We should all be skeptical of any legislation that makes it easier for a bill to become law.
It’s one of the primary reasons we opposed the Republican proposal several years ago to transform Minnesota’s legislature into a “unicameral” legislature – a single body. It’s also another reason why a “political trifecta” of one-party control of state government requires all of our vigilance to more carefully screen pending legislation. Minnesotans have certainly learned the importance of keeping watch during these past two years.
Our system of checks and balances was designed and sustained for over 200 years in order to provide thoughtful and thorough examination of potential laws. For the most part, it works. So, when a politician tells you this will make it easier for a legislative body to pass even more legislation, voters beware.
There is a whopper of a bill that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently said would be “One of the first things I want to do, should we have the presidency and keep the [senate] majority, is change the rules and enact both the Freedom to vote Act and the John Lewis Act.”
Enacting these bills would, amongst other things, eliminate the filibuster, make it “easier to vote,” outlaw partisan gerrymandering, requiring greater disclosure of political donors, provide additional public funding of political campaigns and many other items on the progressive left wish-list. Some of the most controversial parts of this proposal would make Election Day a federal holiday and “make sure voters don’t have to wait more than 30 minutes in line to cast their ballots.”
No one can accurately say how that would be enforced by the Feds who would be deemed to be in charge of enforcing these new election laws instead of our local elected officials who currently oversee our elections.
Democrats in Congress tried to pass both of these pieces of legislation early in the Biden presidency but were unable to do so because of a lack of support from their own party. Yet Vice President Kamala Harris enthusiastically endorses both of these measures and said so when she accepted her party’s nomination recently during the DNC Convention in Chicago.
And indeed: most of these voting trends were signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz with very little debate and one-party support.
Changing election law should be a thoughtful and bi-partisan process, whether it’s federal election law in Congress or state election laws at our state Capitol.
And these bills clearly aren’t either.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said recently that this legislation is a “’massive federal power grab” that would turn the Justice Department into a “a national election czar” and take authority away from state officials who have long been responsible for setting voting rules.”
To see how important state election oversight is, keep reading. Alaska and the zealots pushing Ranked Choice Voting down our throats just got a heaping serving of crazy delivered to them just in time for this November’s election.
