“American democracy is … under assault from the ground up,” is the grim conclusion of a report from The Brookings Institution and the States United Democracy Center. Although the USA triumphed in holding a secure and legitimate national election in 2020 with the highest voter turnout in a century – in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic – some Americans have used both violent and non-violent measures in efforts to control our country’s elections. FAWCO members should respond to this growing threat by redoubling their efforts to register overseas voters and combat the threats to our democracy.

We need to become today’s Sybil Ludington.

(This article was amended on August 5, 2022 to correct a numerical error and add the sources in full for ease of access.) 

January 6 violence followed by non-violent attacks

Recent and current efforts to pre-determine election results are based on the Big Lie: the assertion, starting with one candidate in 2016 and repeated and amplified in 2020 and afterwards, that an election loss by that candidate was in itself proof of massive voter fraud. This is nonsense, as defeats of these assertions in around 70 court cases showed, but is nevertheless espoused by many American politicians and voters. 

In an attempt to prevent the certification of the results of the Presidential election, a mob violently attacked Congress on January 6, 2021, killing several people, injuring 140 police officers, doing millions of dollars of damage to the US Capitol and leading to the prosecution of around 750 people by the Department of Justice. Some political figures have attempted to minimize or mischaracterize the riot as “legitimate political discourse,” a relatively normal tourist visit or even an attack by “far-left” activists in disguise.

Although the mob's attack failed to stop certification, eight senators and 139 representatives still voted to challenge the certified state electoral votes. And a minority of senators later succeeded in preventing legislation to protect voting rights from even receiving a vote in the US Senate.

Focus on election machinery in states  

Attacks on democracy have shifted to the state level and focused on election processes and officials.

1. State legislatures have passed laws making it harder to vote (as noted by FAWCO and CNN, for example) and weakening election officials’ ability to do their jobs, as well as continuing gerrymandering.
2. Death threats have been made against election administrators, “with up to 30% of election officials surveyed saying they are concerned for their safety.”
3. Especially in closely contested states, efforts have been made to “defeat incumbents who upheld the integrity of the election” (such as Secretaries of State), and to change the composition of the boards charged with certifying the vote at the county level, and replace them with believers in the Big Lie.

In addition, news organizations report that state legislatures have passed laws that “shift power over elections to partisan entities” and “[expand] their power over elections.” NBC reporters stated that:

Across the country, … state legislatures have done more than pass voting restrictions after losing the 2020 presidential contest.

They’ve enacted or drafted provisions that create new election powers, change election administration and punish election officials who don’t perform their duties — which all have the potential of injecting chaos into the counting of the next presidential race.

An update and reports by States United Democracy Center and Protect Democracy (NGOs) and Law Forward (a law practice), published in 2021 and 2022, counted hundreds of bills proposed in over 30 states and identified 16 state legislatures – AK and GA in 2021 and AL, AZ, FL, IN, KS, KY, MS, OK, SD, TN, UT, VA, WV, WI (vetoed by governor) in 2022 – that passed laws in pursuit of “a strategy to politicize, criminalize, and interfere in election administration”. The 2022 report cited 148 bills in 32 states (including TX) as of April 6, 2021, but 229 bills in 33 states as of April 8, 2022 (excluding TX, whose legislature meets in odd-numbered years). The report divides these bills and laws into five categories:

1. Usurping control over election results. A handful of states have considered bills that would give legislators direct or indirect control over election outcomes, allowing lawmakers to reject the choice of the voters. …

2. Requiring partisan or unprofessional “audits” or reviews. … in some cases hand the power to call for audits to political parties or the legislature. …

3. Seizing power over election responsibilities. Legislatures have proposed shifting power from professional election administrators to partisan legislatures or legislatively appointed officials. …

4. Creating unworkable burdens in election administration. …

5. Imposing disproportionate criminal or other penalties. Legislatures have proposed to subject election officials to criminal prosecution for poorly defined offenses and have created criminal liability for steps that election officials routinely take to help voters cast ballots. States are also escalating the enforcement of election laws, by creating entirely new law enforcement agencies. …”

Elections cannot be fair or legitimate if one of the competitors – not the voters – also determines the results.   

The report cited above draws a frightening conclusion:

if democracy fails in America, it will not be because a majority of Americans is demanding a non-democratic form of government. It will be because an organized, purposeful minority seizes strategic positions within the system and subverts the substance of democracy while retaining its shell—while the majority isn’t well organized, or doesn’t care enough, to resist. … the possibility that this will occur is far from remote.

What we in FAWCO can do

This emergency requires all US citizens, everywhere, do their best to protect US democracy. This means not only doing our best to register voters and ensure that they can cast valid ballots in 2022 – see FAWCO’s advice – but also championing American democracy, which can include something as simple as recognizing, and urging other Americans to recognize, that defending American democracy from those who would subvert it is the paramount issue of our day: “where politicians stand on democracy is more important than tax rates, inflation, gas prices or any other policy issue.”   

While Paul Revere gets most of the press – and a famous poem – for riding to warn Americans of the approach of an enemy, he was easily outdone by Sybil Ludington. Paul was 41, rode about 12 miles with two companions and was captured. Sybil was 16, rode alone for 40 miles and returned home safely. Let’s be Sybil in 2022 – and for as long as it takes to defend and preserve our rights as Americans.

Sources

Burgher MS. US voting – now is the time to act. FAWCO, March  8,2022.

Galston WA & Kamarck E. Is democracy failing and putting our economic system at risk? The Brookings Institution and the States United Democracy Center, January 4,  2022.

How Republican States Are Expanding Their Power Over Elections, New York Times, July 1, 2021.

Richardson HC. April 15, 2022 (Friday). FaceBook post.  

Scanlan, Q. 10 new state laws shift power over elections to partisan entities, ABC, August 21, 2021.

Scharps L. ‘Tis the Season to Be Vigilant about Voting Rights. FAWCO, November 16, 2021.

Schouten, F. 19 states passed this year laws to restrict voting, new tally finds. CNN, October 4, 2021.

States United Democracy Center, Protect Democracy, Law Forward. Memorandum: Democracy Crisis Report Update: New Data and Trends Show the Warning Signs Have Intensified in the Last Two Months. June 10, 2021.

States United Democracy Center, Protect Democracy, Law Forward. A Democracy Crisis in the Making: How State Legislatures are Politicizing, Criminalizing, and Interfering with Election Administration, 2022.   

Todd C et al. New GOP voting laws target more than just voter access. NBC, June 3, 2021.

 

 

 

Photo by Anthony 22 used under CC3.0 license