Hillary Clinton blasts state election bills as move ‘toward white supremacist authoritarianism’

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday blasted restrictive elections bills introduced this year in multiple Republican-led state legislatures, claiming they are part of a “clear attempt to move away from a pluralistic, multi-racial democracy and toward white supremacist authoritarianism.”

Clinton’s comments come amid a widespread effort in GOP-led states — including Georgia, Florida and Arizona — to pass limits on mail-in voting, new voter ID requirements and other restrictions following the 2020 presidential election.

At least 14 states enacted 22 new laws between Jan. 1 and May 14 that limit voting access, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

“Each of these proposals disproportionately prevents people of color from casting their ballots, and each is egregious in its own right,” Clinton wrote in an op-ed published by Democracy Docket.

She called the effort to pass the bills a “concerted attempt to destabilize the democratic process and delegitimize our multi-racial democracy” and contended that the pieces of legislation are “no different from the Jim Crow past.”

The former secretary of State and New York senator zeroed in on the Supreme Court, writing that the institution is “even more hostile to voting rights today,” as a third of its justices were appointed by former President Trump.

“Much of the blame for this backsliding rests with the Supreme Court, which, thanks to the election of President Trump, is even more hostile to voting rights today than it was when it gutted a crucial provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. But the problem is more insidious,” she wrote.

Clinton said that groups such as the Federalist Society have worked to pack courts with judges who are “more committed to appeasing powerful special interests than to championing the fundamental rights of the American people.”

“The emboldening of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists during Trump’s campaign and time in the White House along with the international movement against liberal democracy have exacerbated this perfect storm,” she wrote.

Clinton concluded the op-ed with a call for action to “make it easier for eligible voters to cast their ballots.”

“When the people make their voices heard in an election, we should respect the results. These aren’t partisan statements; they’re attributes of a functioning democracy,” she wrote.