Republicans’ Voter Suppression Tactics Are Going Into Overdrive

As expected, the Grand Old Party is going through excruciating hoops to ensure elections only end with their desired outcomes. Ahead of today’s pivotal midterm election, Republican operatives, candidates, and officials in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan have been using the courts in hopes of disqualifying mail-in ballots from the official tallies.

In Pennsylvania, where all eyes are on the Senate race between John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, and other groups. The suit will hopefully prevent a concerted effort made by local Republican officials to suppress and disenfranchise mail-in voters. Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court has agreed with the Republican National Committee on its view that ballots without a date on the outer envelope or with an incorrect date should not be tallied.

In Michigan, Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo filed a suit to reject all absentee ballots cast in Detroit. Wayne County Chief Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny dismissed it, firing back that her attorneys failed to provide “any shred of evidence” of any wrongdoing on voters’ parts. The real wrongdoing is probably the fact the city is a blue stronghold and heavily Black.

Wisconsin Republicans have had much more luck. Last month, a judge ruled that absentee ballots containing an incomplete witness address would not be counted. Some politicos say Wisconsin is well on its way to becoming a state where Republicans achieve total power. Make no mistake: This is the goal. During a campaign stop, gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels said “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor.”

All throughout the country, Republicans are trying their best to amass power by any means necessary. Ironically, though, studies have shown absentee voting does not actually divide voters along party lines; its impact is generally negligible. Still, you can be sure if Republicans lose these key showdowns, they’ll call the results illegitimate, even though they did anything they could to throw out legitimate ballots in the first place. Get ready for another season of The Big Lie.