EXCLUSIVE: How The Biden Admin Used The Treasury Dept To Get Out The Vote

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration mobilized the federal government through the Treasury Department to get out the vote in the 2022 midterms, documents shared with The Daily Wire show, with particular focus on low-income or non-English speaking voters.

The news raises questions about the federal government’s role in elections, a senior White House official told The Daily Wire, arguing that using the Treasury Department to get out the vote is “certainly outside the scope of ” its defined purpose.

“The federal government has a very carefully defined role in the nation’s elections,” that official shared, noting that Congress enacted the “Help America Vote Act” and the “National Voter Registration Act,” giving the DOJ civil rights opportunities to make sure that Americans have the ability to freely exercise their right to vote.

“But under President Biden’s leadership, we saw every single aspect of the federal government sort of turned into a massive voter mobilization, voter registration campaign, even for those departments and agencies that are not historically or by statute even involved in the election process,” the official shared. “And so that’s what happened with the IRS and the Treasury Department.” 

President Biden issued an executive order in March 2021 on “Promoting Access to Voting” requiring government agencies to promote voter registration and voter participation by educating the public on how to vote, the electoral process, and how to vote by mail.

Under that executive order, the IRS’s Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) requirement includes encouraging SPEC Partners to provide information to specific demographics of taxpayers at local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites, according to White House documents viewed by The Daily Wire.

VITA is a program designed to assist low to moderate-income taxpayers, but a key component of the program focuses on non-English speakers. TCE applies to the elderly.

What information was shared with these specific demographics at local sites? How and where to register to vote, how and where to vote, how to engage in other non-partisan efforts that promote voter participation, and more, according to a White House document on “Guidance for Promoting Voter Registration at VITA/TCE Sites for SPEC Partners” obtained by The Daily Wire.

The White House official who spoke with The Daily Wire highlighted that this focus on specific demographics is particularly problematic —  and that the Biden administration plan was using the federal government to do something that was “fundamentally a responsibility to states.” 

“It’s something that the US Constitution hands to the states as their sacred obligation,” the official explained. “What the IRS did was to interpret that order to apply, not even to every taxpayer, but only to those taxpayers that were primarily served by certain tax preparers and certain tax agents that they deemed more likely to be associated with politically favored demographics, those that were working with Americans from early on in urban areas and so forth.”

Treasury also specifically indicated to its employees that they should use internal communications channels to encourage employees to vote and to register to vote. On November 21, 2021,  Treasury’s Acting Chief Human Capital Officer told bureau Human Resources officers that “no later than 60 days prior” to national general elections, Treasury bureaus should use their internal channels to remind employees of their right to vote as well as encourage voter registration and voter participation.

They were directed to send the following email:

Dear staff,

Federal elections are foundational to the American system of government. Every two years in November we come together to elect our leaders and congressional representatives. This year federal election day is Tuesday, November 8, however in many jurisdictions early voting and absentee voting are allowed and may begin as much as 46 days in advance of the official election day.

I encourage you to visit www.vote.gov to learn about voting in your state. This site will help you learn how to register or check your registration status. It also provides important deadlines and associated dates.

I also want to share recent changes from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) related to leave for voting. On March 24, OPM issued updated guidance that directs agencies to provide federal employees up to four hours of administrative leave to vote in federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial elections. The updated guidance also authorizes federal employees up to four hours of administrative leave per year to serve as non-partisan poll workers or observers.

I thank you for your service, and encourage you to exercise your right to vote.

The current White House maintains that under President Trump’s leadership, the federal government is no longer serving as “a massive partisan leading voter registration campaign.” And the release of documents and information about what went on during President Biden’s administration is a fulfillment of the executive orders that Trump signed in February and March.

“The roles and functions of the IRS and the Treasury Department are returning to what taxpayers pay them to do, which is manage the nation’s finances and manage the enforcement of our tax law,” the White House official explained to The Daily Wire, “Not once has an American taxpayer paid for the IRS to be a voter registration portal or a voter registration entity, and unfortunately the Biden administration thought that they could force the federal government to do that.”