A common refrain from Democratic Party politicians is that the right to vote is sacrosanct – and rightly so – but that Republicans are hell-bent on taking that right away from as many Americans as they can. Election integrity has been the buzzword ever since Donald Trump was falsely accused of stealing the 2016 presidential race. In particular, the narrative insists, minority communities are especially targeted. While voter turnout in red states shows this not to be the case, Democrats persist. But even though participating in elections is a right, it is not the federal government’s place to use its taxpayer-funded resources for electioneering. This is precisely what Joe Biden approved – and, in fact, mandated – when he signed Executive Order 14019 in March of this year. Now, Republicans are pushing back with legislation that would block the key parts of the EO until federal agencies come clean about how they intend to involve themselves in Biden’s grand plan to “promote and defend the right to vote.”
Election Integrity or Interference?
In a nutshell, Executive Order 14019 directs all federal agencies to come up with their own plans for how they intend to encourage and facilitate voter registration and easy access to ballots. A Democrat in the White House directing the entire executive branch to plan how it will take on an oversight, support, and advising role in getting people to the polls or getting ballots in hands – the year before that incumbent will be running for re-election. Could any government agency resist the temptation to inject partisan politics into its efforts, given the fact that the head of that agency, in many cases, serves at the pleasure of the incumbent president?
While the Executive Order couldn’t fairly be portrayed as a federal takeover of elections, it’s the next worst thing. In the name of election integrity, government agencies are directed to involve themselves in all aspects of the electoral process:
“It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to expand access to, and education about, voter registration and election information, and to combat misinformation, in order to enable all eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.”
The Right to Vote Without Big Brother’s “Help”
The EO further authorizes agencies to partner with “approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations” for these alleged voting rights efforts. The White House ignored requests from congressional Republicans that someone explain the criteria for approval and who gets to decide which organizations are “approved.”
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) and a handful of his colleagues think they have the antidote. The Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act was introduced in the Senate on May 3. The legislation essentially has the effect of nullifying Executive Order 14019 and stipulates that no federal agency would be able to implement its plan for voter engagement until it had presented that plan to Congress for review.
On May 2, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) introduced the House version of Budd’s election bill. Tenney co-chairs the House Election Integrity Caucus with the stated goal of “lawful, transparent, and accurate elections in all 50 states.” In an exclusive statement to The Daily Signal, Tenney said:
“The Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act ensures that federal agencies are not engaging in partisan voter registration and mobilization efforts on the taxpayer’s dime. As the Election Integrity Caucus co-chair, it is my privilege to introduce this legislation to restore transparency and confidence in our democratic process while keeping federal bureaucrats and the swamp from deliberately tipping the balance of our elections.”
Regardless of one’s political views, the idea of the federal government launching a massive campaign to engage directly with voters and to meddle in all aspects of the balloting process should send a chill down the spine. Whether the Republicans’ legislation is the answer or not could be a matter of opinion. That the GOP thought it necessary to craft such a bill in the first place should be worrying. The Democrats have a bad habit of referring to this constitutional republic as a democracy. For a moment, assume or pretend they are correct. In a truly healthy and free democracy, in which election integrity should be zealously protected, no one would want the government “educating” voters or suppressing what it deems to be “misinformation” regarding elections. In fact, the very idea of such a scenario renders the word “democracy” entirely meaningless.
