States Weigh Police Role in Elections
Despite roundly debunked claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, lawmakers in 42 states have proposed laws trying to tackle the perceived criminal voting wave.
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Despite roundly debunked claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, lawmakers in 42 states have proposed laws trying to tackle the perceived criminal voting wave by proposing new crimes, agencies and criminal penalties. A new investigation from Reveal and the Center for Investigative Reporting tracks efforts to introduce law enforcement into voter suppression efforts across the United States through election crime legislation.
Since 2020, Reveal identified at least 130 bills introduced in state legislatures introducing or increasing law enforcement involvement in voting and elections. In one case, Tennessee republicans proposed bills that would have required 1 in 5 investigators in the state’s Criminal Investigation Division become ‘election crime specialists.’ In South Carolina and five other states, legislators managed to promote existing ‘voter crimes’ from misdemeanors to felonies, in a move that may intimidate voters.
