Why are D.C. Democrats Desperate to Rewrite Election Law Before Voters Next Decide Their Fates?
‘Yesterday evening, House Democrats re-passed their plan to give Washington D.C. unprecedented power over the way our nation conducts elections. Just like their partisan spending spree from last week, the only thing bipartisan about the vote was the opposition.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding H.R.1:
“Yesterday evening, House Democrats re-passed their plan to give Washington D.C. unprecedented power over the way our nation conducts elections. Just like their partisan spending spree from last week, the only thing bipartisan about the vote was the opposition.
“The same party that wants to change Senate rules when they lose a vote... pack the Supreme Court when they lose a case... and throw out the Electoral College every time they lose the White House... now wants to forcibly rewrite 50 states’ election laws from Washington D.C.
“It’s unprincipled. It’s unwarranted. Large portions of it may well be unconstitutional.
“One of the key principles of American elections is that federal officeholders cannot personally micromanage the ways in which voters can hire and fire us.
“Different states and localities settle questions around early voting, or absentee balloting, or voter registration in different ways.
“Washington Democrats want every county in America to have to answer all these questions the way they want.
“For example, no state would be able to have a simple Voter ID requirement unless they neuter it with a massive loophole.
“But every state would be forced to allow ballot harvesting, where paid political operatives can show up carrying a stack of ballots with other people’s names on them.
“Imagine looking at this national landscape, where we’ve seen the losing side doubt the legitimacy of two consecutive presidential elections, and thinking this is the time for a sweeping, one-party rewrite of election law.
“Democrats are also coming after Americans’ free speech.
“The Federal Election Commission was set up after Watergate to be a bipartisan panel by design. The FEC intentionally needs bipartisan consensus to throw a penalty flag.
“Washington Democrats want to scrap that. Their bill would convert the FEC into an odd-numbered, partisan body. And this partisan FEC would get even greater scope to nose around in even more of Americans’ speech and activities.
“The bill also tramples on citizens’ privacy with new mandates that would intensify ‘cancel culture’ and help mobs harass people for their private views.
“Even the left-wing ACLU condemns this part of H.R. 1. Quote: ‘it could directly interfere with the ability of many to engage in political speech about causes that they care about and that impact their lives.’ End quote.
“That’s right: House Democrats have swung so far to the anti-free-speech left, they’ve even lost the ACLU.
“Speaking of political swings, Democrats who want Washington to take over elections should remember that majorities in Congress come and go.
“It would be absurd for election regulations in every precinct in America to go boomeranging back and forth every time Congress changes hands.
“Millions of American voters elected 50 Republican Senators and a whole lot of House Republicans to make sure that Democrats play by the rules — not rewrite the rules.
“For one party to seize unilateral control over elections nationwide would be a civic catastrophe.
“It’s worth asking: Why are Washington Democrats so desperate to forcibly rewrite election law before the next time voters decide their fates?”
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