Marion Bae, FISM News
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As Republicans expect large wins nationwide in the upcoming midterm elections, legislators are looking towards 2024 by introducing new voting reforms to prevent illegal voting practices in future elections.
Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 brought mass distrust of public systems, including law enforcement, public schools, and elections. Prior to the 2020 presidential elections, several states quickly updated their voting policies under the guise of public safety, raising questions about the integrity of the votes.
As Republican backlash mounted, Democrats sought to reinforce these new voting measures after President Biden was elected by introducing federal legislation that would increase access to voting and voter registration, while decreasing safeguards generally believed to ensure voting integrity. Branded the For the People Act (H.R. 1), Democrats introduced the highly partisan bill in January of 2021. It garnered no Republican support and even failed to get support from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
Now, as House Republicans have a potential majority in their sights, they have drafted a bill called the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE). In an opinion piece for the Hill, Rep. Rodney Davis (R-I.L.) announced the ACE Act.
Today I’m introducing the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act. This comprehensive legislation addresses issues in our federal elections while upholding our federalist principles. It’s coupled with corresponding model state legislation for each state to consider as we all work to improve election integrity.
Davis states that the bill is focused not on the federal overseeing of elections, but on states and giving them the tools they need to ensure integrity in their election systems.
The ACE Act would reform the REAL ID Act, by making issuing photo IDs for voters easier. In regard to voting and registering by mail, the ACE Act would attempt to ensure safe election mail handling by the U.S. Postal Service. It would also open a forum for discussion of improvements between states on how they’re handling observer access, ballot delivery, and signature verification.
The ACE Act also goes beyond voting and voter registration to protect free speech rights. The ACE Act would move to prevent any “Misinformation Czars” unjustly targeting political opponents. This move comes in light of the run-up to the 2020 elections, during which many Republicans noticed that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter were silencing conservative voices.
Former Federal Election Commission chairman Lee Goodman spoke of the potential efficacy of the bill. He told the Washington Examiner, “Rep. Davis’s new bill is a perfect antidote to the decline in confidence in our elections.”
The bill contains very important reforms to campaign finance laws that hurt our democracy. The bill would reverse the stranglehold McCain-Feingold imposed on state and local political parties, the most populist political organizations in our democratic process, and free citizen speech on the internet. There’s also an important provision protecting the editorial decisions of old and new media from censorship, and it puts citizens on a level playing field when they discuss politics on the internet.
Voting law legislation is popular amongst conservative voters who want fair and secure elections. Some Republican state governments have already started imposing reforms to increase confidence in their elections, including Missouri, Florida, and Georgia.