GOP Celebrates Advancement Of Voting Rights They’ve Undermined

In a statement issued Thursday that acknowledges ;”those who stood up to discrimination, threats of violence and even death” to push for the VRA, the Republican National Committee implies that the party supports ;early and weekend voting, which have experienced cutbacks in states with GOP-controlled legislatures like Ohio ;and North Carolina.

Republican lawmakers in ;Florida, Georgia, Nebraska ;and Wisconsin ;have also limited or tried to limit early voting hours and days. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, has repeatedly expressed his dislike for a bill to ;enact in-person early voting.

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 enjoyed broad Republican support, but protecting citizens’ right to vote in free and fair elections is not merely a Republican priority. It is an American priority,” the party’s statement reads. “Today, as we enjoy more access to the polls — through early, absentee and weekend voting — than in past decades, we celebrate the sacrifice, accomplishments, and memory of those who made it possible.”

Back in 1965 Congress did send the VRA to President Lyndon Johnson’s desk with broad bipartisan support, with Southern Democrats vehemently opposed to ending literacy tests and poll taxes. But after Republicans swept to power in a swath of states in the 2010 midterms, they began advancing a slew of new restrictions on voting. And most Republicans have resisted restoring ;sections of the VRA that were invalidated by ;the Supreme Court in 2013

Congressional bills to restore the VRA haven’t gotten any traction, with GOP leaders saying the legislation has served its purpose. ;House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said he would like to see ;a bill to restore the VRA ;debated in committee; ;but the chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ;and his House counterpart, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), have both resisted calls to do so. ;

The GOP’s statement Thursday also says that “every citizen should have the chance to vote in our elections while we also work to ensure the integrity of the voting process by preventing things such as mistakes, fraud and confusion.” ;

Republican lawmakers have used the specter of nearly non-existent in-person impersonation fraud as grounds to demand government-issued photo IDs at the polls. Democrats say such laws disproportionately disenfranchise racial minorities, students, seniors and low-income and disabled voters. On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that Texas’ voter ID law ;violates Section 2 of the VRA. ;

Democrats mocked the RNC statement in one of their own Thursday, calling it “absurd.” ;

“If Republicans want to talk about the integrity of the voting process, they should start by taking a look in the mirror,” said DNC Director of African American Media Michael Tyler. “While Democrats believe our nation and democracy are stronger when more people participate, Republicans continue to engage in a cynical ploy to restrict access to the ballot box. Since the Supreme Court gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, Republicans have used every trick in the book to pass restrictive voting measures that disproportionately impact communities of color, women, and young people.” ;

To be sure, Republicans can argue that some states with Democratic governors, such as New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, ;do not have ;early voting. Lawyers representing the GOP-controlled state of North Carolina have used that fact to justify cutting back their state’s early voting period from 17 days to 10.