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The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the controversial H.R. 1, also known as the “For the People Act,” a bill that would force states to eliminate safeguards against electoral fraud with the ostensible aim of promoting democracy, but which critics say would weaken election integrity and result in the federalization of elections.
The legislation passed the House on party lines, 220 to 210. According to a summary of the bill, H.R. 1 “expands voter registration and voting access” by requiring automatic and same-day registration while limiting states’ and localities’ ability to purge voter rolls. It would also mandate nationwide universal mail-in voting, which many on the Right believe enabled voter fraud that contributed to Donald Trump’s election loss, and put an end to voter ID requirements.
The New American has previously reported on the sweeping changes H.R. 1 would effect on U.S. elections.
One of the biggest changes it would make would be to give independent commissions the job of drawing congressional districts, rather than letting state legislatures do it as is currently the case.
This would fly in the face of Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution, which states clearly that “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”
Moreover, Democrats’ election bill would provide a 6:1 taxpayer-funded match to federal campaigns for donations up to $200. This means that for a $200 donation, a candidate would get a federal match of $1,200.
In addition, H.R. 1 would mandate that felons have their vote restored the moment they get out of prison, regardless of any probation requirements.
“If this bill passes, it puts in all these terrible provisions,” Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative and a senior legal fellow of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, said of the bill during an appearance on Breitbart.
“It’s a federal micromanagement of the election process, and everything that folks on the left want to reduce the integrity [and] the security of the election process is in there,” he continued.
“If you’re a state like Alabama or Texas that has a voter ID law, you might as well forget it, because this federal law would override all state voter ID laws so they’re now unenforceable,” von Spakovsky added.
Representative Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) also took aim at the legislation.
“The socialists seek to mandate no-fault absentee ballots, which are the tool of choice for vote thieves. They seek to eliminate the photo identification requirement and, by the way, when the federal government does it, that eliminates all state laws to the contrary,” he said. “It, to a very large degree, federalizes and micromanages the election process administered by the states. It implemented, as I mentioned, some of the worst changes in election rules that occurred during the 2020 election.”
Democrats passed their “election reform” bill right as Republican states seek to tighten restrictions in order to prevent a repeat of 2020’s widespread election fraud.
On Monday, for example, the Georgia House of Representatives passed a bill that severely limits mail-in voting and prevents election officials from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications to the public.
In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled a legislative proposal featuring many measures similar to the Georgia bill, while going even further. For example, the Florida legislation would make mandatory real-time reporting of voter turnout data at the precinct level and establish that political parties and candidates must be able to observe the signature-matching process.
Joe Biden will certainly sign H.R. 1 into law, but it remains to be seen whether the bill can first clear the Senate, with its one vote (thanks to Kamala Harris occupying the vice presidency) Democrat majority.
Democrats are unlikely to win over enough Republican votes to get the 60 they need to overcome a filibuster, a reality that will likely lead to an additional fight within the chamber to do away with the filibuster altogether, a move for which they have been angling for weeks now.
If H.R. 1 is ultimately passed, it will fall upon the states to exercise their nullification power. Otherwise, the transformative election program would deal the Republic a blow from which it may be unable to recover.
