Apparently, too much of a good thing really exists. At least, too much of what seems like a good thing at first. Often it turns out to be a monster created by too much hype. And that’s the case with Republicans constantly spouting off about the mythical epidemic of voter fraud.
The problem for top GOP leaders and spokespeople is the same reason they get elected in the first place: Their voters are gullible. But now it’s backfired on them, and the voters who tend to believe everything their leaders say are beginning to believe that voting itself is pointless.
In fact, Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, maybe said it best.
When my fellow Republicans are focused on the wrong things, when they’re focused on conspiracies about secret algorithms on voting machines, and they’re focused on ideas there is a group of ballots printed in China snuck in the back door of the board of elections — all those things are easily disproven.
That creates an issue for a GOP that already counts on enthusiastic voters in smaller areas to win. And a poll conducted by Politico [1] shows that the distrust in government and elections runs deeper than the small margin Republicans have been winning by: Fewer than 3 in 10 GOP voters trust the election “a lot” or even “some.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed her woes similarly:
I recently conducted a poll on Georgia’s elections and if my constituents felt their votes would count during a teletown hall. Sadly, 4% said they won’t even vote due to voter fraud. This is WRONG. Legal votes by Rs are just as important as stopping illegal ones.
Greene’s seat in the ultra-right-wing 14th District may be safe, but a 4 percent reduction in votes in Georgia Republican turnout would have made the 2020 election go 52 percent to 48 in favor of Biden last November. And it might absolutely doom any chances of Republicans taking back the Senate seats there that handed Democrats the majority.
I suppose it really is about balance when you’re lying to your constituents.