I don't buy the idea that this is nothing new.
There have been over 50 (or is it 70 even?) court cases alleging all manner of improprieties at the last election, brought by Republicans. All of them have been thrown out by the courts. That is unequivocal evidence that the processes were robust AND that they were subject to an unprecedented level of attack. Since then, there has been a rash of these new vote-suppressing laws. And we - still- see numerous Republicans recycling the myth that the election was somehow stolen, the 50 or 70 failed court challenges notwithstanding. The Republican party is trying to either bend the electoral system to its will or to bring it down.
Well, as I said, there were grandfather clauses and literacy tests which were also vote-suppressing. Again, there really isn't anything that new about this, although perhaps we haven't seen it in so long that many have forgotten the history of this country.
A lot of the system depends on faith, and what seems more evident to me is that there are people upset about the loss of faith in democracy and the system, as if they're reacting to religious heretics or something. Tying this in to the OP topic, that faith in the system is our greatest weakness. That's what makes our system vulnerable to the kind of mischief under discussion.
It's the fear and panic which are greater threats than these court cases or attempts at legislative mischief - which I'm not denying. But to think that it's unprecedented or somehow a greater threat to democracy than what we've seen in the past 200+ years, I can't buy that.