In March 2021, the Georgia Senate passed a controversial voting rights and regulations bill which received the erroneous name “Election Integrity Act of 2021.” It passed, like lots of national, state and regional legislation currently, on a completely partisan basis. The bill received 34 yea votes and 20 nay votes as Senate Bill 202 (SB-202) in the Georgia Senate on final passage — all yes votes being Republican and all no votes being Democrat. I could go into the ridiculousness of the Democrats receiving 45.4 percent of the popular vote statewide in 2020 while receiving only 39.2 percent of the seats, but one imminent threat to democracy at a time. The Election Integrity Act is one of many legislative pushes by Republicans responding to a fair defeat at the ballot box in the November 2020 general elections by eagerly tearing apart vital democratic processes at the statewide level ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Before discussing the current voter suppression movement and the ironically simple action needed to save equality in elections, I’m going to consider what SB-202 does to voters in Georgia as a case study to prove why you should feel existential dread about where we’re heading.

Both in Georgia and in many other states leading up to the 2020 election, restrictions on absentee voting, early in-person voting and the ways in which people could vote were loosened, and voting machines and ballot papers were adequately secured. Despite this, the Trump campaign ran a disinformation campaign against the truth of the election results, ultimately concluding in many members of his own party on a statewide basis advocating for restricting voting rights throughout 2021. In fact, Trump even tried to find votes out of thin air to regain the lead over Biden, calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and saying, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” and “So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this.” Trump did not accept that Raffensberger could not do that, as it was illegal, obviously. In the months that followed, Republicans also lost the two runoff senate elections to Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, who sparked even more internal controversy within the Republican Party over supporting increasingly oppressive voter laws in order to protect the governorship, majorities in the state legislature and continual gerrymandering of state maps.

So, what does the bill do? To summarize some key points, it primarily attempts to disrupt the established process of absentee voting, which succeeded in the 2020 cycle, which very likely reduces both the number of voters as well as the number of people who feel comfortable voting by absentee for the 2022 midterm elections. Of course, the reasoning for Republicans doing this has no quantitative basis, and is almost certainly due to Biden winning these voters by a margin of 65 percent to 34 percent. One piece of the legislation which clearly targets minority and urban voters, who are predominantly Democratic, is the limitation of ballot drop boxes in the counties of metropolitan Atlanta. The 94 drop boxes in greater Atlanta would be reduced to 23 or less, and the hours which they could be accessed would also be limited.

Additionally, long voting lines are a problem across the country, but especially in poorer, densely populated communities which, again, vote Democratic by wide margins. As such, many community organizations had brought water and food to voters to incentivize staying in line in 2020. Perhaps being the most insane feature of the bill — which already attempts to decrease votes in poor, minority and Democratic communities — is the part that bans providing food to voters waiting in line. Finally, a provision within the law strips the secretary of state, an important nonpartisan role in elections, from being chair of the State Election Board, instead handing over the selection of this official to the whims of the obviously very partisan Georgia legislature. All of these actions endeavor to reduce Democratic votes.

Across the board, bills like SB-202 are either being passed in state legislatures or are advocated for in the most conservative wings of the Republican Party. If unable to win an election legally, why not change the law for your own good? This follows an established pattern in U.S. history in which white politicians who support decreasingly popular conservative social policies have restricted access to the ballot for people of color in order to hold onto power. However, these new Republican voter suppression laws are no longer in the shadows, but rather out in the open for voters to observe. It seems like the GOP just doesn’t care, and why should they? If they are able to pass legislation which uses voter suppression as a tool to cement their majorities in state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives, they have nothing to fear.

Additionally, based upon the Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee case earlier this year, SCOTUS will not be of any assistance. In a 6-to-3 partisan split, the court rejected the opinion of the Democratic National Convention that Arizona’s absentee voting laws were discriminatory against Navajos and poorer communities, which they very clearly were. In fact, the opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito Jr. said it “virtually impossible for a State to devise rules that do not have some disparate impact,” which, at least to me, does not justify at all why the conservatives on the court wouldn’t rectify those disparities when given the chance. So, if the courts and state legislatures are either not preventing voter suppression or actively supporting it, what could cure the artificial deterioration of democracy by one side of the aisle? Well, that would be the job of Congress and a new Voting Rights Act. However, that’s not likely to happen.

It’s become pretty clear that Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) will not support large Democratic spending bills without some compromise with their Republican friends, but this is not the case with voting rights. On October 20, all 50 Democrats were behind a bill designed to counteract GOP voter suppression in state legislatures by permanently expanding access to the ballot box and reducing the influence of big money in politics. However, the bill ultimately failed due to all 50 Republicans filibustering it. This was the third Republican filibuster of the measure, and quite frankly lays out the only scenario in which we can cure democracy’s current ailments: removing the Senate filibuster.

It’s really pathetic that all saving democracy requires is the removal of an antediluvian Senate function which already discriminates against the rule of the majority, but so far two Democratic senators and all Republicans have been steadfast in their resolve against removing it. If the Senate filibuster was thrown out, it would bring the required votes needed for the Democrats’ new Voting Rights Act down from 60 to 50, plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. In doing so, this would also guarantee the protection and expansion of voting rights for millions of Americans who are otherwise at risk of being blocked from having a say. If the Democrats cannot come to a consensus with the two members of their party who are continuing to promote the filibuster, possibly due to electoral and lobbying self-interest, the United States will never have completely free elections again.

Sean Reichbach is a freshman double-majoring in economics and philosophy, politics and law.