On Tuesday the House passed – in a strictly party-line vote – HR4, the so-called John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Make no mistake about the goal of this legislation, it is not
to “advance” voting rights, but to allow Democrats to put themselves beyond the reach of the electorate, establish a one-party state and hold on to power in perpetuity.
As our friend principled limited government constitutional conservative Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-5) explained, “The Socialist Democrats were dealt a blow when the Senate voted down H.R 1, the ‘Socialist Democrat Election Fraud Enhancement Act.’ Now, they seek to again undermine America’s election systems with H.R. 4, a bill that eliminates state safeguards that protect honest and accurate elections… it federalizes elections by giving election micromanaging power to federal bureaucrats… it undermines America’s Republic and effectively turns our election results into what we so often see in North Korea, the old Soviet Union, Venezuela and any number of other pretend republics. Citizens can vote, but the election results are predetermined. In sum, H.R. 4 dishonors the American lives lost defending our right to vote and way of life.”
Among Rep. Brooks’ objections to H.R. 4 are:
Masquerades as a cure to end racial discrimination while instead centralizing election control to the federal government;
Federalizes America’s election system by giving oversight power to unelected bureaucrats in Washington;
Erodes state’s ability to oversee their election systems;
Drives up taxpayer costs by requiring city, county and state legal petitions to seek federal permission to make even minor changes to election rules – even something as minor as moving a polling location across the street could require costly and time-consuming Department of Justice (DOJ) approval;
Gives unelected DOJ officials the power to arbitrarily veto city, county and state election decisions without any just cause for the veto;
Unconstitutionally expands the federal government’s ability to reject commonsense voting reforms enacted at the state level, such as requiring voter ID;
Takes away states’ ability to oversee absentee voting, maintenance of voter rolls, polling locations, and hours of operation;
Creates a more onerous formula for determining discrimination in voting rights than the one included in the original Voting Rights Act.
To Rep. Brooks’ list we would add our own objection that this bill is specifically tailored to handover even the most minute decision in the management of any and every election to Biden’s handpicked Far Left partisan racists in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
The legislation gives preclearance authority over any change to state or municipal election laws, including redistricting and absentee ballots, to the U.S. Attorney General or alternately, to the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia.
In actual practice, the person who would receive almost unlimited power should H.R. 4 become law is Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke, who once wrote that blacks are genetically superior to whites and who headed the Far Left Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights Under Law.
As Robert Romano wrote in an article for Americans for Limited Government, “under the U.S. Constitution, the Attorney General and courts are not legislatures, and yet H.R. 4 would turn the Attorney General and the D.C. District Court into a super legislature, having both the power to veto state and local changes to election law, and the power to effectively rewrite any proposed change.”
Mr. Romano concluded, and we agree, Senate Republicans have to make it clear that H.R. 4 is dead on arrival in the Senate. The sweeping preclearance authority giving the Justice Department arbitrary rule over everything from redistricting to absentee ballots is unacceptable. This is not about equality, it’s about giving Democrats a definitive advantage in future election cycles. Partisan gain is not a noble pursuit under the Fifteenth Amendment.
House Republicans stood together and unanimously opposed H.R. 4, Senate Republicans must do the same. The toll-free Capitol Switchboard is (1-866-220-0044), call you Senators and demand they vote NO on H.R. 4 when it comes before the Senate.
H.R. 4
John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Rep. Mo Brooks
H.R. 1
Federalizing elections
State authority over elections
DOJ approval
Voter ID
DOJ Civil Rights Division
Absentee ballots
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke