Democrats are up in arms over the Republican Party’s efforts to secure our elections. There are two bills currently under consideration, and Democrats hate them both. We’re being treated to the same old rhetoric about Jim Crow that we hear all the time from that side. But there is also resistance from the right, and that’s what I want to address today.
There are bills under consideration right now from Republicans: the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act and the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act. While the left is screaming “Jim Crow,” there are some on the right screaming “federal takeover of elections.”
Over at National Review, Yuval Levin argued that Democrats tried to nationalize elections (which is true), and that it was a bad idea then, and it’s a bad idea now that, according to him, Trump is trying to do it.
But is that what Trump is trying to do?
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution explicitly gives Congress authority to regulate federal elections:
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, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
Now that we’ve established that Congress has the authority to regulate elections, let’s look at what Democrats wanted to do in 2021. They offered three separate bills: the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the For the People Act. These three pieces of legislation were not just attempts to federalize election laws, but deliberate assaults on election integrity. These laws would mandate universal mail-in voting, allow ballots to be accepted long after Election Day, implement automatic voter registration, allow felons to vote, and abolish the Electoral College.
ICYMI: The Truth About the ‘Racist’ Video Trump Posted That the Left Doesn’t Want You to Know
Literally everything these laws would have done would have undermined election security. What do the SAVE Act and MEGA Act do? The SAVE Act would require voters to show a photo ID and provide proof of citizenship when registering. Easy stuff. The MEGA Act takes things a bit further. It includes the same ID and citizenship requirements as the SAVE Act, but also strengthens routine voter-roll maintenance, ensures that mail-in ballots are received by the close of polls on Election Day, and mandates the use of auditable paper ballots. It also bans ballot harvesting, ranked-choice voting, and universal vote-by-mail.
Again, rather simple election integrity stuff here.
The Democrats’ proposals were a blatant power grab designed to make it easier for them to cheat. The Republican proposals are basic safeguards with widespread support. We can still have national standards for elections without violating the ideals of federalism.
Even Levin seems to concede this point.
None of this means that a system of national election administration is somehow inherently wrong or unworkable. There are certainly decent arguments for it in principle, and maybe over time our political culture will slowly evolve in a direction that makes it more appropriate. But given where we are, it is absolutely not somewhere we should go — not just because the other side might use it badly, but because the rules and norms that stand in the way of our pursuing it are protecting us from our worst selves.
But when is the appropriate time? Democrats already tried to nationalize our elections once. They will try again. We can either sit back and let them cheat their way to permanent power, or create safeguards that allow everyone to trust the results of our elections, regardless of the outcome.
