The 2020 elections had the highest voter turnout since 1900, despite the pandemics and the political attacks and intimidation, in large part, by a new conservative wave that encouraged the revival of neofascist groups in the country. The attacks on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were launched in this context, in which Donald Trump claimed countrywide fraud in the election and urged a mass of supporters to derail the nomination of Joe Biden. The “big lie” that “poisoned” American politics and that Biden often recalls in some speeches concerns Donald Trump’s framework on electoral fraud. In the previous update of our solution site, we mentioned this atmosphere of radicalism.

It is worth mentioning that the recent presidential elections in the United States have been characterized by a high level of polarization and by the small margins that define the winning candidate. In 2016, despite receiving fewer popular votes, Donald Trump won the election by adding more votes in the Electoral College. That year, in swing states, the odds in favor of Trump were very narrow, with 44,000 in Pennsylvania, 23,000 in Wisconsin and 11,000 in Michigan. In the 2020 election, there were similar results, but this time in Joe Biden's favor: Georgia, 12,000, Wisconsin, 20,000 and Arizona, 11,000. A final data to be considered by the last elections was the increase in popular participation, as in 2016, 136 million people showed up to vote. This number jumped to 158 million in 2020.

In this context, where every vote counts, literally, enhancing or hindering the inclusion of new voters can be decisive. In Georgia, for example, there has been a major political effort to include minority voters such as African Americans and Latinos, led by Democrat Stacey Adams, who founded Fair Fight Action 2020, a civil rights organization that mobilized this part of the electorate to register to vote. It is estimated that, under her leadership, about 800,000 voters were incorporated into the electoral college of the state of Georgia. It is noteworthy that in 2016 Trump obtained 2.09 million votes against Hillary Clinton's 1.88. In 2020, Trump's vote rose to 2.46, but Joe Biden's was 2.48 million.

The mobilization of Latinos and African-Americans, a segment that traditionally supports the Democratic Party, provoked an avalanche of measures for Republicans aimed at making it difficult for minorities to vote. According to a report (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/freedom-vote-act) by Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan American institute for law and politics whose research data is constantly referenced by Joe Biden, “in the wake of the 2020 election, an unprecedented wave of restrictive voting laws and election sabotage efforts are taking hold in the states, with more likely to come this year. We are also in the midst of another cycle of extreme partisan gerrymandering. Both these and other attacks on democracy have often primarily targeted communities of color”.

Furthermore, according to the Brennan Center, in 2021, at least 19 states passed 34 restrictive voting laws. There were more than 440 bills with restrictive provisions presented in legislative sections in 49 US states. According to the institute, these numbers beat the record not only in the amount of state voting laws enacted, but also because of the much more restrictive characteristics in historical comparison since 2011, when the institute began to map and analyze electoral legislation. More than a third of all restrictive voting laws enacted since then were passed in the year 2021.

On the other hand, other data presented by the same institute show some setbacks for the legislature when enacting at least 62 state laws with expansive provisions in 25 states. However, the researchers consider that “this expansive legislation does not balance the scales”, as restrictive voting laws were enacted in states that already have a history of limitations in this regard, as well as expansive voting laws have gained ground in more advanced states progressives on the subject. According to the same research, “In an emerging trend, restrictive laws in four states — Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, and Texas — impose new or more stringent criminal penalties on election officials or other individuals. These new criminal laws will deter election officials and other people who assist voters from engaging in ordinary, lawful, and often essential tasks. People in Georgia can now be charged with a crime for handing out water or snacks to voters waiting in line at the polls. In Iowa and Kansas, people could face criminal charges for returning ballots on behalf of voters who may need assistance, such as voters with disabilities. And in Texas, election officials could face criminal prosecution if they encourage voters to request mail ballots […].

There are also a number of new proposed laws with restrictive voting provisions that are expected to be presented this year, when there are midterm elections. The proposals range from the stricter establishment of voting requirements, such as the reduction of votes by mail, among other provisions. A summary of the laws enacted by the state in the year 2021, both with restrictive and expansive provisions, can be found here.

In an attempt to oppose to Republican initiatives and make it difficult for minorities and the poorest families to vote, the Democratic Party presented three initiatives in early 2021: (1) the Freedom to Vote Act; (2) the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act; and (3) the Electoral Count Act.

The major measures proposed by the Freedom to Vote Act are: making election day a federal holiday, establishing online, automatic, same-day voter registration; establish a minimum of 15 days during early voting, including at least two weekends, institute mail-in voting with extensive access to online ballot tracking, in addition to simplified election correspondence by the US Postal Service; allow identification of; prohibit partisan manipulation that states used are determined when drafting new congressional demand districts; require states to use cell-verifiable papers and hold post-election auditoriums; subsidize resources for states to ensure cybersecurity and strengthen cybersecurity standards for voting equipment; veto the dismissal and removal of election officials; increase transparency in campaign funding; create a public funding program for the House elections; establish a federal obligation for campaigns to denounce foreign interference in the electoral process.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, for its part, is intended specifically for the Supreme Court and the federal courts, seeking to undo decisions that overturned or weakened key components of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. More specifically, it creates a formula to restore the federal pre-authorization requirement, requiring states with a history of discrimination to seek permission from the federal government before enacting new voting rules or redistricting plans.

Finally, the Electoral Count Act is an update to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which determines how Congress counts electoral votes and will provide a path for Congress to resolve contested elections, seeking to end the ambiguities that led the former president Donald Trump and his allies to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn Joe Biden's election.

The Democrats' proposals were the targets of a harsh attack by Donald Trump. On February 28, 2021 he stated that the election laws proposed by the Joe Biden administration would “automatically registers every welfare recipient to vote”.

Such Democratic initiatives against restrictive voting legislation across the country were derailed by Republican senators, despite an attempt to change the “obstruction rule”, which was defeated in the Senate on Wednesday, January 19, by 52 votes to 48. Previously, Senate Democrats sought four times to bring the federal voting bill, the Freedom Vote Act, to the floor last year and were repeatedly blocked by Republicans under that rule. It is important to draw attention once again to the role of Democratic senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) in making the electoral reforms proposed by their party unfeasible.

Faced with the failure to change the electoral rules, it remains for Democrats to increase the mobilization of social groups traditionally linked to the party, such as the Latin/Hispanic community and African-American voters, and also to overcome the high unpopularity of Joe Biden, whose government failed to deliver the investments of the Build Back Better project, the immigration reform and, also, the changes in the legislation with a view to increasing democratic participation in the electoral process. In addition, Biden has to face the negative impacts of the inflationary crisis, the new wave of Covid-19, and the demoralization due to the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.