AMAC Exclusive – By Seamus Brennan
The American left has spent much of the last year bending over backward to push its so-called “voting rights” agenda that would ban Voter ID, greenlight ballot harvesting, and effectively federalize every election in the United States. But while most Americans are by now familiar with Democrats’ attempts to implement these changes via new legislation, Joe Biden and his allies in Congress now appear to be switching tactics, and may instead be trying to pass many of the same measures under the guise of “reforming” the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act that establishes the procedures for counting electoral votes. Most alarmingly of all, some Republicans appear willing to join them.
When it comes to voting laws, the events of the last 12 months make Democrats’ true motivations clear. Following the hotly contested 2020 presidential election, a growing slate of red states introduced and passed legislation aimed at keeping elections secure through commonsense measures like Voter ID. These efforts policies have predictably triggered a wave of outrage from Democrats, members of the media, and even corporations like Coca-Cola and Major League Baseball, the latter of which moved its 2021 All Star game out of Atlanta in protest against Georgia’s election integrity law.
In response to laws like Georgia’s, Democrats have relentlessly tried to pass sweeping legislation like the “For the People Act” and the so-called “Voting Rights Act.” If enacted, these bills would have drastically undermined the integrity of U.S. elections by eliminating almost every commonsense measure in place to prevent fraud. But as these attempts have floundered, Democrats now hope they can trick enough naïve Republicans into buying into their ECA reform plan, even though the ECA has nothing to do with the issues Democrats are intent on promoting.
Two groups of senators—one led by Senators Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) and the other led by Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME)—have released legislative proposals to “modernize” the ECA and reexamine a handful of other key components of federal election laws and procedures. After the much-discussed controversy surrounding Vice President Mike Pence’s role in the election certification process in 2020, the senators say they are hopeful that an ECA “modernization” would “clarify” the role of the Vice President, among other minor tweaks that are expected to elicit bipartisan support.
But Manchin’s group, which includes 16 senators from both parties, has reportedly been divided into at least five subgroups that according to The Hill, are focusing not only on “reforming the 1887 Electoral Count Act” but also on “protecting election workers; voting practices and rights; the election assistance commission; and presidential transitions.”
These subgroups should make the larger intent of this initiative abundantly clear. The existence of a congressional working group focused on something as loosely defined as “voting practices and rights” should sound the alarm for conservatives. Although Democrats have cloaked their proposed transformations of federal elections in vague language like “voting rights” for months, the actual content of their previous legislation tells a starkly different story.
If passed, Democrat-sponsored bills like the “For the People Act” would ban state voter ID laws, allow states to tally mail-in votes that arrive as late as 10 days after Election Day, require states to allow ballot harvesting, and enable the federal government to alter disclosure laws in ways that would threaten Americans’ rights to political speech. Moreover, ratification of Democrats’ so-called “voting rights” legislation would mandate fifteen days of early voting and authorize automatic voter registration. After Democrats insisted that not passing these measures would lead to the death of American democracy, it seems like a safe bet that any “ECA reforms” they sign onto could contain some version of those same policies.
Notably, in the words of the Associated Press, Democrats’ new ECA-focused strategy largely relies on “forcing Republicans to relent”—and so far, Democrats have been successful. In addition to Collins, Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) have been engaged in talks with Manchin’s group. Are these senators—and others who may join them—knowingly or unknowingly making themselves accessories to the left’s election overhaul efforts?
Although many figures on the left continue to slander opponents of their far-reaching voting legislation as advocates of “Jim Crow 2.0,” it is of course such legislation itself—as well as all efforts to nationalize our elections—that pose the greatest threat to the Constitution, to American self-government, and to the right of all Americans to ensure their voices are freely and fairly heard at the ballot box.
To be sure, there may be room for a bipartisan bill that takes another look at the ECA, but Democrats have given Republicans no reason to believe that they are content with stopping there. As such, Republicans would be wise to look skeptically upon Democrats’ rhetorical calls for “bipartisanship” when their ultimate objective is clear.
The GOP has been down this road before. In July 2021, former President Donald Trump warned Republicans against voting in favor of Democrats’ massive infrastructure bill, much of which was allocated to far-left social spending priorities rather than legitimate infrastructure needs. “You are just being played by the Radical Left Democrats—they will give you nothing!” he shared in a statement.
For the sake of safe and secure elections and the sanctity of the ballot box, let’s hope elected Republicans don’t make the same mistake again.