Donna Brazile Doesn't Understand Why It's 'Criminal' to Violate Election Laws

We’re going the need the receipts for this one, Donna. Here’s what former interim DNC chair Donna Brazile said on ABC “This Week” on Sunday: “I’m an election official, ok? And if I began to give people access to the ballot through online applications for absentee ballots, I can be arrested. It’s criminalizing voting in ways we should not criminalize voting.”

Well, yes. If you break the law, you’re a criminal. This is not complicated. If you violate election laws passed by the duly elected legislature, what you’re doing is illegal. No one should have the power to unilaterally change election laws, although several governors and secretaries of state did in 2020—illegally, in my opinion—citing COVID concerns.

I’m not sure what kind of “election official” Brazile is—nothing turned up on a Google search—but even if she were the top election official in her state (which she’s not) she wouldn’t have the legal authority to permit something her state legislature has forbidden. Brazile’s statement would be like me saying, “If I want to kill someone, I could be arrested. We should not criminalize murder!” What she’s suggesting—that “election officials” should be able to change the laws anytime they feel like it—is a threat to democracy.