The threats to democracy are real

Voting is the first line of protection.

A week or so ago, I wrote a piece encouraging people to focus more on voting than on the prospects of a stolen or canceled election. I stand by that column. Large voter turnout is the best defense against attempts to rig elections.

That said, the threats to our elections are real. In Georgia, the FBI raided the Fulton County Board of Elections in what appears to be an effort by the Trump administration to cast further doubt on the 2020 election. The Justice Department has been demanding voter rolls in states across the country and, in Minnesota, Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested the administration would not reduce the force of 3,000 Border Patrol and ICE agents until the state complied. In Utah, Republicans passed a bill to expand the Supreme Court after the current court rejected an effort to redraw congressional districts to give Republicans an additional seat.

Here in North Carolina, we are on the leading edge of Republican efforts to undermine elections. Extreme gerrymandering made its debut in North Carolina after the 2010 census when Republicans gave themselves 10 of 13 congressional seats and almost guaranteed themselves veto-proof legislative majorities in an evenly divided state. At the behest of Donald Trump and in a rejection of state power, Republicans redistricted congressional seats again this year in an effort to squeeze out an additional GOP seat.

The legislature has only been successful because of a complicit state Supreme Court where Republicans hold a 5-2 majority. A year ago, the court voted to allow Republicans to change the rules of the election after the fact. Fortunately, a Trump-appointed federal judge overruled their blatant partisanship with an almost mocking decision that stated the obvious: “You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done.”

The court also supported the legislature when it stripped control of the State Board of Elections and gave it to the State Auditor, who packed it with partisan operatives instead of election professionals. A previous Supreme Court had rejected an earlier attempt to steal control of the SBOE, and voters rejected the move when the Republican-controlled legislature put it on the ballot. One cannot say the GOP respects the will of the voters.

The modern assault on democracy has its roots in North Carolina, but Trump has nationalized it. He sent an army of MAGA loyalists to attack the Capitol in 2021 and has kept alive the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from him. It is not surprising that MAGA supporters believe him, but it is highly disturbing to see so many Republicans—who know better—supporting his efforts to subvert state election commissions.

The best protection against interference is a large turnout of voters rejecting GOP efforts to undermine elections. It is hard to steal blowout elections. People who believe in democracy can also get trained as observers to watch the voting process at the polls and during the canvass period when votes are counted. They can also support legal efforts to protect democracy and elections. Lawyers have had great success in pushing back against GOP efforts to restrict access to the ballot box.

Most of all, though: go vote.