“Under this measure, the federal government will just presume every state’s election laws are racist and if anyone pushes back on it, they’ll be labeled a racist, as well.” Jenna Ellis said.
Democrats, who have so far been unsuccessful in passing their election rigging bill in the Senate, S1, have a Plan B for stealing the 2022 midterm elections. Their fall-back plan is the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a measure introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The Leahy bill is unjustified and unneeded and would be a dangerous violation of state sovereignty.
Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning spoke with former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis on her show “Just the Truth” about why it is such a threat to fair and honest elections.
“What this bill would actually do is allow the Department of Justice to take over state elections. For example, under this measure, if a state or local jurisdiction wanted to move a polling place hundred yards down the street, the Department of Justice would have to approve that.”
As a result of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, for nearly 50 years the DoJ required a cluster of southern states with a history of racially discriminatory election practices to seek “preclearance” from the federal government before they could make even minor changes to polling locations or operations. The Supreme Court eliminated the “preclearance” requirement in 2013.
Ellis said Leahy’s amendment appears to be a way to bring back DoJ control, but not just to a limited number of states with a history of discrimination, but to every state.
“This looks like a pretext for the federal government to go in and do anything that it wants and to dictate to the states whatever they want in terms of maneuvering the election laws,” Ellis explained. “This is just an opportunity to federalize state and local elections.”
According to Manning, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), opposes S1 but supports the Leahy bill.
“Sen. Manchin wants this to apply to all 50 states,” Manning explained. “There wouldn’t even be a process of determining if a state has a history of discrimination. States would automatically be presumed guilty, and hence, any changes in election law by that state would be subject to clearance by the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.”
Manning noted that this is the same DoJ Civil Rights Division that ignored all of the irregularities in the in the 2020 presidential election. “Now we’re going to trust them with basically running our entire elections in the future?”
Ellis said it appears that moderate Democrats such as Sen. Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) can oppose S1 but vote for the Leahy bill as a “compromise,” but one that is just as bad as S1.
“Under this measure, the federal government will just presume every state’s election laws are racist and if anyone pushes back on it, they’ll be labeled a racist, as well,” Ellis said.
Manning added that he hopes every Republican senator will oppose the bill because “the reality is that every single one of their states will be put under this law. Every single one of their states will be presumed racist without having any proof. The left has already said that we have systemic racism in America, and that would apply to the election laws themselves.”
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is a solution in search of a problem. There is no voter-suppression epidemic. Americans today have an easier time registering and voting than at any time in our nation’s history.
Catherine Mortensen is Vice President of Communications at Americans for Limited Government.
