Political Reactions

In the context of the media, it doesn’t help that many Republicans have been blunt about the underlying reasoning for such policies. The Pennsylvania Republican state house majority leader stated that “the passage of the state’s 2012 voter identification law would ‘allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania,’” sparking controversy amongst both Republicans and Democrats. This is strictly in pattern with the original Jim Crow laws, which stated that the restrictions were only meant to ensure fair elections. Regardless, “many Republican politicians and their allies assert that restrictive voter access legislation is intended to prevent or curtail rampant electoral fraud so as to preserve the legitimacy and integrity of the electoral process,” creating a divide between those prioritizing voter inclusion and those pushing for voter legitimacy. As the article states, “Democrats who oppose voter access regulations are working to continue their unfair and fraudulent advantages at the ballot box at the expense of democratic legitimacy.” Democrats strongly disagree with such motives but with election security at question, their hands seem to be heavily tied. 

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