Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina How the Republicans are bending the election laws to their will
The US Department of Justice is suing Alabama, but a lawsuit is looming in Georgia because of the electoral commission. And the Democrats also play tricks when it comes to election laws: this is how the parties bend the rules to suit themselves.
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- North Carolina has removed 747,000 people from the electoral roll since the beginning of 2023 - but rightly so.
- Because Alabama allegedly did something similar too late, the US Department of Justice is suing.
- In Georgia, the electoral commission has changed a particularly large number of rules and reserves the right to certify the election.
- In addition, the votes there are to be counted by hand on November 5, which is likely to delay the announcement of the result nationwide.
- The Democrats are preparing a law to increase the number of judges on the Supreme Court from 9 to 15.
The North Carolina (NC) Election Commission says it has removed 747,000 people from the electoral roll since the beginning of 2023. "They're trying to rig the election," one user on X tweets. Another is ironic: "I'm sure it's a huge, gigantic coincidence that NC is doing this a month before election day."
And yet, at least in this swing state, everything is above board: It's a routine process that removes from the rolls those voters who can no longer or may no longer vote in the Nov. 5 election because of convictions, relocation, their own wishes or death.
In addition, an authority controlled by both parties is responsible for the process: "Eligible voters don't have to worry about being removed from the system," spokesperson Pat Gannon reassures the almost 7.7 million eligible voters.
Georgia "in the headlock of election deniers"
North Carolina probably has its sister state of Georgia to thank for the great mistrust in the matter: the electoral commission there "is in the headlock of the election deniers", the Guardian marvels. What happened? Since May, a group of Trump supporters has introduced 30 new election rules in the state, according to the British newspaper.
The majority of the commission had hardly any political experience, but all the more entrenched opinions: The new rules would sometimes exceed the commission's powers and favor Republicans, critics complain. The driving force is Trump supporter Sharlene Alexander, who is setting the course in Georgia with eleven other MAGA supporters.
The most important changes concern the scope of the commission to verify the election result and the counting of votes. These are to be counted by hand rather than electronically in November - despite objections from officials and election workers. The vote in the commission was three to two.
"The effect is that it will create chaos"
Now that Donald Trump's allies have enforced this rule, critics fear that there will be chaos on election day that could affect the whole country, according to CNN. Due to the hand count, which is also more prone to error than the electronic evaluation, it will not be clear who will become president until much later.
After losing the 2020 election, Trump had already questioned the count in the swing state and spoke of election fraud, among other things. According to CBS, Democrats fear that Republicans close to Trump could now prepare the ground for a new attempt to challenge the election result if Trump loses by a narrow margin again.
The new rules even make conservatives skeptical, Salon knows: "No matter what the intention is," says Republican Natalie Crawford: "The effect is that it will create chaos." The guidelines are vague and undefined and would interfere with the legislative power. The Commission does not have the right to tighten existing state laws.
Democrats also play tricks
The matter will end up before a court - and legal battles are already being fought over the ballot in other states too. The US Department of Justice, for example, is taking legal action against changes to election rules in the state of Alabama because they are said to have led to people being removed from the electoral register too shortly before the presidential election.
But it is not only the Republicans who can change a political procedure in their favor: The Democrats are working on a bill to increase the number of judges from 9 to 15. They are likely to introduce the bill before the vote in order to give Joe Biden the chance to appoint new members himself.
This is intended to break the conservative majority in the Supreme Court that has existed since Donald Trump was able to appoint three new members in Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. However, the current draft provides for the six new judges to be appointed over a period of twelve years.