Donald Trump might be out of office, but Never-Trump Republicans are still suffering from his four years of conservative leadership.
Triggered by accusations of widespread voter fraud and the Capitol riot, a group of Never-Trumpers has chosen to abandon commonsense conservative proposals to improve election integrity and are now standing in lockstep with radical Democrats in accusing Republicans of passing voter suppression laws.
Regardless of who you voted for, the 2020 election exposed various weaknesses in election integrity nationwide. Even the anti-Trump Secretary of State in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, can’t deny that they occurred and wants to fix them—even though he doesn’t believe Trump may have won his state because of them.
Of course, one notable target of Democrats has been the recently passed election integrity bill in Georgia. As my PJ Media colleague Stephen Kruiser noted earlier this year, everything Democrats say about the Georgia election law is a lie. One common lie was that the law restricts early voting, even though it actually expands it. Another was that the law would close polling places at 5 p.m. That wasn’t true, either. The law also requires ballot dropboxes in every county and empowers the state to purge dead and outdated voters from the voter rolls. It is actually easier to vote in Georgia than it is in Biden’s home state of Delaware.
There were so many lies about this bill spread by Democrats and the media, and Never-Trump Republicans fell for them all—hook, line, and sinker.
Amanda Carpenter, a CNN political commentator and columnist for The Bulwark, is the director of a new campaign to hold Republicans accountable for questioning the results of the 2020 election and for their alleged “voter suppression” efforts. The campaign is called Republicans for Voting Rights (RVR).
According to the group’s website, Republicans for Voting Rights, which is an initiative of the Republican Accountability Project, was started with the purpose of “defending the accessibility, integrity, and competitiveness of American elections.”
Voting is a sacred American right. But after the 2020 election, some Republicans began pushing for more restrictive voting laws designed to support unfounded accusations that the election was stolen and the results were illegitimate. Some even believe that voting is harmful to their electoral prospects. More still believe our electoral system is rife with fraud and security failures.
Republicans for Voting Rights rejects the false choice between voting access and election integrity. We believe that Republicans in federal, state, and local government should protect the right to vote, protect our election systems from partisan or foreign interference, and help build trust in our democracy.
Carpenter told the Washington Post that the group’s agenda would be “extremely supportive” of expanding voting to increase turnout. According to her, the election showed that “when you give people more voting options, more people vote. That is something that should be celebrated.”
“But unfortunately, a lot of people in the existing Republican Party looked at the 2020 election” and decided they “just need to clamp down on voting,” Carpenter added.
This is not true.
As a basis for their agenda, the group supports Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) proposal for new voting legislation, which, amongst other things, includes making Election Day a public holiday, automatic voter registration, expanded early voting, allowing counting of provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct, and a slew of other potentially problematic measures. His proposal includes requiring voter ID, but it is unclear if RVR supports this or not, considering how many Democrats have dubbed the commonsense requirement voter suppression.
RVR’s website is full of testimonials from individuals who similarly buy into the idea that Republicans are making it harder to vote.
“Another reason that I left the Republican Party is the restriction on voting rights,” said Julie from Texas.
“The only way Republicans can try to compete now is by pushing mean-spirited voter suppression laws that would disenfranchise whole classes of folks who disagree with them,” said Jerry from Colorado.
“Making voting easier, not harder, should be our goal,” said Gary from California.
Related: Biden Administration to Sue Georgia Over Election Integrity Law
And so on. We’ve seen Democrats falsely claim that the Georgia election integrity law made it harder to vote. Does hating Trump mean you have to buy into these lies to stay in the good graces of the radical left? It’s disappointing to see so many Republicans abandon commonsense proposals to improve election integrity. Never-Trumpers don’t have the guts to contradict their new radical left-wing pals when proposals like purging dead people from voter rolls or requiring people to prove their identity get branded “voter suppression” and “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Heck, even Stacey Abrams and James Clyburn can see the light on Voter ID—both had previously claimed that doing so amounted to voter suppression.
The 2020 election eroded trust in our democracy. We saw governors violate election laws to expand mail-in voting—the most insecure method of voting. As a result, irregularities showed up everywhere. Establishing trust in our democracy shouldn’t be partisan. Both sides should feel confident that elections are fair and secure regardless of the results. But Democrats and groups like RVR flat-out dismiss the concerns of those who question the security of mail-in ballots or think proving one’s identity before voting is key to election integrity. Instead, those ideas are dubbed “voter suppression” by those who want to subvert our elections with Democrat power grabs.