The only election conspiracy is the GOP trying to limit ballot access for Trump opponents

This one is for those of you who are struggling under the Trump administration, tired of arguing about it or feeling angry, indignant, depressed or powerless. Now you have the power to help vote out what for many of us has been a nearly four-year national nightmare of dishonesty, incompetence, bigotry and self-centeredness. 

I can say that because, much as Donald Trump tries to silence and undermine us, we still have rights of speech and dissent. And hard as he may work to assemble a “Trump army” of Proud Boys or whoever to confront us at the polls, you still have the right to vote. Section 49.105 of the Iowa Code empowers precinct officials to order the arrest of anyone who is disruptive or tumultuous at an election site. This being Iowa, the law leaves room for the offender to first do their civic duty and vote before being hauled away.

But we have to be vigilant about voting. That simple, most fundamental right of democracy, hard won by our forebearers who weren’t white or male, faces new barriers from the president himself. He’s making baseless fraud allegations while erecting barriers, some with the help of state and national Republican parties. Truthout reports that far-right groups are recruiting hundreds of volunteers to show up at polling stations. The Proud Boys, whom the president refused to denounce as white supremacists and called on to “stand by,” are mobilizing. According to Rolling Stone, the Trump campaign is looking to recruit 50,000 partisan poll watchers.

Litigation aims to making voting difficult

The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have reportedly spent at least $20 million so far filing suit in more than 12 states. Some are efforts to block litigation by Democratic groups to expand mail-in voting because of COVID-19. 

From the hospital while being treated for COVID, the president tweeted at supporters to be volunteer poll watchers. The campaign website takes you to communications director Erin Perrine claiming on video with no evidence, “We all know that the Democrats will be up to their old dirty tricks on Election Day to make sure that President Trump doesn’t win. We cannot let that happen.” 

What they really don’t want is a big voter turnout, especially in Democratic areas. 

To that end, Republican operatives are trying to limit the number of drop boxes where ballots can be safely left in Iowa and elsewhere so voters needn’t crowd inside precinct offices during COVID-19.  In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott limited them to one per county. Harris County, a Democratic stronghold with 4.71 million voters, is going from 12 drop boxes to one.

“This isn’t security, it’s suppression,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo tweeted of the move, which prompted a lawsuit by the League of United Latin American Citizens. The Texas branch of the nonpartisan grassroots organization Common Cause is suing to challenge the limit. Its attorney Anthony Gutierrez said the governor lacks authority to restrict drop boxes; that’s for local election officials. 

The drop box issue also reached Iowa. Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate instructed county auditors to place them inside their offices or on county property, but not elsewhere in the community. 

Efforts to assist mail voters targeted

Then there are the fast-changing directives over pre-filled ballot-request forms mailed to voters in three Iowa counties. County auditors in Linn, Johnson and Woodbury counties wanted to send out absentee ballot request forms to registered voters in which some of their information, including names and addresses, was already filled in. 

This past spring, Pate urged Iowans to vote absentee by mail for the primary elections, stressing the safety factor during COVID-19. In March he sent absentee ballot request forms to every registered active voter. But on June 30 Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a new law, HF 2486, requiring that he get approval from the Legislative Council to change anything. Those 24 Republican-majority legislators can impose their own rules.

The Legislative Council did approve Pate’s directive on July 17 ordering  county auditors to only distribute blank forms. But the county auditors, questioning his legal right to do that, sent out the prefilled forms anyway.

Then in August, the Republican National Committee, Trump’s campaign committee, and the Republican senatorial and congressional campaign committees got involved. Along with the Iowa Republican Party, they sued the three auditors to invalidate those forms, and judges granted them injunctions.

Why would they care so much about something so local to Iowa? Is it coincidence that when Pate was pushing for absentee-ballot voting, people were voting within their respective parties and no one objected?  Here’s a clue: Voters in Linn and Johnson Counties generally vote Democratic.

Also, a new provision in this year’s state budget bill prevents county auditors from filling in missing or incorrect information in voters’ absentee ballot applications. Instead, they have to contact the voters. 

The Iowa Democratic Party responded, along with the Democratic senatorial and congressional campaign committees, by seeking an emergency stay of part of Pate’s order. They argued the amended new law itself doesn’t order auditors not to pre-fill  those forms. Judge Robert Hanson of the Fifth Judicial District ruled in their favor Oct. 5. But the Iowa Supreme Court, whose seven justices include just one appointed by a Democrat, put Hanson’s ruling on hold. About 80,000 ballot requests have already been returned.

Back-and-forth in court continues

Back in Texas, voting rights advocates have had more to worry about. In July the governor ordered the early voting period be extended by six days, but a team of Republican officials including the state party chair resisted. Now the state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of an extension. But in Bexar County, where San Antonio is, officials have to go to court to expand the number of voting sites. The state Supreme Court ruled against a bid by the Harris County clerk to send mail-in ballot applications to every registered voter there.

Democrats in Wisconsin are also fighting lawsuits. During the primaries, a judge had permitted mail-in ballots received by Election Day to be counted up to six days later. The state’s Republican Party and leaders appealed that, and after a panel of the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the extension, the full court gave the Republicans the right to appeal to the federal Court of Appeals in Chicago — on which, incidentally, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett sits. A panel of that court on Thursday said ballots have to be returned by Election Day.

If ever there were reason to vote, this year has them all. Do it as if your life and democracy depend on it, but do it carefully, thoughtfully and safely, armed with all your information.  Vote as an act of defiance and of empowerment.

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*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Des Moines Register can be found here ***