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01.13.2021 1

H.R. 1: Democrats’ Latest Attempt to Rig Elections

Democrats are changing the rules to give themselves an unfair advantage in every election.

By Richard McCarty

Democrats love to rig elections. After all, why should they take a chance on losing and play by the rules, when they can just change the rules to make it easier for themselves to win? Changing the rules to give themselves an unfair advantage is exactly why Democrats introduced H.R. 1, a radical bill that would change both our campaign finance laws and our voting processes across the country.

Here are just a few of the provisions of this outrageous bill.

  • H.R. 1 would give control of the Federal Election Commission to Democrats. The FEC, which regulates federal elections, is run by six commissioners. Under current law, no more than three of the six commissioners can be from the same party. That reduces the likelihood that the FEC will be used to punish political opponents. Removing this protection would allow Democrats to wield the agency’s powers against Republicans. For those who doubt that Democrats would ever do such a thing, just look at what happened to conservative nonprofits during Lois Lerner’s tenure at the IRS.
  • H.R. 1 would require state officials to automatically register residents to vote, which would open the door to all sorts of errors and potential fraud. For starters, the crafters of this legislation seem to forget that some people do not wish to vote for religious reasons, others are incapable of voting, and still others do not register because they do not want to be called for jury duty. Registering those who will not or cannot vote makes no sense; all it does is enable voter fraud by relatives, neighbors, or caregivers. Furthermore, how will states know which residents are citizens, which are legal aliens, and which are illegal aliens?
  • H.R. 1 would make it more difficult to scrub the voter rolls of those who have moved or died. Voter rolls should be constantly updated; otherwise, the number of names that could be used to vote fraudulently continues to grow. As it is, voter rolls in many places across the country have not been properly scrubbed, and this legislation would simply make the tedious process harder.
  • H.R. 1 would require states to set up drop boxes for absentee ballots. Unattended ballot drop boxes – which may be opened without any election observers present – create more opportunities for fraud as well as for theft or destruction of ballots.
  • H.R. 1 would eliminate all state restrictions on voting by mail. In other words, states would have to accept mail-in ballots from every voter – even if a voter had no particularly compelling reason why they could not show up in person on Election Day.
  • H.R. 1 would gut all voter ID laws. Going forward, even in states that have voter ID laws on the books, people would be able to vote even if they do not have a valid ID. All that would be required of them would be to sign a statement asserting that they are who they say they are. Obviously, if someone is determined to commit voter fraud, lying on a form will not stop them.
  • H.R. 1 would allow jail inmates to vote. If a person cannot be trusted with their freedom, how can they be trusted with their vote?
  • H.R. 1 would require same-day registration. Same-day registration adds to the cost of running elections, creates more work for poll workers, can cause lines and delays at polling places, and makes it easier for people to vote multiple times in the same election.

With millions angry with the electoral processes exploited by Democrats to elect Joe Biden, now would be about the worst possible time to pass such legislation. Of course, if there’s one thing that we know about Democrats it is that they do not care about the welfare of the country – as evidenced by their indifference toward those devastated by the coronavirus shutdowns and their last-minute push to impeach Trump just days before he leaves office.

Richard McCarty is the Director of Research at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.

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