EDITORIAL: Democrats try to rewrite election rules at the expense of election integrity

OPINION:

As witnessed at CPAC last week, the No. 1 issue grassroots conservatives care most about is restoring election integrity to ensure free and fair elections. That’s why the Republican Party must unite to defeat the Democratic power-grab that is H.R. 1.

Last year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell squashed House Leader Nancy Pelosi’s anti-democratic bill. This year, we’re about to see its resurgence, as the Senate is split 50-50 and the House remains with the Democrats.

H.R. 1 strips power away from individual states to determine their election process and federalizes it. It cements bad practices, like same-day voter registration and allowing people to vote without showing any identification. It permits voters to cast ballots outside of their precincts and incentivizes federal bureaucrats to become poll watchers.

Same-day registration doesn’t give states enough time to verify identities and information. Automatic registration allows for illegals and ineligible voters to appear on the voting rolls. Permitting folks to vote without identification would eviscerate existing state voter identification laws, put in place to prevent widespread fraud. Counting ballots outside of assigned precincts increases the odds of improper vote monitoring, especially when those observers are paid federal employees.

Moreover, the bill infringes on one’s freedom of speech. Currently, only television and radio ads fall under campaign finance laws and therefore can be regulated by the Federal Election Commission. H.R. 1 broadens what is considered political speech, to allow politicians to track your social media posts, YouTube videos, podcasts and content on personal websites to monitor whether you’re advocating on behalf of a certain candidate and therefore can be censored. This will lead to more conservative voices cancelled.

Not only will your voice be monitored, but your wallet will also be tapped — to fund political candidates you disagree with. H.R.1 contains two provisions that force taxpayers to finance politicians’ campaigns, one through a voucher program, another through federal subsidies. Taxpayer money shouldn’t be utilized to enrich political campaign consultants, period.

Last year, Mr. McConnell aptly dubbed H.R. 1 as the “Democrat Politician Protection Act,” charging Democrats were trying to rewrite election rules to favor themselves and their friends at the expense of your freedom of speech and the integrity of our electoral process.

Republicans mustn’t let this happen. They were asleep at the wheel during the spring and summer of 2020 when many swing states changed their laws to allow for massive mail-in voting and loosened voter identification laws. They paid the price in November.

In order to restore faith in our democracy, Republicans must unite to defeat H.R. 1 and simultaneously work with states to improve their electoral process, which must include enhanced voter identification laws, the cleaning of voter rolls, and the use of fair, transparent and unbiased poll watchers.