A new report from The Heritage Foundation once again proves that the Left's "voter suppression" narrative is a myth. The report, entitled "The Latest Election Data Show—Once Again—That 'Voter Suppression' Claim Is Just Propaganda," explores how data over several election cycles illustrates that increased voter integrity measures leads to greater confidence in the election system, and in turn, increases voter turnout. Voter ID laws are a perfect example of this trend:
In 2023, another study on voter ID laws was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This study concentrated on the claim made by opponents of such laws that ID requirements help Republican Party candidates and hurt Democrat Party candidates because of the supposedly “disproportionate burden they place on historically disadvantaged groups such as the poor and people of color.”
The authors examined the political “parties’ electoral fortunes in races at the state level (state legislatures and governorships) and federal level (United States Congress and president) during 2003 to 2020." In other words, they examined whether ID requirements helped or hurt the candidates of the two major political parties in state and federal elections. They found that when ID laws were first implemented, they “produced a Democratic advantage, which weakened to near zero after 2012." In fact, such ID requirements seem to increase turnout since they “motivate and mobilize supporters of both parties."
The U.S. Census Bureau’s election survey of voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election is also worth noting because it clearly demonstrated that there has been no wave of “voter suppression” keeping American voters from registering and voting.
The Census survey shows that there was higher turnout among all races in 2020 when compared to the 2016 election. Black citizens turned out at 62.6 percent, compared to only 59.4 percent in 2016. Asian American citizens turned out at 59.7 percent in 2020, an almost 11 percentage point increase from 2016 when 49 percent turned out to vote. Hispanic citizens voted at a rate of 53.7 percent compared to 47.6 percent in 2016.
Similarly, the Left has misled the American people about the prevalence of violence against election officials. As RNLA President Marc Ellinger wrote earlier this year:
This concerted effort had one objective: to villainize ordinary, law-abiding Republican voters as violent extremists that threaten the very lives of election officials.
But rather than the violent criminals Democrats painted them to be, Republican voters––and election observers for that matter––across the country participated in unified and peaceful expression as they cast their ballots. Not a single story of violence, no threats, just fair participation and democracy at its finest.
Democrats cried wolf, and they should own up to it. If they refuse to, the media should responsibly label the Democrats as perpetrators of election disinformation. Furthermore, the public should never forget that the self-proclaimed defenders of democracy baselessly smeared half of the country’s citizens in pursuit of their political goals, and when their smears proved false, conveniently forgot their consistent, months-long narrative as if it never existed.
Republicans want to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. Unfortunately, Democrats continue to push narratives and policies that will bring confusion and destabilization to the American election system.