Why Are Republicans Intent on Suppressing Their Own Voters?

"It's the last day to register. He's just moved to a new town for a job and has been working doubles at the factory for weeks on end. When he arrives at the clerk's office, he's informed he'll need papers to prove he's a citizen. But he's lost his birth certificate in the move, he's never had a passport, and they tell him his driver's license doesn't do the trick."

"When I first became involved with voter protection for the Democrats, we always assumed that this vote, or any other being suppressed, was likely one of ours. Higher turnout benefited Democrats, and voters who would be hampered by burdensome paperwork were on our side. But in 2024, when I was head of voter protection for the Democratic National Committee, fighting for the voting rights of all Americans, I began to see many instances where Republican vote-suppression tactics became self-inflicted wounds."

"For pre-2016 Republicans, this was a twofer: Making voting harder disproportionately hurt racial minorities and working-class whites, who also voted for Democrats. However, since then, the electorate has shifted, and the Republicans have absorbed massive numbers of working-class white voters. These voters are still heavily impacted by Republican vote-suppression tactics, but the parties' shifting coalitions mean these attacks now significantly impact Republicans' own voters."

A young man arriving on the last day to register was denied because he lacked documentary proof of citizenship despite having a driver's license. Voter-protection experience initially suggested suppressed votes would mostly harm Democratic constituencies because higher turnout benefited Democrats and burdensome paperwork disproportionately affected their voters. By 2024, voter-protection operations observed that Republican vote-suppression tactics were increasingly self-inflicted. Before 2016, making voting harder tended to advantage Republicans by disproportionately reducing turnout among racial minorities and working-class whites. Since then, the electorate shifted as Republicans gained many working-class white voters, causing suppression measures to harm Republican supporters as well. Republicans are pursuing a new push to restrict voting.

Read at Slate Magazine