Determined to have their way no matter what the cost, and irrespective of popular opinion, Democrat lawmakers in Washington and in state capitals around the country are doing their best to change the nation’s election laws to build in permanent advantages for themselves. They have analyzed the sliding scale that pits election integrity on one side against open access on the other, and concluded that their partisan interest is best served not by giving the public what poll after poll shows it wants – election integrity, with confidence that our elections are free, and fair, and secure – but by imposing on the public election administration procedures that create and maintain partisan advantages for themselves by opening up access so much that election integrity cannot be secured.
The most recent example comes in Texas. Six weeks ago, Democrat state lawmakers there, in the minority because their party’s positions only command minority support, and desperate to block passage of an election reform bill they strongly opposed because it would enhance election integrity, thought they had outfoxed their GOP counterparts in the legislature when, on the final night of the regular legislative session, they staged a walkout to “break quorum” and block the bill’s final passage through the lower house. Then, when the governor responded by calling a special session, Texas Democrats walked out again.
In the short run, of course, the Texas Democrats accomplished their mission – they delayed passage of the bill. But only at the cost of revealing their fundamental weakness, and their inability to win the argument on the merits. They had to use a gimmick to achieve their end, rather than count on public support for their position. And, very likely, their “victory” will be temporary – sooner or later, they’re going to have to come back and sit through a special session, where the bill will pass.
Look at the legislation the Democrats blocked. The revised versions – Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3 – would make it easier to vote, and harder to cheat. They would strengthen election integrity by adding a voter identification requirement for mail-in ballots, and make those identification requirements consistent with the voter identification requirements that apply to walk-in voting. Opposing something that simple and commonsense would surely put Democrats on the wrong side of popular opinion.
In fact, it would. In Texas, as among the a number of other states, the vast majority of voters support voter identification requirements in order to cast a ballot. According to a 2019 poll by the nonpartisan Texas Lyceum, 81 percent of Texans support requiring a government-issued photo identification card to vote – including 72 percent of Democrats.
Further, the bills would strengthen protections for poll watchers, who play a crucial role in ensuring election integrity. Moreover, they would prohibit ballot “harvesting” by paid political operatives, a practice in which paid political operatives circulate and collect absentee ballots, typically from elderly, vulnerable, and/or shut-in voters. As a 2018 congressional election in North Carolina reminded us, such practices create opportunities for election fraud.
Contrary to what some critics say, the bills ensure plenty of time for early voting. In fact, they mandate a longer early voting period than is required in Delaware, President Biden’s home state. Can we send a delegation of Texas Democrat lawmakers to Dover?
As for the current walkout, the Texas constitution gives the upper hand to the governor. Following the walkout six weeks ago, Governor Abbott vetoed that section of the government funding bill that contained pay for the legislature and its staff. The state constitution mandates compensation for the lawmakers themselves, and even the governor acknowledges that they will continue to be paid; but compensation for more than 2,000 legislative staffers is at stake, with the next fiscal year set to begin in less than two months, on September 1. The governor added a legislative funding provision to the agenda for the special session; clearly, that’s an inducement to Democrats to come back. If they don’t, they won’t be able to pass the legislative funding provision to restore their staffers’ salaries, either. Moreover, the Texas constitution gives the governor the power to call as many special sessions as he wants, so the walkout tactic will certainly, sooner or later, lose its viability.
The simple fact is, Texas Democrats are using intimidation, gimmicks like walking out, name-calling, and obfuscation because they don’t have a better argument. Americans want to know that our elections are safe and fair. So rather than tell the American people that they oppose all these commonsense and popular initiatives because it would hurt their chances at the ballot box, Democrats engage in these stunts. Although Democrats characterize what happened in Texas differently, this was a showdown between commonsense and popular strengthening of our election system on the one hand, and a reckless and intentional attempt to undermine election integrity on the other. Democrats are, and always will be, on the losing side of that argument.
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