I don’t think people understand what really happened in Georgia this week. The vote suppression law is terrible in so many ways. But there is one provision that makes it a democracy killer:
Much of the work administering elections in Georgia is handled by the state’s 159 counties. The law gives the State Election Board new powers to intervene in county election offices and to remove and replace local election officials. That has led to concerns that the Republican-controlled state board could exert more influence over the administration of elections, including the certification of county results.
One target for intervention could be Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that contains most of Atlanta. The heavily populated county has been plagued by problems, including long lines, and it is often singled out by Republican officials. Under the law, the board could intervene in up to four counties at a time and install a temporary superintendent with the ability to hire and fire personnel including elections directors and poll officers.
This is ostensibly to give “the voters” faith that the elections are secure (since the Democrats stole it from Trump, dontcha know.) But I don’t think there’s even the slightest doubt that if there is a close election in 2022 for the Senate race or the presidential in 2024, they will simply refuse to certify a Democratic win. It is going to happen.
And by the way, they are also going to pass a laws in at least a few states that allows the state legislature to overturn elections at will. They have reason to believe there may be five Supreme Court justices who are willing to interpret Article II of the Constitution (which says, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations”) to mean that state legislatures have the power to decide the winner of the election if they want to. That is certainly what dear Leader Donald Trump wants his cult to believe. I have no reason to think the McConnell Court won’t go along with that.
The states are running with these sort of laws and I suspect they feel quite confident that they can get away with it. They know that Democrats won’t do the same thing and, more importantly, that they have nothing to fear from them if they did. The electoral college, Senate distortion and gerrymandering already gives them the leverage to hold minoritarian power as long as they can keep Republicans in the majority in the state legislatures in enough states.
The only legitimate election in the United State in the view of Republicans is one that they win. That is Donald Trump’s philosophy of life and now it is the philosophy of half the country as well.