1 Free and Fair Elections? Or Democracy for the Worthy Few? Christian Nationalism and Support for Restricting Voter Access By Samuel L. Perry, University of Oklahoma Introduction There has perhaps never been a more infamous statement reflecting the Right’s beliefs about voter access and participation than Paul Weyrich’s recorded “I don’t want everybody to vote” line from 1980. Weyrich was famously the co-founder of the ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), known for writing conservative legislation for Republicans, including funding for mass incarceration and restrictive voter identification laws. But virtually no one recognizes how influential Weyrich (and more importantly his philosophy) was within conservative Christian circles. In addition to co-founding ALEC, Weyrich was also the co- founder (with Jerry Falwell Sr.) of the Moral Majority. In fact, his infamous “I don’t want everybody to vote” line was delivered to a Christian audience within the context of discussing why Christians shouldn’t support big government. Here is the full quote: Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome―good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down. Here Weyrich states conservative Christians interested in maintaining political power benefit when fewer people vote. The obvious takeaway? Make it more difficult for “our” political opposition to vote. Or at least don’t make it easier. Decades later, longtime conservative activist and author of The Power of the Christian Woman (1981) and No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom (2012), Phyllis Schlafly explained the strategy in restricting early voting leading up to the 2012 Presidential election: The reduction in the number of days allowed for early voting is particularly important because early voting plays a major role in Obama’s ground game. The Democrats carried most states that allow many days of early voting, and Obama’s national field director admitted, shortly before last year’s election, that ‘early voting is giving us a solid lead in the battleground states that will decide this election.’ Like Weyrich, Schlafly recognized that policies making voting easier, particularly for minorities or others who might not otherwise be able to vote on election day, works against conservative victories and thus advocated reducing early voting for no other reason than leverage. Lastly, former Baptist Pastor, Governor of Arkansas, and GOP Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee told an interviewer: I know that most politicians say we want everyone to vote, I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t want everyone to vote. If they’re so stupid—that’s right, if they’re gonna vote for