Republican legislators in Georgia, Arizona and other states seek to tighten
The fresh showdowns over who should run elections come as allies of former President Donald Trump continue to try to cast doubt on his loss — by arguing that election officials and the courts usurped state laws when they relaxed voting rules to overcome challenges posed by the pandemic. And they represent the latest front in the ongoing political warfare over voting rules.
As of this month, state legislators in 43 states had introduced 253 bills to restrict voting access, according to an updated tally by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
The proposals to curtail officials’ powers are “consistent with the pattern that is happening across the country in Republican-dominated legislatures,” Jonathan Diaz, legal counsel for voting rights at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “They are trying to corner the market on running elections and make it more difficult to expand the right to vote.”
Proponents say their actions are needed to restore voter confidence in the system — even if it was battered by Trump’s false allegations that widespread fraud contributed to his loss.
In Montana, a state Trump won by double digits last November, a bill written by Republican state Rep. Llew Jones would require legislative consent before the governor could “suspend the provisions of any statute prescribing the procedure for an election.”
The bill, he said, is his answer to a decision by then-Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, to give counties the choice to conduct voting entirely by mail last year.
“I don’t believe there was any fraud that occurred in Montana,” Jones told CNN. “That being said, perception is reality in this world.”
“The more vetted and the more transparent the process is,” he said, “the more likely there is to be belief that the process has validity and integrity.”
New measures in battleground states
In Georgia, where Republicans in the state legislature have sponsored a flurry of bills to restrict voting after Biden’s win there, a measure introduced this week would eliminate the secretary of state’s voting powers on the five-member state elections board.
The current secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, faced Trump’s wrath for not pursuing unfounded conspiracy theories of widespread fraud in the election.
A Fulton County prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation into a January call during which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in Georgia.
A companion bill in the Georgia legislature would give the state election board the right to assume temporary control over the administration of local elections and voter registration.
“The intent here is to help out when there is a problem and after a very thorough investigation has taken place, and go in and help that county,” said Georgia state Rep. Shaw Blackmon, a Republican who helped sponsor both bills. Blackmon said the bill that would allow the election board temporary control of local elections would add “checks and balances” to the state’s voting process to increase confidence in the system.
Through a spokesman, Raffensperger declined comment about the measures. On Wednesday afternoon, he tweeted that his office is “reviewing” the bills now working their way through the Georgia legislature.
“Once we see something that prioritizes the security and accessibility of elections, we’ll throw in support,” Raffenspreger wrote. “At the end of the day, many of these bills are reactionary to a three-month disinformation campaign that could have been prevented.”
In Arizona, another battleground state that swung to Biden last fall, a pending bill would make it a felony for any official in the state to “modify any deadline, filing date, submittal date or other election-related date that is provided for in statute.”
The bill’s supporters say it’s necessary after legal challenges resulted in an extension of the voter registration deadline in 2020. Two advocacy groups had gone to court to move the deadlines, arguing that pandemic restrictions had led to a dramatic dropoff in people registering to vote. After several legal skirmishes, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, crafted an agreement with the advocates on a registration cutoff date — which some Republicans cast as subverting state law.
At a hearing this month, state Rep. Jake Hoffman, a Republican who sponsored the measure, argued it’s “not good policy for those deadlines to be moved on a whim.”
By considering criminal penalties for officials who alter deadlines, “the legislature is saying: ‘We are the only people in the world that can be trusted with elections,’ ” Alex Gulotta, Arizona state director of All Voting is Local, told CNN.” ‘Election officials who are the professionals, can’t be trusted. The governor can’t be trusted. The secretary of state can’t be trusted.’ “
The measure is among a raft of election-related bills the Republican-controlled legislature in Arizona has considered this year. They range from a bill that would require voters to…
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