Mike Bost against democracy

On November 1, two days before the midterms, Mike Bost devoted his “Bost Bulletin” to undermining the integrity of our election. He claims he’s defending elections, but that’s a lie. Here are the facts.

The SAVE Act targets a non-existent problem

Bost bemoans the fact that the GOP has been unable to pass two bills that would make it harder to vote. The first bill, the SAVE act, claims to address the problem of non-citizens voting. But it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote. And they don’t. Georgia, under GOP leadership, has repeatedly audited their voter rolls. Their latest review, using DHS data, found that about 0.005% of those registered may have been noncitizens who voted. If every one of those cases were confirmed, a Georgia voter would still be more likely to be struck by lightning than to be a non-citizen.

The SAVE Act would make it harder to vote

So the SAVE act is a solution looking for a problem. What harm would it do? It would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. That sounds reasonable, until you start asking what proof of citizenship requires: a passport or a birth certificate.

Fewer than half of Americans have passports. If you do have a birth certificate or passport, but the name on it doesn’t match your name now—if, for example, you’re a woman and you changed your name when you got married—you would need a marriage certificate or a signed affidavit, in addition to that birth certificate or passport, to register to vote. No wonder, then, that over 20 million Americans don’t have the right documents handy. And you would need those documents every time you updated your voter registration when you moved. Who would be hurt most? You guessed it: people of color and women. Precisely the voters who are less likely to back the GOP.

MAGA style elections: the MEGA Act

But the SAVE act doesn’t go far enough for Mike Bost. He’s a sponsor of the Make Elections Great Again (“MEGA”) Act, which wouldn’t just make it hard to register to vote but make it hard to vote once you were registered. This bill would require a photo ID to vote, limit voting by mail, and outlaw ranked-choice voting, in addition to other restrictions. It would further erode states’ control over their elections, a fundamental principle of our constitution. Who would it hurt most? Voters of color, low-income voters, and Native Americans on reservations. More GOP targeting.

Trump says the quiet part out loud Back on March 6th, Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear that these laws are efforts to rig elections for Republicans. “The people are demanding it. Every time I go out, save America! Save America! We want the SAVE America Act! That’s all they talk about. They don’t talk about housing. They don’t talk about anything. That’s what they talk about. And if you send it up there, you will win the midterms and you will win every election for a long time,” Trump added.Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill when the Senate couldn’t pass his SAVE act. Trump doesn’t care about fair elections. All he cares about is getting himself and his allies declared the winners, whether they win more votes or not. Trump is an enemy of democracy, and Bost backs him. The real threat to elections is Trump’s Department of Justice

The Department of Justice, at Trump’s demand, has launched a wave of illegal efforts to interfere in the midterms. How do we know they are illegal? Because the courts have been blocking them. The DOJ has sued 31 states for failing to surrender their voter rolls; 26 of these cases have been dismissed: the Trump DOJ has been victorious in zero cases. The 9th circuit has ruled against a bogus Trump effort to prevent California from counting votes the DOJ claims may be invalid. Another judge has issued a nationwide restraining order preventing the Trump DOJ from threatening state and local elections officials. And a federal judge has t hrown out an effort to meddle in Alaska’s election. Some of the judges who ruled against Trump were appointed by Trump himself.

Trump is anti-democracy and Bost is on the same team.

Bost and Trump plan to dispute election results

Mike Bost knows that SAVE and MEGA acts are going nowhere—the GOP can’t even pass them now, and will be weaker after the midterm results are in. And Trump’s legal challenges are failing and will likely continue to fail. So here’s Bost’s game, which is Trump’s game: sow doubt in elections so that they can dispute any close results from the midterms and deny the will of the people. It’s the same playbook they tried on January 6, 2021. Mike Bost voted against certifying the results of that election. Conservative retired judge Michael Luttig (who clerked for Antonin Scalia and worked for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush), has warned that this could be “The Final Battle for American Democracy.” Donald Trump will never admit that he’s lost an election fair and square. If you can’t do that, you are an enemy of democracy. And Mike Bost has made it clear who’s side he’s on. If you believe in democracy, Mike Bost is not on your side.