Republicans Want to Stop You From Voting
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress – along with the NC State General Assembly – are doing all they can to prevent anyone but MAGA supporters from voting in the 2026 midterms. Continuing the big lie about mail-in vote fraud as justification, the Republicans are imposing barriers to the ability to vote by mail. But an analysis by the Brookings Institute, using conservative Heritage Foundation data from the 2016-2022 general elections, shows that only 4 out of 10 million mail-in votes cast were identified as fraudulent.
The real reason for the Republicans' attack on mail-in voting is that in 2020, 56% of Democrats voted by mail, but only 29% of Republicans did so.
The uncertainty and lack of clarity regarding the new requirements will provide ample opportunity for the DOJ and the partisan state Board of Elections to disqualify many eligible voters in an effort to skew the election in the Republicans' favor and disenfranchise hundreds of thousands without due process or real opportunity to challenge.
FEDERAL RESTRICTIONS
Trump has signed Executive Orders that:
Direct the Department of Homeland Security to create lists of eligible voters for each state.
Direct all states to send the United States Postal Service a list of eligible mail-in voters at least 60 days before election day and prohibits the USPS from mailing ballots to anyone not on the list. Adding to the confusion, the proposed USPS rule is silent on the deadline for states to submit their eligibility lists.
Require anyone registering to vote by mail to present specified proof of citizenship, possibly in person at a local election office.
Direct the Department of Justice to prosecute any state election official who provides a ballot to anyone the DOJ considers ineligible, presumably based on the on the DHS eligibility lists.
And Trump still is pushing for Congressional passage of his SAVE Act, which contains even more restrictions.
STATE RESTRICTIONS
The Republican controlled North Carolina General Assembly has passed or introduced bills that:
Prohibit counting mail-in ballots not received by close of polls on election day regardless of the post mark date.
Reduce early voting from 17 to 10 days and reduce the number of voting sites for the 2026 midterm elections.
Require voters to amend their registration information by mail rather than online.
Their latest attempt is a bill that includes:
A total ban on encouraging voter turnout: State and county board members are prohibited from any public statement "encouraging or promoting voter turnout in any election"
Granting the Republican State Auditor total discretion to audit all machines, county offices and personnel involved in any election
Reducing campaign finance transparency: the bill significantly raises the dollar thresholds for required reporting of dark money contributions or media expenditures, waiving reporting for the rest
Requiring voters to register with a political party a full year before voting in that party's primary election (up from 90 days)
A total ban on any ranked-choice voting in any primary or general election statewide
Stripping some overseas voters of their eligibility to vote in any state elections
Partisan staffing: changes up to 25 professional staff at the State Board of Elections from career civil staff to partisan political appointees
IMPLICATIONS
The DHS lists will contain errors and omissions, and the imposed deadlines for states to submit mail vote eligible lists will make it difficult, if not impossible, to correct errors or to challenge ineligibility rulings. There are court challenges pending, but they are unlikely to be resolved by election day. The uncertainty and lack of clarity regarding the new requirements will provide ample opportunity for the DOJ and the partisan state Board of Elections to disqualify many eligible voters in an effort to skew the election in the Republicans' favor and disenfranchise hundreds of thousands without due process or real opportunity to challenge. And many more will simply be too discouraged to vote as is the Republicans' goal.
Tom Abram
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