HuffPost: Here’s What Key Republican Legislatures Are Plotting Next On State Voter Restrictions

HuffPost: Here’s What Key Republican Legislatures Are Plotting Next On State Voter Restrictions

“They have vocally expressed the intention to go that route, and I think the expectation for us and for many of our voting rights allies is that that option is on the table,” said Quentin Turner, a program director for Common Cause’s Michigan chapter. “But the window is closing for them to have it on the ballot for 2022.” “For us, the good news is that they have so much disorganization in their camp that they can’t get behind actually making this process work,” Turner said. “The Republicans fully realize that everything they send to the governor this year or next will get vetoed. They want to run on this in 2022,” said Jay Heck, the executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin. “They think Evers is vulnerable, so a lot of this is just campaign fodder for the 2022 election, and then of course for the Trump allies for 2024.”

Republican legislatures in a dozen states have already passed new laws that restrict voting this year, a number that is likely to grow when Texas Democrats eventually return home from a walk-out meant to delay GOP efforts to pass yet another voter suppression law.

The wave of new voting restrictions could have been even bigger. In Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina, Democratic governors have either vetoed or are likely to block Republican voter restriction packages. But in at least three of those four states, Republican leaders are either actively pursuing or at least considering ways around the vetoes.  …

In June, Michigan Senate Republicans passed three voting restriction bills, two of which would require ID for in-person voting, and a third that would require ID to vote absentee. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) promised to veto any of the 39 voting bills Michigan Republicans proposed ― so the bills legislators have passed aren’t likely to go anywhere.

GOP leaders have openly considered a workaround that would remove Whitmer from the process. The state’s constitution allows the legislature to pass bills when 8% of the state’s voters have signed a petition supporting a particular piece of legislation. In other words, if roughly 340,000 Michiganders sign onto a proposed ballot referendum, lawmakers would then be able to take up the proposal and pass it without it even going to voters. The governor cannot veto bills approved this way.

State Sen. Ruth Johnson (R), who has spearheaded the GOP’s voting restrictions push in Lansing, did not respond to a request for comment about whether Republicans intend to pursue that path. It has taken GOP lawmakers longer than expected to coalesce around and pass voting-related bills this session, and voting rights advocates are watching the clock in hopes that Republicans will run out of time to initiate the referendum process in time for new rules to be in place for the next election.

“They have vocally expressed the intention to go that route, and I think the expectation for us and for many of our voting rights allies is that that option is on the table,” said Quentin Turner, a program director for Common Cause’s Michigan chapter. “But the window is closing for them to have it on the ballot for 2022.”

“For us, the good news is that they have so much disorganization in their camp that they can’t get behind actually making this process work,” Turner said. …

Republicans in Wisconsin and North Carolina have also passed bills creating new voting restrictions that Democratic Govs. Tony Evers (Wisc.) and Roy Cooper (N.C.) are certain to veto as well. …

“The Republicans fully realize that everything they send to the governor this year or next will get vetoed. They want to run on this in 2022,” said Jay Heck, the executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin. “They think Evers is vulnerable, so a lot of this is just campaign fodder for the 2022 election, and then of course for the Trump allies for 2024.”