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Less than 56 percent of Americans cast ballots in the 2016 election, but that's not low enough for many Republican-controlled legislatures across the country. Eight states have now passed or are implementing new voter suppression laws that will reduce rather than increase voting participation in the U.S.
Voter suppression efforts are gaining momentum from popular vote loser Donald Trump's delusional claim that several million fraudulent votes were cast for Hillary Clinton. Yet somehow, when Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was recently trying to build a case for his new voter ID law in the "Show-Me" State, he could only cite one potential instance of fraud in the last half dozen years. NBC's Jane Timm writes:
"We know it's happened," said Ashcroft, 44, noting that he didn't have any hard numbers, although he cited a 2010 incident in which a couple claimed a false address on their voter registration forms to vote in a primary election. "How many are an OK number? Is it OK to have one or two?"
The Republican secretary of state didn't mention that the new law he's traveling the state to promote — aimed at combating voter impersonation — wouldn't have stopped the couple, a fact his office later confirmed. [...]
At least 99 bills to restrict access to the polls have been introduced (or have been carried over from previous sessions) in 31 states this year; that's already more than double the number last year, according to data compiled by the Brennan Center. Voter ID — requiring voters to prove who they are with identifying documents — is the most common requirement, but changes to the voter registration process, such as asking people to prove their U.S. citizenship, are a close second.
Ashcroft isn’t the only GOP secretary of state who’s had a hard time documenting “widespread” fraud—he’s joined by none other than Kansas’ Kris Kobach, who’s now co-leading Trump’s national effort to suppress the votes of those who cast a ballot against him.
The Brennan Center points to Kobach's own 2013 review (since taken offline) of 84 million votes cast in 22 states, where he found just 14 instances of fraud sent on to prosecutors.
Sure sounds like a pressing issue.
Missouri's new law is supported by an amendment to the state constitution passed by voters in 2016. Though the ACLU has filed a legal challenge to it, Arkansas voters will be weighing in on a similar measure in 2018 while voters in Oklahoma and Nebraska might have a similar opportunity.
Of course, the state efforts are no doubt getting cover from Trump's Kobach-led voter suppression commission and Jeff Sessions' Department of Justice, which just last week urged a federal judge in Texas to let that state's thrice-sticken voter ID law go into effect.
The suit, which is continuing, is one of 15 major lawsuits pending in 11 states, according to the Brennan Center. Opponents of additional voting requirements say that in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision — which gutted much of the federal government's ability to enforce the Voting Rights Act — there has been a frenzy of election changes and proposed legislation, forcing them to fight more suits in court than ever before, which can be costly and a drain on manpower.
"We've just seen local jurisdictions and the states enacting regulations and legislation that would not have survived under the Voting Rights Act," said Julie Houk, a lawyer for the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law monitoring Georgia's elections, citing a recent proposal to shutter 17 polling places.
"It's become very sophisticated. It's just a matter of whether courts are going to let jurisdictions get away with it," she added.
The good news on that front is that the Supreme Court recently quashed North Carolina's sweeping voter ID law targeting people of color for discrimination.