Last November, America experienced an election that was anything but normal. In several states voting rules for electing the president were changed without the consent of state legislatures, as prescribed by the Constitution. This left millions of Americans confused and unsure of whether their vote even counted.
What happened underscored for me the urgent need to work together to ensure all Americans have confidence in the integrity of their elections.
But Speaker Pelosi had other ideas. Instead of resolving to work together to ensure our elections are the freest and fairest in the world, Washington Democrats passed H.R. 1, a bill that should be called the “For Politicians Act” – despite bipartisan opposition. This bill is a travesty and I was proud to cast a no vote.
The only thing this bill does is give Washington Democrats control over how our elections are conducted by eliminating nearly every institutional guardrail that preserves the sanctity of the ballot box.
This bill would prevent states that want to verify individuals’ identity from requiring photo identification, instead relying on nothing more than an individual’s word that they are who they claim to be. This is an open invitation for rampant fraud.
H.R. 1 requires all states to implement mail-in voting without any safeguards, which would guarantee that the widespread problems that became evident last November will continue. Reports such as those out of Los Angeles highlight the problems which may occur, particularly under a universal vote-by-mail system. Los Angeles, which has a population of over 10 million people, has a voter registration rate of 112 percent of its adult population. In other words, more than one in five voter registrations belong to a voter who has moved, is deceased, or is otherwise ineligible – yet they would be mailed a ballot under this system.
Even more egregiously, H.R. 1 would legalize a practice known as ballot harvesting, where political staffers and consultants could pick up and deliver as many absentee ballots as they wanted – and states are prohibited from seeking any proof that the voters filled those ballots out themselves.
It gets worse. This legislation also requires a 6-to-1 match from the government of every donation of up to $200. So, if you donate $200 to the candidate of your choosing, the federal government would contribute an additional $1,200 to that candidate for a total of $1,400. It’s outrageous to think that government would help subsidize politicians who want to abort more babies, restrict our second Amendment rights, or help Big Tech silence our voices. But under this legislation, politicians promoting those exact viewpoints would be eligible to receive this match.
What last November made clear is we need to return to having “Election Day,” not “Election Month.” One election in New York took 94 days to resolve. The new Congress had already started when that representative – a Republican, by the way – was seated. That’s ridiculous, but if this bill becomes law elections like this will become more and more common.
Simply, this legislation is for the politicians, not for the people.
I offered a simple bill called the Integrity of Our Elections Act as an amendment to H.R. 1. My commonsense amendment would have ensured only living U.S. citizens could receive a ballot, but my amendment was blocked from even being debated. That tells you everything you need to know.
I often say that in Missouri we don’t have a lot of money, but we have a lot of sense. This bill is the exact opposite. It’s a lot of money, but it makes zero sense.
