Well, here it is.
In Arizona, a GOP legislator has introduced a bill that would “get rid of almost all absentee and early voting in the state and mandate all votes be HAND-counted within 24 hours of polling sites being closed.” (Read story here.)
In other words, votes that election workers can’t hand count within 24 hours get thrown out, not counted.
That won’t affect small, rural, deep-red counties with a few thousand voters. It will affect voters in Maricopa County, which has 62% of the state’s population, and is where Democratic votes are concentrated.
But there’s more. His bill also would “empower the state legislature to accept or reject election results in the state.” In other words, if your candidate wins, the other party — by controlling the legislature — can toss the results and install their candidate in office.
That’s dictatorship.
And this guy isn’t an outlier; this is how most Republicans think these days. It’s been clear for a long time that Republicans don’t like democracy; but before 2020, they merely resorted to gerrymandering, voter suppression, and dirty tricks to get their way. Then, last year, they had men with guns outside election offices, death threats to election officials and workers, and violent insurrection to their repertoire. Now, going a step further, they want to reduce elections to window dressing.
Eventually, you can expect them to do away with elections altogether, if they get their way. And that’s why you can’t vote for Republicans, if you want to be able to vote in the future. As attacks like this on democracy make clear, Republicans are hellbent on eliminating your right to choose political leaders, from local school boards to president. And it isn’t just in Arizona, you’re seeing stuff like this everywhere Republicans are in control.
It isn’t about Republican vs. Democrat, conservative vs. liberal, ideologies or policies, less or more government, higher or lower taxes, anymore. All of that has been subsumed into the battle over democracy, which is the only issue that really matters in America today. It’s about whether we’re going to keep democracy or live under dictators who, once they’ve taken away our votes, then might come for our property, liberty, and lives.
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