Republican Efforts to Restrict Voting Risk Backfiring on Party
- Critics say measures are aimed at reducing minority turnout
- Voter ID laws could hurt older and blue-collar GOP voters
This article is for subscribers only.
Republican lawmakers in battleground states are rushing to enact stricter voting laws that Democrats worry could dampen Black and Hispanic turnout, but the moves could end up backfiring because of the changing face of the GOP coalition.
The flurry of legislation includes attempts to impose voter ID requirements and roll back pandemic-related expansion to mail-in access, steps that may inadvertently limit the participation of many of the older, rural and blue-collar voters that Republicans now depend on.