Guest Opinion: Pennsylvania GOP leaders are stealing your right to vote

Last week, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court handed down a split decision striking down the ability of voters to vote by mail, a method used by around 2.6 million voters in 2020. Three judges on the five-judge panel narrowly interpreted the state constitution to justify striking down the law. The case will ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court.

As we await the final determination of the matter, and with a primary election less than four months away, it is important to understand how we got here in the first place — and why.

Act 77 of 2019, a bipartisan compromise, modernized the state’s elections by expanding mail-in voting, funding counties to update voting equipment, and simplifying and streamlining registration processes for counties. The law was drafted largely by legislative Republicans before being passed by a majority of Democrats and Republicans. Republican support was overwhelming: All 27 Republican state senators and 105 of 107 Republican state representatives voted for the bill. At the time, Republicans didn’t view mail-in voting as a political liability.

Then the pandemic hit and Pennsylvanians needed to vote safely, so voting by mail became a critical option. Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Republicans across the country downplayed the threat of the pandemic while simultaneously propagating a false narrative about the security risks of mail-in voting. The result: Democrats chose to vote by mail in significantly larger numbers than Republicans.

That made mail-in voting Public Enemy #1 for Donald Trump and any Republican elected official looking to curry favor with the defeated president. Even though Republicans did well down-ballot in 2020 — winning two of three row offices and holding onto control of the Pennsylvania House and Senate — mail-in balloting was perceived as a threat to their ability to hold onto power long term in a state with a shifting demographic.

More: State court finds Pennsylvania’s mail voting law unconstitutional, with appeal likely

Later in 2021, lawsuits were filed claiming the GOP-crafted law violates the state constitution, leading to the decision that is now headed for appeal before the state Supreme Court. In a move that felt like parody, 11 Pennsylvania House Republicans who voted for the law in 2019 joined the lawsuit to strike it down.

More: U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly celebrates court's unconstitutional ruling on PA mail voting law

The cynical politicking by legislative Republicans is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Despite repeated audits of the election results and numerous court decisions upholding the 2020 election, they sow doubts about our system of elections, whether through dangerous rhetoric on the campaign trail or the floor of the state House and Senate or through lawsuits against their own election legislation. When their followers hear this disingenuous rhetoric and echo those doubts, Republican lawmakers demand changes to respond to the fears of these voters. The result, they hope, is a change to how elections are run that will mean fewer Pennsylvanians cast ballots in future elections.

In Pennsylvania, Republicans understand that most citizens don’t support their policies. They know that if more people vote, their grip on power in the state legislature will diminish. More voters want to support candidates who are fighting for things like better pay for workers, investments in schools and infrastructure, tax breaks for families and not corporations, affordable prescription drugs, and access to paid sick days and protections from discrimination and unfair working conditions. Those are all policies that legislative Republicans in Pennsylvania have blocked.

As they work to make voting less accessible, the GOP power grabs don’t end there.

They are attempting to silence the voice of the people by fighting against fairly drawn legislative maps while simultaneously working to change the process for future redistricting so that they choose the people who draw the next set of gerrymandered maps. They’re also moving to control our state courts through gerrymandered judicial districts that they, the legislators, will get to create. Make no mistake, Republicans in Pennsylvania are attempting to upset the delicate constitutional balance of power with the most aggressive series of coordinated political power grabs the commonwealth has ever seen.

If Pennsylvanians value their voting rights and want to protect our democracy, we must stand up to these blatant political moves intended to amass power at the expense of all Pennsylvanians.

Sen. Jay Costa, D- 43rd Dist, represents portions of Allegheny County. Sen. Vincent Hughes, D- 7th Dist., represents portions of Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Rep. Joanna McClinton, D- 191st Dist., represents portions of Philadelphia and Delaware counties. Rep. Matthew Bradford, D- 70th Dist., represents portions of Montgomery County.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pennsylvania GOP leaders are stealing your right to vote