The 2020 election was crazy and contentious enough. But 2024 is turning into a real circus.
Because lawyers just slapped President Biden with a criminal accusation that has jaw-dropping implications for the 2024 election cycle.
In recent months, the Biden administration has been focusing on a new initiative that he believes will help him get over the finish line when it comes time for Americans to cast their vote this November. The only problem is that many are questioning the legality of the initiative.
President Biden and his Democrat lackeys are pushing a sort of “Get Out The Vote” campaign that is designed to push Americans to get registered to vote. This is based on a 2021 executive order that Biden signed that ordered federal agencies to specifically look into ways to get more Americans to sign up to vote.
The only issue is that many lawyers are wondering if the way the Biden administration’s going about this is even legal in the first place. It could be violating a number of key federal laws, like the Hatch Act.
The Biden administration’s initiative to boost voter registration is raising legal concerns, with experts suggesting it may violate multiple federal laws. President Joe Biden’s executive order, signed in March 2021, directs federal agencies to explore ways to promote voter registration and participation, collaborating with nonprofits in get-out-the-vote efforts.
However, the initiative’s opaque implementation process has made it difficult to ascertain its legality, according to legal experts who have been recently interviewed by reporters.
At the heart of the controversy is the Hatch Act, which restricts federal employees from engaging in political activities. Election law attorney Audrey Perry Martin indicated that the order could breach this law, depending on its execution. “If executive agencies accept volunteer services from third-party organizations with a partisan purpose to register voters, that would appear to violate the Hatch Act,” Audrey shared with the Daily Caller. The administration’s lack of transparency about the initiative’s details exacerbates concerns about potential legal violations.
The order mandates agencies to enlist “approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and State officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.” Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project suggest the initiative is a “partisan voter mobilization effort” favoring Democratic groups, citing its origins and the organizations involved in its planning.
Demos, a Left-wing think tank, advocated for a similar approach in December 2020 to enhance civic participation, especially among Black and brown Americans. The day Biden’s order was signed, Demos celebrated it as a priority for the administration and a culmination of its long-standing efforts. Many groups involved in a July 2021 listening session on the order’s implementation were members of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality, further raising concerns about partisan influences.
Perry Martin emphasized that the involvement of predominantly Left-leaning groups in implementing the order could signify Hatch Act violations if federal agency voter registration efforts appear politically motivated.
Proposals from these groups included the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) suggestion to use the Head Start program for voter registration and Demos’ proposal to leverage the Housing and Urban Development agency for the same purpose. These strategies could violate the Hatch Act if federal employees or nonprofits engage in partisan activities while assisting clients, according to Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation.
Von Spakovsky also argued that the executive order might violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits federal employees from making expenditures not authorized by Congress. “Unless Congress authorized and appropriated funds for federal employees to engage in voter registration activities, they are violating the law,” he said.
Beyond federal concerns, the executive order faces opposition at the state level. Twenty-seven Pennsylvania state legislators have sued to block the order, along with actions by Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt. The lawsuit argues these actions violate the Electors Clause and Elections Clause by altering Pennsylvania election laws without legislative involvement.
The legislators’ case relies on the independent state legislature theory, suggesting that the Elections Clause grants state legislatures the exclusive power to determine election procedures.
This theory was partially rejected by the Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper, but the current case focuses on election process details, potentially bolstering the legislators’ argument.
A pending Supreme Court petition seeks a ruling on whether the legislators have standing to sue. A district court dismissed their case on standing grounds in March. “Pennsylvania’s voter registration laws, enacted by the constitutionally designated lawmakers, are the first line of defense in protecting the election system,” Jessica Hart Steinmann of the America First Policy Institute said. “Executive officials have no authority to change the laws and may only enforce existing laws.”
As legal challenges progress, the Biden administration’s voter registration initiative continues to face scrutiny over its potential legal ramifications and the extent of its partisan undertones.
Non-partisan organizations have thus far been fairly critical of the Biden administration’s voter registration initiative, and that has to raise red flags about what they might have in store in the coming months ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
Be sure to stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal for more critical 2024 election updates.
