Un-American, undemocratic and unpatriotic - this is how US President Joe Biden describes the tightening of the electoral law initiated by Republicans in many states. These are an "attack on democracy," warned Biden. The goal of the laws is that fewer and fewer people vote, he said on Tuesday (local time) in a speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "Aren't you ashamed?" He asked the Republicans. Undermining the right to free and fair elections is the "most important challenge" for democracy since the civil war.
"We have to act," demanded Biden.
He promised to work to push through a reform of the electoral law that had been blocked by the Republicans in the Senate.
This is a "national priority" in order to put a stop to the suppression of the will of the voters, he stressed.
The Republicans had set out to invalidate votes at their discretion.
"They want the option to reject the bottom line and ignore the will of voters if their preferred candidate loses," Biden said.
Trump's "big lie"
Biden also found clear words for supporters of ex-President Donald Trump who do not recognize the election result and cling to allegations of alleged electoral fraud. Based on a formulation by Trump, who repeatedly spoke of a "big lie", Biden said: "The" big lie "is exactly that: a big lie." The November election, in which, despite the pandemic, more Americans would have voted than never before has been put to the test as thoroughly as no other. Court judgments and many recounts have undeniably confirmed the integrity of the election, Biden said.
Alluding to Trump, Biden said: "If you lose, America accepts the result". You have to adhere to the constitution and should “not call facts falsifications” “just because you are dissatisfied,” he said. Biden did not mention the Republican Trump by name, who has not yet admitted his defeat and continues to speak of electoral fraud.
In the USA, the right to vote, which is largely shaped by the states, is extremely competitive.
Many Republican states - including Georgia, Texas and Arizona - have already passed regulations or are pursuing regulations that critics believe would make voting difficult.
When the hurdles to voting are higher, it is often the minorities who stay at home in the US - and these populations are often more likely to vote for Democrats.
Republicans, on the other hand, argue that their reforms are only about making electoral fraud more difficult.
Election fraud is very rare in the USA and can sometimes be punished with long prison sentences.
Lawsuit against Georgia
The US government announced at the end of June that it would be suing a restrictive change in electoral law in the southern state of Georgia. The new regulations were "enacted with the aim of denying or restricting black citizens of Georgia the right to vote on the basis of their race or skin color," said US Attorney General Merrick Garland. The US must protect every citizen's right to vote. Biden had won Georgia by a narrow margin.
However, the chances of success of a legal challenge seemed rather mixed. Last week, the conservative majority in the Supreme Court in Washington rejected a lawsuit against new regulations in Arizona. With the reasons for the judgment, the court set the hurdle for the success of similar claims very high. The minority of the three more liberal judges found the changes unconstitutional. In a dissenting opinion, judge Elena Kagan said the verdict cemented "significant racial discrimination" in the right to vote.