Donald Trump complains about rigged elections. But he and his Republican Party enablers are counting on precisely that – rigging the election – to gain the White House or at the very least hold onto their gerrymandered legislative majorities. In states controlled by Republicans, they’ve enacted strict or even impossible-to-get voter ID requirements, eliminated or restricted early voting, rejected universal registration, set up fewer voting machines in selected precincts, and much, much more.
The objective is as simple as it is ugly: Suppress voting and make it harder to register for students, poor people and people of color, or just eligible voters who are more likely to vote for Democrats. And the Roberts-led 5-4 Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder helped them out by striking down the key provisions of the Voting Rights Act making it easier for Republican-controlled states to carry out the plan. That’s one important reason the Republican Senate majority won’t confirm a Supreme Court nominee until after the election.
Whatever one’s political preference, this is wrong; if we let them get away with it, don’t deserve a Democratic form of government.

Neil Fabricant is the President Emeritus of George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management

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