Walter Olson
Walter Olson
According to multiple reports, Republicans “plan to move quickly” to move election legislation early in the new Congress. Supporters of constitutional liberty should watch closely to make sure that such legislation is shorn of the punitive enforcement provisions and unrealistic timelines that riddled last year’s Republican bill on citizenship verification, and that it does not let the federal government draw unto itself too much discretionary regulatory power over local election administration. Reports AP:
The main legislation that Republicans expect to push will be versions of the American Confidence in Elections Act and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, said GOP Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, chair of the Committee on House Administration, which handles election-related legislation. The proposals are known as the ACE and SAVE acts, respectively.
The political logic in starting with those two is clear enough. A requirement to show a government-issued photo ID at the polls is consistently popular with the public across party lines, leaving aside scholars’ doubts as to whether it actually matters much to outcomes. Indeed, most states already have it. Noncitizen voting in federal elections is already unlawful, and there is a broad political consensus on the principle of the thing, if not necessarily on the details of enforcing it.
By contrast, some other ideas floated by Donald Trump and allies, such as requiring that all voting be done on Election Day, are deeply unpopular both with the public and with election administrators of both parties. AP again:
[Republican Georgia Secretary of State] Raffensperger and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said it would be a mistake to move the country to a single day of voting, something Trump has said he would like to see happen, because it would eliminate early voting and limit access to mail ballots. Both methods are extremely popular among voters. » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/congress-might-make-election-law-early-priority