I & I Editorial BoardI&I Editorial
‘Un-American.” “Sick.” “Despicable.”
What got President Joe Biden in such a lather? Was it the children packed liked sardines at border detention facilities? The recent mass shootings? China’s human rights abuses?
Nope. Biden flew off the handle over the fact that several states are taking steps to reform their election laws in ways he doesn’t like.
“What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick,” he said. “It’s sick … deciding in some states that you can’t bring water to people standing in line waiting to vote. Deciding you’re going to end voting at five o’clock when working people are just getting off work. Deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances.”
“The Republican voters I know find this despicable,” he added later. “Republican voters.”
He wasn’t done. “I’m convinced that we’ll be able to stop this because it is the most pernicious thing. This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle. This is gigantic, what they’re trying to do.”
So what is it that states are trying to do? First, it’s worth clearing up a few things Biden rattled off.
There is a debate in Georgia about a provision regarding bringing voters food and water while they are waiting to vote. Is that un-American? Not when you consider that such “services” could amount to illegal electioneering. But maybe Biden thinks those restrictions are un-American, too.
That 5 p.m. poll closing time? He’s apparently referring to a plan in Texas that would have polls close in the first week of early voting at 5 p.m. But they’d be open until 7 p.m. in the second week of early voting. And the point of the measure is to create a uniform rule across the state, instead of the wide variations seen in the last election.
And the “no absentee ballots” is bogus. States are trying to rein in mail-in voting that caused massive problems in the last election.
What are some of the other un-American provisions states are considering to protect their elections from fraud? In Georgia, one bill would require voters to include a photocopy of an accepted form of identification with their ballot request form and their absentee vote, instead of a signature, so as to avoid problems with signature matching.
Despicable!
Arizona’s bill, which Gov. Doug Ducey signed last week, will increase the accuracy of state voter rolls by mandating the secretary of state compare death records with voter registrations and remove deceased voters. It would add an annual review of the state voter registration database to clear out the names of the dead.
Sick!
In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an election reform bill in early March that requires absentee ballots to arrive before the polls close on Election Day. It forbids county auditors from mailing absentee ballot request forms to voters unless a voter explicitly asks for one. It obligates auditors and election officials to enforce state election laws and follow guidelines set by the Iowa secretary of state, with a fine of up to $10,000 for noncompliance.
It also prohibits “ballot harvesting,” whereby people can go around and collect and handle absentee ballots from voters – something several states already ban because it is a recipe for widespread election fraud.
Pernicious!
The press, of course, has been following the Democrat’s talking points on this to the letter, writing about every such measure in terms of voter suppression, while praising congressional Democrats for their “voting rights” bill.
But as we noted in this space, it’s Biden and company who are attempting something despicable and un-American with their “For the People Act,” also known as H.R. 1.
That bill would federalize elections, forcing states to abide by rules that have nothing to do with the access that legitimate voters have to the polls, but would make it easier for Democrats to steal elections. We noted that, among other things, H.R. 1:
- Forces states to implement mandatory voter registration.
- Mandates that states allow all felons to vote.
- Requires states to extend periods of early voting, which has shown to have no effect on turnout.
- Demands same-day voter registration, which encourages voter fraud.
- Limits the ability of states to cooperate to see who is registered in multiple states at the same time.
- Bars states from making their own laws about voting by mail.
- Mandates free mailing of absentee ballots.
- Effectively bans state voter ID laws.
- Requires states to allow ballot harvesting.
It is this attempted power grab by Democrats that is un-American, for the simple reason that the American way has always been to have states manage their own elections. It’s the best way, because states are better suited to the job.
So, what’s Biden really so mad about? That Democrats won’t be able to establish a one-party state?
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
Good editorial. I always thought states had some sovereignty under the constitution, as part of the founding bargain forming a federal entity. It is pretty clear that a one-party federal state mimicking California is the goal of the party in power –and all their proposals should be viewed through that lens of self-interest. The elephant in the room missing from discussion and the House bill is the vote counting machinery and software, which a high percentage of voters have questioned. When Boeing has a problem with an airplane, all the models get grounded and the machinery and software is examined before the planes are allowed to fly again. Yet, that has never been called for with election machinery and software in even one state. Connect the dots: There is evidence from a recent local office hand recount in New Hampshire where the voting machines were off by 6%; plus the better known examples from isolated precincts in the swing states such as Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin. Common sense dictates any voting bill address the issue of voter faith in the underlying counting machinery and software. Science is about questioning and verifying, and computer voting machines and their software are fair game and should be addressed in the House bill.
Systematic error with voting machines with paper backups is a non-issue because if there is any question, the paper ballots can be recounted manually. And the Constitution clearly gives the federal government the power to set rules for state elections.
House voting legislation could require paper backups for all electronic or computerized voting machines, and make it mandatory that voters be able to review paper backups before leaving polling places. A distinction needs to be made between vote counting machinery used solely for counting paper ballots, and electronic voting machines used in states that go “paperless”.
“Paperless” voting machines with provisions for “electronic curating” for “voter intent” leave no paper trail. In some locales, 66% of ballots were “curated for voter intent”, in violation of existing unenforceable federal guidelines. A PA county vote official demonstrated for the media how easily standard electronic voting machine software could “curate” “paperless” ballots in myriad ways with no record of the changes. Not just corrupt, paid-off or partisan poll officials are a concern. Skilled third parties (e.g. hackers, foreign & domestic intel agencies, political partisans) with wireless or Internet access to the machines or clandestine physical access could also “curate” the ballots. Many computer scientists have weighed in on this issue over the past decade, and provided convincing demos. House voting legislation could remedy the “paperless” defect.
….. the (united States) Constitution clearly gives the federal government the power to set rules for state elections …..
Care to quote the section that does that?
Ironically, take away the stuffed ballot boxes in the big cities and Trump won California.
Following biden on any and all issues is insanity. The guy who says preventing voter fraud is un-American just after he and his supporters stole the Presidential election with their corruption.
‘We have created the most inclusive and extensive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics’ Joe Biden. One of the very few times he uttered the truth about anything.
Said for the same reason Michael Moore said the shooter in Boulder CO ‘was a American as apple pie’. Great minds think alike.
Good to see HR 1 summarized in brief form in this article.
I was wondering how such a Federal law could be constitutional? Doesn’t the Constitution say the State Legislatures are to establish their own Election Laws?
The relevant provision reads “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.” So Congress clearly has the authority to override state election laws, based on the last clause, at least for federal elections (and having separate rules for state-level elections would be infeasibly complicated and expensive).
Interesting, that the constitution should only regulate Senate and House elections, and not Presidential elections. In the computer age, should not be that complex to schedule federal Senate and House elections at different polling places with different rules from state and presidential elections. You could even sub-divide polling places, with one line for federal House and Senate elections where there is no voter id, and a separate line with voter id for state and presidential elections. Blanketing states with mail-in ballots could thus be limited to federal House and Senate ballots which could be processed separately. Since Atlanta and Philly showed that several hundred thousand ballots could be counted by machine in a few early morning hours, there should be no problem.
Same day voter registration should be eliminated everywhere. It is among the most egregious of abused tactics for fraud.
It is necessary to bring food and water to voters in line if they have to stand in line for hours. And making them stand in line for hours is a deliberate strategy to suppress turnout.
Vote early equals small lines! Joe Biden lied about the 5 pm. Joe Biden lies all the time. Why no voter Id? Do Democrats think Democrats aren’t smart enough to get a Id? Same day registration no Id ballot harvesting is Used for fraud! Any honest person knows this. Crowder found 100 people address a vacant lot!
There were actually over 9000 people registered to that vacant lot. Another 10k were registered at a halfway house. THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR TAKING POLITICS SERIOUSLY. So many people here making reasoned, astute points about something that is nothing but a total joke and scam. You think the election was a fraud? What about the part after that where they invented $2trillion dollars they didn’t have and gave it away to cronies? Your logic and reason are wasted on politics. There is no logic or reason. Just lying thieves rigging everything for money and power. It certainly didn’t just start in 2020. This has been the game all along, but you were foolishly listening to the TV telling you it was real and mattered. Stop being that idiot. This is all it ever was and your best move and everyone else’s is to stop believing in it and say no to everything. Vote for lame ducks. Stalemate the houses of Congress. Or better yet vote a new person into every seat every election, regardless of party. Make the house and Senate exactly 50/50 every election with fresh faces. Career pols and their career corruption agendas are what is truly poisoning the well. NOBODY IS WORTH KEEPING. Parties don’t exist, they just allow the same cabal of criminals to cast a wider net. Reject it all. Strategize in direct opposition to it. Or be prepared to have everything stolen from you just as your rights and elections already have been. It’s not real. Its only to manipulate and use you and manufacture consent. Only play to break the game. Because by design, you can never win. It’s sad that I should even have to be telling this to grown adults. Is it not obvious enough, while you sit there unemployed and alone with only your mask?
So, you’re saying that Democrat-run places are trying to suppress voting? Because those are the places with long lines like you are talking about…
“ States are trying to rein in mail-in voting that caused massive problems in the last election.”
Let me fix that for you: ….”mail in voting that helped facilitate the theft of a Presidential election.”
You are welcome.
O’Bydin is worried about not being reinstated as dictator in 2024.
Of course Biden thinks election integrity is sick because he knows more than anyone he is an illegitimate president with an illegitimate administration put into office with MASSIVE fraud.
….. There is a debate in Georgia about a provision regarding bringing food and water to those who are waiting to vote …..
Not even now it’s edited for meaning, close.
The Law forbids only outsiders, (campaign workers, for example) not poll workers, from feeding and watering those waiting.