The Future Of Democracy Is On The Ballot

Election Day is nearly upon us and Democrats are finally telling Americans what their top priority will be if they win the White House and Congress this November. It isn’t securing the border, tackling inflation, or even enshrining on-demand abortion.

No, if Democrats win big in November, their first move will be passing a new bill to launch a federal takeover of elections. Democrats have tried this before, repeatedly trying to ram through Congress numerous versions of a bill called H.R. 1, an 800-page grab bag of Left-wing election “reforms” that fundamentally rewrite the nation’s voting laws. Democrats claim this is just about voting rights. In truth they are once again aiming to launch a partisan power grab that sacrifices the integrity of American elections to give liberals a permanent political edge.

What might be in this bill? Based on Democrats’ proposals in the last Congress, Americans should be ready for the messy rules of COVID-style mail-in voting permanent. States would not only be required to offer no-excuse mail-in voting, but the option to permanently vote by mail. At the same time, it would be harder to clean bloated voter rolls than it already is, all but guaranteeing that people will stay on the rolls — and states will keep sending them ballots — long after they move or pass away.

Speaking of dirty voter rolls, Democrats want to require automatic voter registration, an error-prone practice that half our states currently do not use. Democrats know automatic systems register ineligible people. In fact just weeks ago, Oregon admitted its system automatically registered roughly 1,300 noncitizens. That’s why they slipped a little-known provision into H.R. 1 that prevents anyone, including noncitizens, from being prosecuted if they illegally vote after being automatically registered.

Their bill would erase laws against organized vote harvesting in roughly two dozen states. Democrats want to deploy an army of party operatives and union organizers to “help” voters fill out ballots, then collect and return them. The trouble is, vote harvesting creates obvious opportunities for voter intimidation and fraud. One shocking example: the mayor of Martin, Kentucky bribed and coerced poor and disabled voters into casting absentee ballots in favor of her reelection. In North Carolina, harvesters tampered with or destroyed hundreds of votes, forcing a high-profile redo of a congressional election in 2018. 

Democrats’ proposals would have made voter ID requirements illegal, too. Time and again, ID laws have been shown to have no negative impact on turnout. Thirty-six states have ID laws and 90% of the public favors them, but Democrats think they know better. Not only does H.R. 1 treat practically any document with a name and address as ID, it introduces a bizarre new standard that lets anybody who claims to know a voter “for at least six months” vouch for his identity. Try that at your local bank.

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The problems would only get worse as elections draw to a close. Most states require ballots to be received by the close of polls on Election Day, but Democrats tried to force every state to accept ballots up to seven days late. That’s the deadline in California, a state that routinely takes weeks to report results. If Democrats rewrite the nation’s laws, delays risk becoming the new national norm. That’s especially true as the Left nudges more people towards mail-in ballots, and liberal groups push ranked-choice voting (RCV) into more states. After all, with RCV, tabulation cannot even begin until every ballot is received.

The other provisions of Democrats’ voting bills are far-reaching, including mandates for 24-hour drop boxes with little thought given to security beyond labeling them “secure.” States must offer same-day registration, even though officials have little or no time to verify a voter’s eligibility before he casts a vote. New redistricting rules would give liberals the upper hand in drawing political maps. And campaign finance laws like the DISCLOSE Act would undermine Americans’ free speech and privacy rights.

To pass any voting bill, Democrats would first need to go nuclear on the Senate filibuster. Democrats tried to ax it once before, but two Senate Democrats — Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema — bucked their party and held the line.

But neither senator will be in office next year and progressives sense an opportunity. Senate Democrats and Kamala Harris have made eliminating the filibuster a campaign issue. Once it goes, a federal takeover of elections, statehood for D.C., Supreme Court “reform,” and more all become possible on a purely partisan basis.

Ronald Reagan once observed that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” That timeframe may be generous. Progressives are signaling that our republic is never more than one election away from a fundamental reorganization.

When Democrats say that democracy is on the ballot, they mean it. If Americans want to stop Congress from rewriting out voting laws, the best thing to do this November is vote Republican.

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Jason Snead is the executive director of Honest Elections Project Action.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.