Democrats in Congress are seeking to pass legislation that would massively expand mail-in voting and enact nationwide automatic voter registration — policies that would obliterate election integrity and enable increased election fraud and manipulation.
On January 28, 2021, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced the “Vote at Home Act,” which has the bill numbers S. 136 and H.R. 237. Currently, S. 136 has 13 co-sponsors while H.R. 237 has 15. As The New American has reported, Congressional Democrats have already introduced other bills that would federalize American elections and promote fraud.
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Bill Provisions
Among the bill’s provisions, it would ban states from enacting any additional limitations on mail-in voting for individuals eligible to vote in federal elections, besides ballot return deadlines. Additionally, it would require states to mail ballots to every registered voter at least two weeks prior to the election, and the bill would also mandate that all voters have the ability to return their ballots via mail or drop boxes.
To make it easier to vote by mail, S. 136/H.R. 237 would have the U.S. Postal Service assume the cost of delivering mail-in ballots. According to Senator Wyden’s press release, “This would allow states to save money by transitioning away from polling stations and reduce a major barrier for voters with the federal government absorbing the cost associated with USPS delivery.”
Last, but not least, the bill would require states to automatically register individuals when they apply for driver’s licenses, a change from the current federal provision that merely mandates states give individuals the opportunity to register. Under the bill, individuals would need to opt out prior to a three-week deadline if they wish not to be registered.
Voter Fraud Consequences
S. 136/H.R. 237 would deal a significant blow to election integrity and increase opportunities for fraud. Absentee ballots in general are prone to fraud and manipulation. For example, while the bill would mandate states mail ballots to all registered voters, it is well-known that voter rolls are inaccurate. For example, the Public Interest Legal Foundation found in 2020 that nearly 350,000 deceased people remained on the voter rolls in over 40 states, and over 50,000 people voted more than once. Additionally, a 2012 Pew Research Center report found that about 24 million voter registrations in the United States were outdated or inaccurate.
Also problematic is the bill’s undermining of the precinct, which has already been diminished to an unacceptable degree. Due to its decentralized nature, the precinct is a strong deterrent to fraud, but expanding mail-in voting circumvents and undermines the precinct. Similarly, ballot drop boxes, which the bill promotes, are vulnerable to fraud and other forms of tampering.
The automatic voter registration provision in S. 136/H.R. 237 would also damage confidence in election results. This is because such a policy would result in ineligible individuals, particularly non-citizens, being accidentally registered to vote. Multiple examples already exist of non-citizen voter fraud, often because of laws giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens and other lax driver registration policies. In one example, observers pointed out that a New York law allowing driver’s licenses for illegals could enable illegal alien voting, and in other states such as Texas, no citizenship checks exist when registering to vote. A federal automatic voter registration provision would exacerbate this problem.
In addition to these problematic provisions in S. 136/H.R. 237, the bill contains zero anti-fraud measures. The John Birch Society has identified multiple steps that the states and federal government can take to strength election integrity. Not only does the “Vote at Home Act” make insecure mail-in voting easier, but it contains no common-sense solutions. Furthermore, the bill would accelerate the dangerous trend of federalizing all American elections, something that goes against the spirit of the 10th Amendment. And Alexander Hamilton explained in The Federalist Papers, No. 59, about Congress regulating state elections: If “an article had been introduced into the Constitution empowering the United States to regulate the elections for the particular States, would any man have hesitated to condemn it, both as an unwarrantable transposition of power and as a premeditated engine for the destruction of the State governments?”
Congress would be wise to reject the “Vote at Home Act,” and to support measures that strengthen, rather than undermine, election integrity.
To urge your U.S. representative and senators to reject the “Vote at Home Act,” visit The John Birch Society’s legislative alert here.
