WASHINGTON – House Republicans on Monday unveiled a ballot measure they claimed would make elections safer, fulfilling campaign promises Democrats were quick to criticize as rooted in former President Donald Trump’s refusal to vote.
The House Trustees, which oversees federal elections, chose Atlanta as the backdrop for the bill, the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act, to hold hearings to consider the battle over access to polls. decided. In recent years, it has mainly been done at the state level.
The Commission chose Atlanta as agreeing on the following points: Georgia’s 2021 Voting Law, among other changes, included additional ID requirements for mail-in ballots, restrictions on ballot drop-boxes, and a ban on bringing food and water to voters in line. The bill sparked a lawsuit from the Justice Department and sparked national controversy, including a decision by Major League Baseball to: withdraw the All-Star Game from Atlanta.
Critics said the Georgia law would make voting difficult and unfairly disenfranchise people of color. On Monday, Trustee Chairman Brian Steele, a Wisconsin Republican who proposed the new bill, said this was a false statement because voter turnout increased from 2020 to 2022. analysis A study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found that while overall voter turnout is rising, the gap between white and nonwhite voter turnout is also widening. Non-white voter turnout was found to have declined between the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections.
The House Republican bill would make certain changes to the federal government to help administer elections in states, including making changes to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to keep noncitizens and deceased voters out of voters. requires states to give free access to voter data. Rawls. It would also amend the REAL ID Act to require citizenship status to be printed on identification documents such as driver’s licenses for the purpose of verifying citizenship status at polling places. The bill also seeks to eliminate state incentives to allow noncitizens to vote in local and state elections by reducing eligibility for grants under the Help America Vote Act.
“This bill is the most substantive and conservative election fairness bill to be introduced to the House of Representatives in a generation,” Steil said.
Lawmakers have also proposed many changes to the bill for the city’s elections, trying to use Congress’ control of Washington, D.C., as an example of effective election management. The bill would establish photo ID requirements, require signature verification for mail-in ballots, and prohibit same-day voter registration and the mailing of ballots to non-citizens in the metropolitan area. The bill would also repeal a new city law that allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Joe Morrell of New York, criticized Republicans for using Georgia’s SB202 voting law as a model, and said the bill would be passed by former President Trump to Georgia in 2020. He said it was enacted only because he lost the
“The SB 202 bullying origins mirror the majority ACE law bullying origins. of Americans,” he said.
Other provisions in the bill would make it easier for political nonprofits to keep donor lists private and lift some campaign finance controls.
Even if it does pass the House, it is almost certain that the Republican bill will not pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Democrats also had a hard time getting through They enacted their own version of the voting rights bill, which they claim will expand voter access in the face of filibustering by Senate Republicans.
