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.

A recent poll by the Bipartisan Policy Center and Morning Consult found that Americans were overwhelmingly satisfied with their voting options in 2020 and that voters prefer to vote in person on Election Day more than any other voting option. This directly refutes the narrative that the Democrats have been pushing in their attempts to implement radical changes to our election system through the Corrupt Politicians Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that Vice President Kamala Harris would lead the Administration's election law effort. It should come as no surprise that the Biden Administration is assigning the task to Vice President Harris. The Corrupt Politicians Act (H.R.1/S.1), a federal takeover of elections, is the Democrats' number one priority. 

Former FEC Chair Brad Smith published an op-ed today in the National Review today entitled: “The First Amendment Is Lucky to Have Mitch McConnell.” That is both a great headline and an accurate salute to the Republican Senate Leader at a time when Democrats have declared war on the First Amendment through the Corrupt Politicians Act (H.R.1/S.1). That said, a key part of Senator McConnell’s leadership on the First Amendment is not partisan:

Surprisingly few elected officials are willing to come to the defense of campaigns and other organized efforts to effect change. Americans celebrate their freedoms to speak and organize into groups, but once an organization achieves success, support for its rights tends to give way to concerns about “influence.” It’s rare to find politicians who support equally the freedom to speak of the NRA and the Brady Campaign, the League of Conservation Voters and the Chamber of Commerce, or pro-life groups and Planned Parenthood.

For over a quarter century, Mitch McConnell has stood as the Senate’s most consistent, articulate, and dogged defender of the First Amendment rights these organizations rely on. Way back in 1994, he engineered the defeat of a bill to fund campaigns with Americans’ tax dollars, a policy that remains at the top of the progressive agenda today and that reappears in S. 1. He has frustrated bad ideas from the right, too, such as in 2006, when he was one of only three Senate Republicans to oppose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution permitting the criminalization of flag-burning. That amendment fell just one vote short.

Democrats will lead people to believe that the Corrupt Politicians Act is about voting rights. But as NRSC Communications Director Chris Hartline points out, the Corrupt Politicians Act is all about "ensuring that Democrats win more elections."

As we noted earlier this week, one of the most contentious issues that came up during Senate Rules' markup of the Corrupt Politicians Act was felon voting rights. As multiple Republicans pointed out, reasonable minds can differ on the issue, but the Democrats have taken it too far. Their position is so problematic that it's worth a second look.

In a marathon hearing today, the Senate Rules Committee held a markup for S.1, the Senate version of the "Corrupt Politicians Act." The hearing covered a variety of topics, but one thing is abundantly clear: the Corrupt Politicians Act is a partisan power grab, and Democrats will do whatever they can to gain as much power as possible. As Senator Hagerty put it, S.1 is a "power grab in search of a crisis." The vote to advance the bill was tied at 9-9, but under Senate rules, the legislation will advance to the floor for consideration.

Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution states: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Yet H.R.1, nicknamed the "Corrupt Politicians Act," clearly states (emphasis added):

An individual is eligible to  serve as a member of an independent redistricting  commission if the individual meets each of the following criteria: . . .

(iv) The reason or reasons the individual desires to serve on the independent redistricting commission, the individual’s qualifications, and information relevant to the ability of the individual to be fair and impartial, including, but not limited to— (I) any involvement with, or financial support of, professional, social, political, religious, or community organizations or causes;

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing about recent state election reforms across the country. The title of the hearing itself was an offensive and insensitive characterization of the reforms, saying they are a repeat of the discriminatory voting laws in the Jim Crow South.

RM @ChuckGrassley: "The title of this hearing is offensive. . . This title diminishes the very real challenges and unfairness that minorities endured in the Jim Crow South at the hands of Southern Democrats. . . Polarizing rhetoric that distorts history is not helpful."

— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) April 20, 2021

The backlash by woke corporate interests in response to Georgia's new election law got even worse over the weekend, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has something to say about it: “We are witnessing a coordinated campaign by powerful and wealthy people to mislead and bully the American people," he said in a statement released on Monday morning.

Our private sector must stop taking cues from the Outrage-Industrial Complex. Americans do not need or want big business to amplify disinformation or react to every manufactured controversy with frantic left-wing signaling. My full statement: https://t.co/3Ck3qW4Mbe

— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) April 5, 2021