March 31, 2022
Recently, the 116th Congress passed Nancy Pelosi's most deceptive piece of legislation, H.R. 1," For the People Act." This misleading title hides its primary goal of rigging our election systems to establish Democratic politicians by sabotaging America's electoral process. It is now placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders and called S.1-For the People Act 2021.
Under S. 1, the federal government will be transferred massive amounts of election-related powers from local governments. This 'poison chalice' bill will interfere with local governments and their citizens' ability to participate in the political process, secure the integrity of elections, determine voter qualifications, ensure the accuracy of voter registration rolls, and establish the congressional district boundary lines for elections.
I am against this attempt to create shady electoral practices that push and permit lousy behavior, like fake voter registrations, ballot harvesting, double voting, and ineligible voting. The thick 600+ page document contains unnecessary, unhelpful, and unconstitutional provisions. I have listed just a few below:
Federalization of the Election Process: S1 allows the feds to overreach its authority over the election processes by regulating needless and unconstitutional mandates on local governments.
Unchecked Voter Identification: S. 1 allows people to "sign a statement" certifying I.D. Local governments will be mandated to register voters on the day of elections and not require them to bring I.D. to the polls. With no time to verify personal information, this could easily lead to voter fraud.
No Accountability for Vote Counting —S. 1 sends ballots to a third party for counting. When ballots are counted outside the county's precinct, this dismantles the election process and threatens our democracy.
Automatic Registration of Ineligible Voters: S.1 prevents local governments from having the ability to determine what qualifies a voter and destroys voter registration rolls accuracy. It will automatically enroll ineligible voters, such as illegal aliens who receive public assistance or driver's licenses.
Removal of Redistricting Power: S.1 also grants an unelected third party the power to draw congressional districts. This legislation takes the voice away from the people because currently, congressional district lines are drawn by local governments accountable to their constituents.
The saying goes, "All politics are local," and securing our election's integrity should also be. This micromanaging is a sneaky attempt at federalizing our election process. Doing this will destroy this precious right and endangers our democracy.
Jimmy Lee Tillman II is an author, historian, and the founder of the Martin Luther King Republicans. He is also an Academy fellow at the Heritage Foundation, active with the American First Policy Institute, and Illinois GOP candidate for U.S. Senate.