On Friday, the Committee on House Administration's Elections Subcommittee held a hearing entitled, "Voting In America: The Potential For Polling Place Quality And Restrictions On Opportunities To Vote To Interfere With Free And Fair Access To The Ballot." Democrat hypocrisy was on full display as they conveniently ignored how many of the areas that experienced problems with voting in 2020 due to polling place closures were run by Democrat elections officials.
At today's hearing, Democrats will say that Republicans want to make it harder for people to vote, but @RodneyDavis and the rest of @HouseAdmnGOP want solutions to the election administration problems that Americans experienced in 2020.
— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) June 11, 2021
One speaker admits the fault of some Dems but argues that the solution is increased federal govt oversight. The one-size-fits-all approach that Dems and their allies are proposing through the #CorruptPoliticiansAct and H.R.4 would undermine confidence in our elections.
— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) June 11, 2021
In fact, the Committee on House Administration Republicans sent 10 localities oversight letters "to address a number of problems reported during recent primaries, including a lack of preparedness, issues handling mail-in ballots, closure of polling locations, and several others."
The Lawyers Democracy Fund's Ashlee Titus focussed her remarks on how last-minute or unworkable changes to elections in 2020 have led to a decrease in voter confidence.
Last minute polling location changes or new rules for mail-in voting like we saw in Democrat-run cities across the country in 2020 can lead to voter ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/nf3NXmjYUd
— House Admin. Committee GOP (@HouseAdmnGOP) June 11, 2021
If the goal is to increase voter participation, which it should be, increasing voter confidence needs to be taken into account in the laws passed. Unfortunately, H.R 1/S. 1 would eliminate key protections that promote voter confidence. pic.twitter.com/RLO69GQSNY
— House Admin. Committee GOP (@HouseAdmnGOP) June 11, 2021
Another witness, Isabel Longoria, Elections Administrator for Harris County, Texas, was combative when Congressman Rodney Davis questioned the county's use of "Zuckerbucks" during the 2020 election.
A Harris County elections official tried dodge a question from @RodneyDavis about whether the county sought "Zuckerbucks" during the 2020 election cycle. Elections officials should be more than willing to be transparent about where they receive non-government funds from.
— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) June 11, 2021
H.R.4 also came up several times. Democrats have shifted focus to H.R.4 now that H.R.1 is all but guaranteed to be blocked by the Senate. In an op-ed for Fox News, Ken Cuccinelli wrote:
The instrument of their proposed federal control over election law was introduced (and never passed) in the last Congress as H.R. 4, the "John Lewis Voting Rights bill." The biggest, but not the only, major change is that H.R. 4 would reinstitute the practice of requiring federal preclearance (i.e., federal permission) for any state election change, no matter how minor.
Preclearance was previously struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Shelby County v. Holder case in 2013. Thus, H.R. 4 is an attempt by the Democrats to go around the court and once again subject state election reforms to a federal veto – no matter how trivial any proposed change might be.
Under H.R. 4, the federal government could veto and block any, and potentially all, state election reforms (plus redistricting) under the guise of fighting discrimination. However, there is no requirement to actually prove that anything a state was proposing would be discriminatory. If a state sought to fight the federal government’s decision, rather than requiring the federal government to prove that a new law would result in discrimination, the burden of proof would fall on the states. . .
In reality, H.R. 4 is nothing but a power grab by congressional Democrats aimed at taking election powers away from the states. The takeover of all election reforms and redistricting by federal bureaucrats with a radical agenda under the guise of voter protection would set America back.
As EAC Commissioner Don Palmer noted during the hearing, one-size-fits-all proposals are not the solution to election administration problems in the United States.
EAC Commissioner Don Palmer: "As a former election official, I know that one size doesn't fit all for all voter needs." @VotingGuy
— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) June 11, 2021
RNLA applauds Republican members of Congress for rejecting the dangerous election legislation being proposed by Democrats and for fighting back against the narrative that secure elections lead to voter suppression.