In watching the furor over the Georgia election law, it’s clear there’s a bit of hyperbole on the left. It’s not “Jim Crow” but please forgive Democrats if they don’t trust Republicans rewriting election laws. The GOP just tried to steal an election and few elected Republicans have done anything to repudiate the treasonous act. They are still too beholden to the conman who occupied the the White House.   

Republicans have been talking about “election integrity” since Barack Obama won the presidency. Too many of them were sure that a Black man could not win the presidency and certainly not win a state from the former Confederacy like North Carolina. As soon as they got control of the legislature and Governor’s Mansion in our state, they began pushing the false narrative of widespread voter fraud, despite no evidence, as justification for making voting much more difficult. What started here, has now gone national. 

Court evidence shows that Republicans in North Carolina identified voting methods used by African-Americans and targeted them. They worked to disenfranchise people who might vote against them. A few Republicans admitted to this strategy, but defended it by saying they were targeting based on voting behavior, not race. Democrats, they argued, made voting easier for these populations to increase their share of the vote. The history of manipulating the electorate by imposing barriers to the ballot box is ugly. That the GOP embraces it now is disturbing.

The 2020 election was fair and legitimate and, yet, half of Republicans still believe it was stolen. If elected Republicans want enact “voter integrity” laws, they need a little integrity themselves. Instead of playing into the lie of a stolen election, they need to tell their base that Joe Biden won fair and square. They need to reject the people who tried to steal the election and punish those who hold onto the lie. Then, they might be able to say they want to address doubts about the election process and reduce opportunities for fraud. Until they come clean, though, their behavior looks more like a continuation of the Trump era lies than any legitimate concern about elections. The hyperbole on the left is almost quaint compared to the disinformation campaign on right. 

Thomas Mills

Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >