehicles.

• Tighten security by eliminating entirely paperless balloting systems, and tighten oversight of vendors of voting equipment.

• Boost penalties for providing voters with false information.

This is the most substantial set of voting protections since the Watergate era, and it comes at a critical time as Republicans try to turn their big lie about vote rigging in the 2020 election into a suppression of the vote virtually across the nation.

In Nevada, fortunately, we have little to worry about. The Brennan Center was correct in including us on its list, but there are only three bills in this year’s legislative session that would restrict voting, and they have little chance of passage given that Democrats have control of both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office. In contrast to those three bills, lawmakers are pursuing legislation that would expand on last year’s efforts to make voting easier and more convenient.

That’s as it should be, and lawmakers are to be commended for continuing to improve voter access.

But the U.S. House legislation is important here, too, as Nevada obviously is affected by congressional elections and presidential balloting in states where Republicans are pursuing restrictive legislation.

That includes places like Georgia and Arizona, where voting is under full assault. In Georgia, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill that would substantially restrict absentee balloting and early voting, while also severely limiting the number of ballot drop boxes. And while these provisions would no doubt lead to longer lines at voting centers, the GOP also included a ban on providing food or drinks to anyone waiting to vote.

Yes, that’s how cruel these Republicans are willing to be: They’d penalize someone for giving water to a voter waiting for hours in a massive line that the GOP engineered through its policies.

In Arizona, it’s much the same story. There, the Legislature is considering a laundry list of some 40 bills that would require mail ballots to be notarized, allow massive purges from voting lists and even allow lawmakers to overturn the result of the popular vote, among other measures.

It’s plain to see why this is happening, especially in Arizona and Georgia. The extremist Republican Party is growing increasingly unpopular among mainstream voters and is on the wrong end of demographic trends that favor centrist or left-leaning candidates. Among those trends are the growing number of minorities and the coming of age of a young generation of voters — the largest in history. In both cases, voters in those groups tend to oppose Republican candidates.

In Georgia and Arizona, you saw those trends carry out last year with losses by Republican Senate candidates and former President Donald Trump. Hence the especially aggressive voter suppression bills in those states by Republicans, who retain control of the legislatures.

The Republicans, of course, would have you believe that this is all about election security, or, in a dystopian phrase they’ve adopted, about “restoring faith in the election system.” What they’re really trying to do is leverage the lie about vote rigging into severe voting restrictions outside of the white, older voters who tend to support the GOP. The suppression campaign is a continuation of generations of despicable efforts by Republicans to disempower and disadvantage communities of color.

Let’s not forget, either, that Republicans voted down a collection of election security bills in February 2020 that would have hardened voting systems against interference from players like the Russians. The GOP is eager to engage in election tampering as long as they believe they’ll be the beneficiary.

The For the People Act isn’t an end-all solution for voting access and security. Election officials in various states will still need to harden their systems against fraud and hacking.

But it’s a firm step in the right direction. As Americans, our goal should be to expand eligible voters’ access to the ballot box, not lock people out like the Republicans would do.

To their credit, Southern Nevada’s entire House delegation voted in favor of the legislation. Northern Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei, a Republican, shamed our state by voting against it.

We’re confident that Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen will provide the measure with the crucial support it needs to advance through the Senate and reach President Joe Biden’s desk.