Grand Canyon Times

The Arizona Legislature’s moves to tighten its voting laws after what some consider loose practices were instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic have renewed accusations of voter suppression that first surfaced months before the November 2020 elections. 

Recently released U.S. census figures, however, show that allegations of minorities being restricted from voting in the general election were baseless, one analyst says. 

An analysis of the numbers by elections expert Hans von Spakovsky of the conservative Heritage Foundation shows “there was higher turnout among all races in 2020 when compared to the 2016 election. Black Americans turned out at 63%, compared to 60% in 2016.”

In his analysis, Spakovsky singles out those on the left who have alleged voter suppression, namely U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta has repeatedly made “dishonest” arguments about voting rights.

“But 59% of Asian Americans voted in 2020, a 10-percentage point increase from 2016 when 49% turned out to vote,” he writes. “Only 47% of Asian Americans voted in 2008 and 2012 when Barack Obama ran for office and was re-elected, including during a period when Gupta was in charge of the Civil Rights Division at Justice and was supposed to be protecting voting rights.”

“There is no suppression going on of anyone’s votes anywhere in the country,” von Spakovsky said. “Anyone who says otherwise is just making it up.”

A recent Wall Street Journal breakdown of the census numbers also undermines charges of voter suppression. Red states with stricter voter rules for the November elections saw no significant drop in minority voting. In fact, black turnout in Mississippi, at 72.8%, was a close second to blue state Maryland at 75.3% among national leaders for black voting. Both were far ahead of blue Massachusetts’ 36.4% for black voter turnout.

“Liberals have lambasted Georgia for 'purging' voters and restricting ballot access,” Wall Street Journal editors noted. “But Georgia had a smaller black-white voting gap than Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia and California – all states controlled by Democrats.”

Among other legislative actions, Arizona followed Georgia, Florida and other states in banning local election officials from accepting private money to help underwrite the cost of their elections. More recently, Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation that secures vote-by-mail lists.

Democratic lawmakers opposed the legislation, saying it would create barriers to voting.

However, the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) said at a recent news conference, “We’re not going to back down from something that’s reasonable, that is common sense and protects the integrity of our elections.”