Would the GOP oppose expansive voting rules from red states?

Republicans are dead set on rolling back voting access in a desperate attempt to cling to power as a majority of Americans turn against their policies. (If Republicans had super-popular policies, they would, no doubt, make certain that voting is easy, hassle-free and possible to do from home.)

Meanwhile, House Democrats have championed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, which includes everything from judicial ethics to guaranteed vote by mail to campaign finance reform. If Democrats really want to put Republicans in a bind, they would do well to select some tried-and-true voting rules from Republican states and propose that they become the national standard.

Take Florida, which Republicans rightly praised ahead of the 2020 election for having a superior mail-in and early-voting system (before they decided to begin dismantling it). The Associated Press reports that Florida has been a model for voting by mail: “Republicans dominated vote by mail in Florida, and it was embraced by the state’s many older voters. It helped the GOP cement a durable statehouse majority and narrowly win statewide races.” The disgraced former president lauded the state’s system and went on to win the state (of course, with no claims of fraud).

Why not adopt nationwide the Florida rules that proved so successful? The state currently has no “absentee” voting by mail; anyone can request a ballot. The request is good for two election cycles. Florida has also made widespread use of drop boxes. Its early in-person voting began on Oct. 19 for the 2020 general election. As the Associated Press reported last year, “Under state law, counties can offer up to two weeks of early voting and many do, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and other population centers. Large counties offer multiple sites and all counties allow those who have received mail-in ballots to drop them off.” Early voting ended the week before Election Day, but voting officials could begin tabulating votes as early as Oct. 12. The result: Ballots were swiftly counted, lines were low and Florida lived up to its reputation.

Wisconsin, which has a GOP legislature, also ran a stellar general election. The Wisconsin League of Women Voters found that after a disastrous primary experience, state officials applied the lessons learned. “The Wisconsin Elections Commission ( WEC) estimated that a record number of Wisconsin citizens voted in this election, more than 72 percent of the voting age population.” Moreover, despite the mammoth turnout, “the rate of rejected absentee ballots plummeted from 1.8 percent in April 2020 to a mere 0.2 percent in November 2020.” Wisconsin officials made the system run more smoothly, with no loss of security, by taking measures such as giving voters more lead time to request ballots, instituting a ballot-tracking system, mailing ballot applications to voters, using drop boxes widely and upgrading software.

So what is wrong with running all elections as in these states? Well, lots of people voted, and that apparently scares the daylights out of Republicans. (Despite the GOP’s focus on early voting, evidence nevertheless suggests that mail-in voting was not the source of Democrats’ advantage, confirming what we always knew: Republicans historically have made better use of mail-in voting.)

In Georgia, where voting also proceeded smoothly, Republicans in the state Senate just voted to end no-excuse early voting, an accommodation that many older, Republican voters enjoy. As was the case in more than 30 states that allow no-excuse early voting, Georgia officials detected no discernible fraud. (And Republicans tried mightily to find some.) Five states, including Utah, have all-mail voting, again with no reports of fraud.

There are good systems around the country, operated by Republican governors and legislatures, that have maximized turnout, offered the convenience of both mail-in and early in-person voting, and allowed state officials to prepare to release vote results promptly on election night. If Republicans in Congress oppose these procedures nationwide, it will be easy to figure out why: They are afraid of large turnout.