The GOP is Trying to Steal the 2024 Election

A reminder to check your voter status and also recognize just how close we are to losing our democracy altogether

What if I told you that since Donald Trump lost in 2020, more than 19 million Americans have been purged from the voter rolls? It’s true, it’s a problem that has increased in its severity over the last two decades, and right now it threatens to permanently undermine our democracy altogether. The Brennan Center for Justice reports:

According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, over 19 million voters were removed from the rolls between 2020 and 2022. That is an increase of 21 percent compared with 2014–16, which was already an increase of 33 percent from the number of voters removed between 2006 and 2008.

For as much as Republicans scream about non-existent voter fraud, they are leading the charge on voter suppression. Predictably, legacy media is ignoring this crisis, but if we do not act now, we risk losing our democracy forever. Let’s Address This.

A man holds a sign with “Voter Suppression” crossed out, while standing in front of the White House. Credit: AFJ.org

Voter suppression invites fascism

Republican states are leading the way in voter suppression via voter purges. And if we don’t work quickly to ensure comprehensive federal voting rights legislation, we will devolve into permanent fascism. This isn’t hyperbole. Let’s look at the facts.

In swing state Georgia, Republicans have purged thousands of voters from the voter rolls for no reason and without explanation. Remember how Donald Trump wanted to “find” some 12,000 votes? Republicans are now doing the work for him.

Swing state Arizona is even worse. Arizona voter purge, with Republicans suing to remove at least 500,000 voters from voter rolls. Again, given that Biden won Arizona in 2020 by a mere 11,000 votes, purging half a million voters to reduce turnout is the difference between Arizona going red or blue in the 2024 election.

And while I can cite numerous more examples of fascist voter purges, no one tops Texas. Texas is purging or suspending a shocking 2.1 million voters, disproportionately low income and disproportionately Black and brown. In 2020 Trump won Texas by only 660,000 votes out of more than 11 million votes cast. Suspending 2.1 million votes is a concrete way to ensure Texas stays red. This is why many voting rights activists have long said that Texas is not a red state, it is a voter suppression state, and the facts prove this truth.

Voter suppression goes beyond voter purges

And it isn’t only voter purges. Republicans are employing a number of unethical, discriminatory, and downright racist strategies to suppress the vote. Strategies that mimic the poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests of yesteryear. And due to the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act in Shelby v. Holder, these red states are able to get away with this modern day Jim Crow. A sample of these established Republican tactics to suppress the vote include:

• Requiring voter IDs even after voters provided an ID at the time of voter registration

• Banning only certain forms of voter IDs disproportionately used by Black or minority groups

• Accepting only certain forms of voter IDs disproportionately used by white or affluent voters

• Racial gerrymandering that disproportionately represents white voters over non-white voters

• Police target and charge Black people at higher rates, disenfranchising them

• Longer sentences for Black Americans, blocking them from more elections

• Prison gerrymandering, where Black incarcerated people are denied voting but counted for redistricting

• Requiring formerly incarcerated people to pay court fees before voting

• Requiring people to take off work and lose money just to vote

• Banning Sunday “Souls to the Polls” early voting, which targets Black voters

• “Running out” of voter registration or ballot forms

• Purging voters, requiring constant re-registration

• Refusing to accommodate non-English speaking voters

• Denying curbside voting for people with disabilities

• Denying absentee or mail in ballot voting, especially for the elderly, military, and indigent

• Requiring a home address, disenfranchising ~600K homeless Americans

• Partisan poll workers

• Inadequate or closed down polling locations on Native American lands

• Changing polling locations without proper advanced notice

• Limiting public transportation on Election Day

• Arbitrary or subjective signature verification requirements

I can go on but point is—none of the above is hypothetical. All of it is real and is happening as we speak. Each form of suppression chips away at access and has the potential to flip an election. Remember, it isn’t necessary to ban entire demographics of ‘undesirable’ voters—it is only necessary to ban enough, even 1-2%, to flip a close election.

Despite this suppression, BIPOC voters are still organizing and winning elections. But imagine what would happen if these barriers to free and fair voting were removed? America would change forever—and that’s what scares Republicans the most. As a side note, I find it ironic that the same people who scream "all lives matter" and "I don’t see color"—suddenly see color just fine while denying voting rights to non-white voters.

In Conclusion

As the late great John Lewis once said, "Democracy is not a state—it is an act." We cannot have a more perfect union built on justice unless we have equal voting rights. And until we elect leaders who reflect the diversity of the American experience, we prevent our own progress. We must be in this for the long haul. Despite our exhaustion, we must continue to act on the local, state, and federal level to protect voting rights and thus protect our republic.

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