Republicans are raising new concerns about the Democratic chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission’s efforts to boost the Democratic vote in the 2020 election.
Critics are pointing to a series of letters and tweets Ellen Weintraub has written to North Carolina colleges urging them to comply with new rules on voter identification.
“ALERT!” she wrote in a tweet decorated with flashing red lights. “According to the NC State Board of Elections, dozens of #NorthCarolina colleges and universities have not yet had their student IDs approved as photo IDs for voting,” she added.
??? @uncschoolofarts students! Let your school’s leadership know that they need to fill out this simple form https://t.co/kYHnMHJUUa by NOVEMBER 15, or no one there can use student IDs to vote in NC in 2020! PDF: https://t.co/m1rWAU65o9 pic.twitter.com/kkNX5nUmqd
— Ellen L Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub) October 23, 2019
Supporters of her action said that she is simply trying to make sure students get to vote.
But critics say that is not the role of the FEC, which was created to police campaign financing, and it also amounts to “meddling” in state elections.
One election law expert said, “Chair Weintraub has been using the power of her office to pressure North Carolina colleges into making it easier for a key Democratic constituency — college students — to vote in the 2020 election. The FEC chair has no business meddling in issues like voter ID because they are a state rather than a federal issue.”
Weintraub has been critical of President Trump, who edged out Hillary Clinton by less than 200,000 votes in 2016.
