On Tuesday, the House passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, or H.R. 4. Now, it is headed to the Senate. The bill turns our elections inside out.
Under H.R. 4, states would be unable to defend themselves from Justice Department lawsuits against election integrity laws, as the bill prevents states from using real election results to show minority voters weren’t hurt by a law. H.R. 4 equates protecting Democrats with protecting racial minorities. It was written for Democrats to get and keep power through federal mandates.
Washington, D.C., sees plenty of bad ideas, but rarely ideas this bad.
Our founders believed that power was best left closest to the people. It’s why they left power over elections to the states. A change to the original constitutional agreement would be disastrous for our union.
If enacted, H.R. 4 would put DOJ bureaucrats in charge of nearly every change in our elections. Radicals inside the DOJ Voting Section, where I used to work, will have absolute power over state elections.
For instance, this bill would allow the DOJ to reject any state’s voter ID law. No need to prove in court that the law would hurt minorities — quite the opposite. If a state can’t prove a law has zero discriminatory effect, the bureaucrats will reject the law. H.R. 4 reverses the time-tested burdens that underpin our legal system. It forces states to beg for federal approval.
This is not what the public wants. A recent poll shows that 8 in 10 support voter ID laws. Americans want to trust their elections. H.R. 4 would make our elections less secure.
Moreover, the original Voting Rights Act worked. It has never been easier to vote, and this is reflected in high minority voting rates. A federal takeover of elections is not necessary.
H.R. 4 is about taking power away from the people and giving it to the D.C. swamp. It’s about giving D.C. bureaucrats complete and total control of how we run our elections.
Federal bureaucrats should stay out of our elections. The Constitution gives states the power to run their own elections, and that’s exactly what the people want.
J. Christian Adams is the president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a former Justice Department attorney, and the current commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
