HR 4 makes a farce out of the same Right to Vote that the radical Left claims to protect. It blatantly defies the desire by the voting public to restore the election safeguards that evaporated during the 2020 election cycle. It also flies in the face of two Supreme Court rulings and a recent failed attempt by Democrats to pass the dangerous HR 1/ S 1 Corrupt Politicians Act.
HR 4 has been drafted with input from a series of hearings in the House. The vast majority of witnesses were partisan Democrats who were more interested in disparaging Republicans than they were in providing sufficiently factual testimony to inform sound legislation. These hearings promoted a storyline depicting the United States as a racist country in which even the slightest attempt to provide election security was labeled as voter suppression. By consistently using such inflammatory slurs, Democrats make it impossible to have a fair and open conservation about voting in America.
What are the facts? Participation in voting for all groups is higher than at any other time in American history. Voter registration and turnout has steadily increased over the years and, more importantly, black and Hispanic Americans are well represented in Congress. According to Pew Research, Congress is more racially and ethnically diverse than ever before. The 124 federal lawmakers who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American make up 23 percent of Congress.
But the radical Left is desperate to grow its power, so it clings to the vestiges of an ugly past in which minorities, especially black Americans, were treated as second-class citizens and denied the right to vote. The Left’s indignation about our shared history fails to acknowledge that it was Democrats who created the Jim Crow South, not Republicans.
More significantly, Americans overwhelmingly want the election securities that HR 4 is designed to abolish. The bill seeks to ban voter ID, outlaw voter roll maintenance, and bar identity verification for absentee ballots among other immensely unpopular provisions. What it does instead is put state legislatures under the control of federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. and gives Attorney General Merrick Garland veto power over the simplest election decisions across even the most local of political subdivisions.
Democrats have been attacking state level election reforms this year, calling them “voter suppression bills,” and engaging woke capitalists to join their campaign to federalize election law. They are using every weapon in their arsenal to make sure commonsense laws that make it easy to vote but hard to cheat are superseded by federal election laws that are designed to prevent Republicans from being elected in 2022 and 2024.
One must wonder why Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership are trying to push through irresponsible legislation during the August recess. Not to mention, Democrats putting this on the floor at this time is an affront to those in America who believe Congress should take action to evacuate Americans who are stranded in Afghanistan from President Biden's disastrous withdrawal.
HR 4 also has the potential to ignite intra-party fighting amongst Democrats. It ousts the provisions requested by Democrat Senator Manchin, including decreasing the power of the Attorney General and the DOJ, removing consent decrees as a triggering mechanism for preclearance, and using objective measures as a standard for injunctive relief.
The American Conservative Union Foundation and its Center to Protect Voters and Their Voices are opposed to this level of federal control over what rightly belongs under state jurisdiction. HR 4 is nothing more than an unconstitutional power grab. Let’s make sure we hold these House Democrats accountable for choosing to focus on frivolous legislation rather than matters of real consequence.
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