How Republicans *Actually* Stole the 2024 Election

There's no need to entertain wild tech conspiracies when Republicans are openly dismantling democracy in broad daylight

Some on the left have pushed the theory that Elon Musk used Starlink to somehow changed voting machines to help Trump win. This theory is unfortunate, at best, for two reasons. One, because there’s no tangible evidence for this claim and it is critical we not resort to MAGA-style conspiracies. Two, because the harsh truth is MAGA Republicans have worked in broad daylight to steal elections by passing voter suppression bills, and Democrats have simply not done enough to counter them. If we have any hope of saving our republic, we must reject conspiracy theories, and instead effectively repeal the GOP’s real and destructive voter suppression tactics. But how? Let’s Address This.

Voters oppose voter suppression in Georgia 2021. [Credit: Lynn Anderson / AP]

A few weeks ago I wrote about how the SAVE Act is the MAGA Republican attempt to revive Jim Crow voter suppression in America. This Project 2025 priority is already being enacted now in 2024, and as I predicted before the election, ultimately helped Donald Trump win. Republicans have ‘stolen’ this and other elections through a series of sophisticated and calculated voter suppression bills and policies passed in broad daylight. And unless we repeal these tactics, MAGAs will continue to ‘win’ by denying people the right to vote. Let’s break down four of their more sinister tactics.

1. Gerrymandering

The Brennan Center for Justice reports that after successfully blocking the Freedom to Vote Act in 2022, which would have issued a massive blow to gerrymandering, Republicans ‘won’ the gerrymander olympics. Put in practical terms, they received a 16 House seat advantage over Democrats in gerrymandered districts. Meaning, all things being equal, Republicans built 16 more supermajority red districts than did Democrats, making it that much more difficult for Democrats to win back the House. This tactic worked in the 2024 election, as Republicans successfully retained the House by less than a 16 seat win. Given that nearly 90% of Americans oppose gerrymandering, we must continue to raise awareness and active people across the political spectrum to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and ban partisan gerrymandering.

2. Hundreds of Voter Suppression Bills

Republicans on the state level have proposed or passed more than 100 voter suppression bills, specifically targeting Black and brown and low income voters. After Trump’s loss in 2020, at least 28 states introduced or passed legislation to “primarily seek to limit mail-in voting access, add voter ID requirements and make it harder to get on or stay on the voter rolls.” Republicans know that Black and brown voters disproportionately vote Democratic, so rather than change their own policies to attract voters of color, Republicans change laws to restrict voters of color from voting—even if that means shutting down access to the polls. And speaking of shutting down polling locations, Republicans have gone nuclear in doing so.

3. Shut Down Polling Locations in BIPOC Areas

Since Republicans gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 in Shelby v. Holder, red states have shut down more than 100,000 polling location in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. Yes, 100,000+ closed polling locations.

National data from the independent, nonpartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission shows declining polling place availability nationwide. A 2018 survey found more than 200,000 polling places in use. That number dropped to just over 132,000 in 2020’s report, and fell again to 94,793 physical polling places in 2022. Fewer places to cast a ballot can be a barrier to voting for many people, especially low-income individuals who may lack transportation or time off to vote.

Shutting down more than half of all polling locations, while zero demonstrable election fraud exists, is what voters suppression looks like. Texas is one of the worst offenders, and overtly racist in how they closed locations. A Guardian analysis found that:

The 50 counties that gained the most Black and Latinx residents between 2012 and 2018 closed 542 polling sites, compared to just 34 closures in the 50 counties that have gained the fewest black and Latinx residents. This is despite the fact that the population in the former group of counties has risen by 2.5 million people, whereas in the latter category the total population has fallen by over 13,000.

Again — none of this is conspiracy or theory. This is the end result of Republicans working hard to restrict voting access, particularly for Black and brown voters. And as you can see, it is working. In addition to shutting down polling locations, Republicans are limiting voting hours, banning Sunday “souls to the polls” drives, and have banned giving water to people waiting in line—knowing full well that their racist policies force Black people to wait twice as long as white people to vote.

4. Purging Millions of Legitimate Voters

Especially in the run up to the 2024 election, Republicans did everything possible to overtly purge voters from voter rolls, all with zero evidence of preventing fraud. My viral tweet on this very topic exceeded 20,000 retweets, 60,000 likes, and 3 million views: (forgive the misspelling of eligible but such is social media).

The Oklahoma MAGA GOP Governor purged more than 435,000 voters from the voter rolls. Of them, at least 194,962 voters were valid voters but removed anyway due to made up excuses like ‘address verification.’ And while I stated that Texas purged 500K eligible voters, in fact, the full number of purged names exceeds 1 million, with roughly half of them eligible voters:

About half of the voters removed have died, requested to be be taken off or are living in another state, based on figures from the governor’s office. Nearly 7,000 were noncitizens who had registered illegally, and about 6,000 were convicted felons unable to vote. About 463,000 were on what Texas calls its “suspense list,” where counties place voters who don’t respond to requested certification forms. The removal effort is part of a sweeping package of voting restrictions the Texas Legislature passed after the 2020 presidential election.

Note—the “suspense list” has nothing to do with suspicion of illegal or unregistered voting. These are US citizens, already confirmed and registered to vote by showing their ID, and still being purged from the list. As is well documented, this targets low income and people of color more than white people—hence the continued racist voter suppression. Litigation is one path to rebuke this oppression, however it is not always successful. In Virginia a DOJ lawsuit filed against MAGA Governor Youngkin—for his attempts to purge legitimate voters—ultimately failed before the right wing MAGA Supreme Court.

Conclusion

As a reminder, a Washington Post and AP study over the last 50 years found no examples of systemic voter fraud, and no examples of voter fraud that could have even remotely overturned any State or Federal election. It is no wonder that Donald Trump shut down his own “voter fraud commission” after finding no such evidence. Moreover, Trump then set up a second commission to “find” voter fraud, but then also shut it down after it found no such fraud.

Therefore, I urge my fellow Americans to reject the conspiracy theories, and instead channel your energy to countering the stated public policy of Republicans, which is to win by suppressing votes and denying voting access. We counter Republicans by urging our members of Congress to expand voting access, registering our friends and neighbors to vote, demanding litigation against voter suppression tactics, and investing resources in the public voices calling out this oppression. Indeed, we cannot effectively counter disinformation without meaningful awareness of the disinformation.

MAGA Republicans know they cannot win on ideas and policy, so they commit voter suppression in broad daylight. That is the story of actual stolen elections—not a Starlink conspiracy theory. MAGAs are screaming loudly that they have no regard for democracy or a government represented by We the People. We should believe them, and vote to ensure they never have that kind of power again.

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