President Biden is pushing to federalize elections
President Biden's Executive Order, "Promoting Access to Voting," adds new, unprecedented federal government involvement in election administration
Updated Aug 17, 2024.
President Biden’s partisan, political efforts to federalize elections is a danger to our democracy, yet the mainstream media is mostly ignoring his actions. The story is a bit complicated, but the public deserves to know the breath and depth of how Biden is involving federal government agencies in elections.
Here are brief summaries of the seven sections of this article:
Demos groundwork. Before Joe Biden was elected President the progressive group Demos laid groundwork for actions a new president might take “to advance democracy” through Executive Order. Demos announced their plans online on Dec. 3, 2020 — exactly one month after election day.
White House Announcements. Only 47 days after being inaugurated, President Biden on March 7, 2021 announced several federal agencies had 200 days to submit plans for their involvement in voter registration and participation. On Sept. 28, 2021 the White House announced more than a dozen federal agencies had started to execute their plans.
Demos / ACLU Connections. After pressing Biden for the Executive Order, Demos and their ACLU friends offered their services and “guidance” to federal agencies on how the government should get more involved in making voter registration an integral part of any interaction with the public. Demos/ACLU also wanted state agencies interacting with federal agencies to become involved in voter registration.
Federal Agencies Implementing “Promoting Access to Voting.” Some federal agencies have issued press releases about their activities related to Biden’s Executive Order, but information about activities by others has only been briefly mentioned on a White House “Fact Sheet.”
Concerns about Executive Order. Several groups have written about their concerns about misuse of federal resources to support partisan political benefit, and potentially criminal behavior related to benefits provided to third-party organizations. The public is mostly in the dark about much of what is being done as part of Biden’s Executive Order, since Freedom of Information requests have been ignored by several federal agencies.
Congressional Letters of Inquiry. From January 19 through July 15, 2022 at least four letters from U.S. House groups have been sent to government officials asking for information and investigations about Biden’s Executive Order on voting. These congressional groups have received no responses to their letters.
Hundreds of Progressive Groups Want Feds to Do More. While conservative groups are looking for information and accountability about Biden’s actions, hundreds of far left groups want the federal government to become even more involved in elections.
Demos groundwork
On Dec. 3, 2020 the progressive group Demos published an article with a blueprint for “executive action to advance democracy.” This was the groundwork Biden used in his March 2021 Executive Order: “What the Biden-Harris Administration and the Agencies Can Do to Build a More Inclusive Democracy.”
Executive actions the new administration can take to help ensure the integrity of our elections and strengthen opportunities for civic participation for Black and brown Americans.
Demos provided this outline of tasks:
Direct federal agencies to provide voter registration services.
Strengthen the Department of Justice’s enforcement of and guidance on voting rights statutes.
Support the Election Assistance Commission in its efforts to strengthen access to voting and voter registration.
Create an Office of Democracy and Civic Innovation within the White House.
Strengthen the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to deliver election mail and other critical mail to all Americans.
Ensure access to Federal Bureau of Prison data needed to end prison-based gerrymandering.
Demos update, Sept. 20, 2022: Strengthening the Right to Vote: How Biden's Executive Order Can Ease Access to the Ballot.
Demos update, Oct 4, 2022: Opening the Door for Youth Voters.
Soros connections?
Did George Soros’ $3.3 million in support to Demos via his Foundation to Promote Open Society from 2018-2020 play any part in the groundwork for Biden’s Executive Order?
Demos president K. Sabeel Rahman joined the Biden administration in January 2021 as the senior counselor for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. On March 5, 2021 the White House announced Chiraag Bains, Demos Director of Legal Strategies, would become the Special Assistant to the President for Criminal Justice.
Both Rahman and Bains were assigned roles in implementing the new Executive Order.
According to IRS 990s in 2016-2018 George Soros’ Open Society Institute gave Bains over $225,000 “to write a book that addresses the need to reform American policing and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.” In 2005 Bains was awarded a Paul & Daisy Soros fellowship “to support work towards a JD in Law at Harvard University.” Paul Soros was the older brother of George Soros.
White House Announcements
On March 7, 2021 President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14019, Promoting Access to Voting, to expand opportunities for voter registration through citizen interaction with several federal government agencies.
The White House, Executive Order on Promoting Accessing to Voting, March 7, 2021.
Within 200 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency shall submit to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy a strategic plan outlining the ways identified under this review that the agency can promote voter registration and voter participation. …
The head of each agency shall evaluate where and how the agency provides services that directly engage with the public and, to the greatest extent practicable, formally notify the States in which the agency provides such services that it would agree to designation as a voter registration agency …
The DOJ is concealing documents related to Biden’s executive order that directed agencies to meddle in nationwide elections, Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist, Sept 12, 2022.
Memo from Devontae Freeland about Election official roundtable on Voting EO implementation (June 21, 2021).
Documents shed light on Biden White House meeting (July 12, 2021) on voter registration with left-wing activists, Gabe Kaminsky, Washington Examiner, May 2, 2024.
Memo from Devontae Freeland about White House zoom call: Voting Executive Order Listening Session #2 | Voting rights advocacy groups, July 12, 2021.
The White House, FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Promotes Voter Participation with New Agency Steps, Sept. 28, 2021.
Today, more than a dozen agencies across the federal government are announcing steps they are taking to respond to the President’s call for an all-of-government action to promote voting access and to further the ability of all eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s Convening With Voting Rights Leaders, The White House, Jan. 9, 2024.
VP Harris to announce Biden team’s plans to boost voting access, Eugene Scott, Axios, Feb. 27, 2024.
Demos / ACLU Connections
Adam Lioz, Demos blog, Biden’s Executive Order Promoting Voter Registration Through Federal Agencies Could Help Millions of Potential Voters, March 7, 2021.
As soon as President Biden was elected, Demos began pressing the incoming Administration to use executive action to build a more inclusive multiracial democracy, and our top recommendation was to direct federal agencies to provide voter registration services.
Demos, How States Can Lead to Advance Voter Registration at Federal Agencies, May 21, 2021.
Demos, How and Why the Federal Agencies Can Register Voters, Sept. 2, 2021.
Demos & ACLU, Best Practices for Federal Agency Voter Registration, Sept. 2021.
Demos & ACLU, How Federal Agencies Can Serve their Stakeholders through Voter Registration Services (slide deck), Sept. 2021.
Guidance for adding robust voter registration services to federally-facilitated health insurance exchanges, Dec. 2021.
Laura Williamson, Demos blog, On the Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a Look at President Biden’s Voting Access Executive Order, March 7, 2022.
[T]he Bloody Sunday EO [orders] federal agencies to do what they can to promote access to voter registration and voting for the Americans they serve.
A year into implementation, we are encouraged by the efforts from some agencies to meet the charge of the Bloody Sunday EO[.]
At the same time, we know there is much more federal agencies can do.
ACLU News, Sarah Brannon, The White House Can Do More to Expand Voting Access, March 7, 2022.
The voting executive order is unprecedented because it encourages federal agencies and states to embrace the original intent of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), which contemplates that the federal government should provide voter registration services. Regrettably, before 2021 this provision of the NVRA, which was specifically designed to engage the federal government, has been largely untapped. The NVRA permits federal and nongovernmental offices to be designated as additional voter registration agencies. Biden’s executive order strongly encourages implementation of this underused provision. . . .
It is not just federal agencies that need to act. Despite the strong commitment to fulfill the intent of the NVRA illustrated by the administration’s executive order, to date, no state agency has taken advantage of the provision which would allow any federal agency to become a voter registration agency under the NVRA within their state. There have not been any requests from states to federal agencies to become NVRA voter registration agencies, even though both the Small Business Administration and the Department of Interior have made public commitments that they would accept such requests. We implore state election officials to immediately take advantage of the opportunity this executive order would present.
Federal Agencies Implementing “Promoting Access to Voting”
Quotes without links below are taken from the Sept. 28, 2021 White House “Fact Sheet.”
Multiple Agencies
9 Ways The Feds Are Using ‘Bidenbucks’ To Rig The 2024 Election, Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist, Feb. 29, 2024.
Biden Bucks: Executive Order 14019, The Heritage Foundation, May 16, 2024.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) E.O. 14019 Guidance Memorandum
U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) E.O. 14019 Strategic Plan
Peace Corps E.O. 14019 Compliance Plan
US Trade Representative (USTR) E.O. 14019 Draft Correspondence
Department of Labor (DOL) Redacted E.O. 14019 Strategic Plan Correspondence
Department of Treasury Paid Time Off for E.O. 14019
Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) Paid Time Off for E.O. 14019
Department of Labor (DOL)-SOS Designation Correspondence
Department of Labor (DOL) AJC Designation under NVRA Correspondence
US Agency for Global Media E.O. 14019 Marketing Materials
US Marshalls Service (USMS) E.O. 14019 Marketing Materials
Department of Interior (DOI) VRA Designation Kansas
Department of Labor (DOL)-Demos Equity & Public Policy Teams Meeting with Taifa Butler
Multiple NGOs propose additional actions for Department of Education regarding E.O. 14019 (see p. 44)
Department of Agriculture
Promoting Access to Voting through the Child Nutrition Programs
Rural Housing Service will encourage the provision of nonpartisan voter information through its borrowers and guaranteed lenders, who interface with thousands of residents in the process of changing their voting address every year.
USDA employees being instructed by the far-left group Demos.
USDA supports voting rights, USDA Forest Service, Sept. 26, 2023.
USDA Colludes With Left-Wing Group to Turn Out Voters Under Biden Order, Documents Reveal, Fred Lucas, Daily Signal, Feb. 20, 2024.
Department of Commerce, Small Business Administration. March 19, 2024.
Press Release: Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, announced a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the SBA and the Michigan Department of State (MDOS) to promote civic engagement and voter registration in Michigan. The agreement, a first-of-its-kind collaboration for the SBA, will run through Jan. 1, 2036.
House Committee on Small Business issued two subpoenas to investigate Memorandum of Understanding, Fox News, May 23, 2024.
Compilation of letters sent by the Committee on House Administration to federal agencies.
Department of Defense: Federal Voting Assistance Program Strategic Plan, 2021-2025.
In response to Executive Order 14019, “Promoting Access to Voting,” March 10, 2021, FVAP adjusted its strategic plan to reflect not only its ongoing support and requirements identified through the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, but the need to increase overall voter awareness for all individuals affiliated with the Department and those receiving assistance. This strategic plan identifies the role of FVAP as the Department lead to promote awareness of voting resources not only for those living and working away from home, but also those who register and vote in their local jurisdictions.
Department of Education
Issues Requirements for Distribution of Voter Registration Forms if you want federal student aid
DOE will prepare a tool kit of resources and strategies for increasing civic engagement at the elementary school, secondary school, and higher education level, helping more than 67 million students — and their families — learn about civic opportunities and responsibilities.
U.S. Department of Education Releases Voter Toolkit, Feb. 26, 2024.
Bidenbucks Laundered Through Education Department Target Likely Biden Voters, Brianna Lyman, The Federalist, Feb. 27, 2024.
Feds Will Pay Students Your Tax Dollars To Help Reelect Biden, In Latest ‘Bidenbucks’ Scheme, M. D. Kittle, The Federalist, Feb. 29, 2024.
Biden Education Department Shared Memo Pushing To Mobilize Dem-Leaning Voters From Liberal Activists, Daily Caller, May 16, 2024.
Activists lobbied Biden Education Dept. to mass auto-register college Democrats, Hayden Ludwig, Restoration News, June 10, 2024. “What wasn’t widely known … was the role of over 40 lobbying groups in shaping how the Biden Education Department should implement the executive order for maximum impact in the coming elections.”
General Services Administration will ensure vote.gov is a user-friendly portal for Americans to find the information they need most to register and vote. Available in over ten languages and in a format accessible for voters with disabilities, vote.gov will make it easier for eligible users to register to vote or confirm their registration status.
GSA Modernizing Vote.gov
Padilla Pushes Administration to Modernize Vote.gov, Increase Voter Access to Resources and Information, press release, Feb. 21, 2024.
Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Community Living will launch a new voting access hub to connect older adults and people with disabilities to information, tools and resources to help them understand and exercise their right to vote.
The Hill, Warren calls on HHS to provide access to voter registration services through health insurance applications, June 29, 2022.
Federal health insurance website lags in voter registration assistance, Democrats charge, Zachary Roth, Pennsylvania Capital-Star. July 4,2023.
Biden's Executive Order encourages expanded voter registration at health centers in Kansas, Watchdog Lab, Jan. 10, 2024.
Biden officials keep states waiting on expanding Medicaid voter registration, Hansi Lo Wang, NPR, Feb. 23, 2024.
South Carolina Agency: The Feds Force Us To Give Voter Registration To Foreign Nationals, M.D. Kittle, The Federalist, May 7, 2024.
As South Carolina law enforcement investigates allegations a state agency is handing out voter registration forms to foreign nationals, an agency official tells The Federalist that federal law has tied the state’s hands.Leftist nonprofit, ‘Bidenbucks’ pushing voter registration of low-income patients at health centers, Just the News, Natalia Mittelstadt, May 14, 2024.
HHS Chief Routinely Checked Progress of Biden Election-Meddling Directive, Records Show, Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal, May 21, 2024.
Department of Homeland Security will invite state and local governments and nonpartisan nonprofit organizations to register voters at the end of naturalization ceremonies
Department of Housing and Urban Development
In developing the agency’s voter registration plan, we urge you to:
Integrate voter registration into all competitive funding programs, using the voter registration procedures set out in the National Voter Registration Act as a model, and consulting this detailed guidance on how to most effectively incorporate voter registration into agency transactions.
Begin consideration of how to incorporate voter registration requirements into any forthcoming competitive funding programs, including any resources enacted through the Build Back Better Act; our groups can be especially helpful on this point.
Issue updated guidance to all state and local governments, plus 3rd party staff administering formula-funded programs, clarifying that they are not only allowed but encouraged to integrate voter registration services into their interactions with residents. Such guidance should strengthen guidance previously provided by HUD, detail the role civic participation can play in improving the quality of life of its residents and creating strong, sustainable, inclusive communities; describe permissible voter registration activities; and provide examples of effective voter registration services.
Health Resources & Services Administration
Institute of Museum and Library Services will create and distribute a toolkit of resources and strategies that libraries, museums, and heritage and cultural institutions can use to promote civic engagement and participation in the voting process.
Internal Revenue Service
Guidance for Promoting Voter Registration at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Sites for Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) Partners.
Should the language here be “should be” or “shall be” to be legal?
Department of the Interior
Tribal Consultation Schedule on Native American Voting Rights
7 zoom meetings in various regions of the country (June 2 - Oct. 23, 2021)
[PDF below from FOIA by Foundation for Government Accountability]
… the Department should take the following actions:
• Establish a voter registration and education program in coordination with tribal governments in order to facilitate voter registration drives on tribal lands and voter education of tribal citizens;
• Work with tribal and state governments to offer voter registration opportunities for American Indians and Alaska Natives when accessing the Financial Assistance and Social Services Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs;
• Educate state and local governments on the importance of robust consultation with tribal governments on issues impacting Native voters;
+ 8 more bullet points
Department of Justice
DOJ has created an online resource for the public that will provide links to state-specific information about registering and voting; detail the Department’s enforcement of federal voting rights laws and guidance it has issued to jurisdictions on the scope of those laws; and explain how to report potential violations.
Justice Department Releases Guide to State Voting Rules That Apply After Criminal Convictions
Another Government Agency Secretly Plans to Follow Biden’s Election Executive Order, Fred Lucas, Daily Signal, Nov. 12, 2023.
Department of Labor Issues guidance to States, Territories to designate American Job Centers as Voter Registration Agencies
Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration video: Improving Access to Voting Events with Traffic Analysis and Work Zone Management, Sept. 30, 2022. With reports from Ohio DOT. Send questions to FHWAVotingAccess@dot.gov.
Department of the Treasury
Treasury will include information about registration and voter participation in its direct deposit campaigns for Americans who receive Social Security, Veterans Affairs, and other federal benefit payments.
Letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen from US Senator Alex Padilla and 17 other Democratic Senators to make voter registration available at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) centers. Related article.
Department of Veteran Affairs Promotes greater access to voter information to Veterans and families
Update Sept. 20, 2022: VA announces state partnerships to provide voter registration assistance to Veterans
State of Michigan partners with VA to provide voter registration assistance to veterans, Sept. 20, 2022.
As part of this partnership, VA facilities in Michigan will implement and expand programs to help veterans and eligible dependents register to vote and participate in elections. The Michigan Department of State (MDOS) will provide up-to-date information on how to register, upcoming election details, and casting a ballot.
Federal Bureau of Prisons Voting Resources
In early 2021, an Executive Order (EO) on Promoting Access to Voting was issued requiring the Bureau of Prisons (Bureau) to make voter registration accessible for eligible inmates. Presently only Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia (DC) allow incarcerated individuals to vote, however, the EO also requires the Bureau to provide access to educational materials to releasing individuals from all states.
National Institute of Standards and Technology: NIST Special Publication 1273: Promoting Access to Voting: Recommendations for Addressing Barriers to Private and Independent Voting for People with Disabilities
Office of Personnel Management
Memorandum about Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting
Announces Paid time Off for Federal Employees to Vote or to serve as Poll Workers or Observers
How Biden’s Executive Order Is Turning Out the Federal Bureaucrat Vote, Fred Lucas, Daily Signal, Jan. 3, 2024.
Office of US Trade Representative
Here Are the Left-Wing Groups the White House Trade Office Is Scheming With to Get Out the Vote, Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal, Mar. 10, 2024.
USTR will develop annual social media posts on key dates that are important to voting engagement including: National Voter Registration Day (4th Tuesday in September); Election Day (1st Tuesday in November); 15th Amendment anniversary re: Black men suffrage (February 3rd); 19th Amendment Anniversary (August 18th); and National Voter Registration Act (May 20th).
In addition to featuring senior USTR officials, USTR will seek to partner with nonpartisan, public service and civic engagement organizations (e.g., Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Brennan Center for Justice) in developing and amplifying content for these online engagements.
Peace Corps
Biden’s Peace Corps Pushes Expanded Overseas Voting, Fred Lucas, Daily Signal, Mar. 25, 2024.
Progress Reports by Tax Exempt Organizations
Combined Letters on Implementation of Executive Order 14019, the Executive Order Promoting Access to Voting, for Jailed and Formerly Incarcerated Voters, Campaign Legal Center, Dec. 7, 2021.
Strengthening Democracy: A Progress Report on Federal Agency Action to Promote Access to Voting, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Mar. 2023.
A Progress Report on Federal Agency Action to Promote Access to Voting” is a comprehensive report published by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, ACLU, and Demos and a total of 53 organizations representing a diverse set of communities who understand that voting rights are foundational to our democracy and every value we cherish. The report evaluates the progress of 10 federal agencies in responding to President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting, issued two years ago on the anniversary of the Selma voting rights march. In an era of increased barriers to the ballot in many states, the report estimates that robust implementation of the president’s executive order to promote voting access across 10 federal agencies could result in 3.5 million additional voter registrations per year.
PDF to report. Letter sent to Biden and 10 federal agencies.
Senate Democrats Pushing for More Federal Involvement in Elections
Federal health insurance website lags in voter registration assistance, Democrats charge, Kansas Reflector, July 2, 2023.
Letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra from seven Democrats in US Senate, June 26, 2023.
Democratic Senators Press for Continued Implementation of Biden’s Pro-Voting Executive Order, Democracy Docket, Feb. 21, 2024.
Concerns about Executive Order
Why has the mainstream media failed to mention how this Executive Order will dramatically increase the role of federal bureaucrats in elections?
Some groups have published articles about their concerns:
Breitbart, Joe Biden’s Executive Order on Voting Tells Agencies to Push Vote-by-Mail, ‘Combat Misinformation’, March 7, 2021.
FGA in the News, FGA investigates third-party involvement in executive order 14019 and future voter registration processes, July 30, 2021.
Today, the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to multiple federal agencies requesting communications and documents related to Biden Executive Order (EO) 14019 titled “Promoting Access to Voting.”
The information that is being requested may help determine whether or not the Biden administration is engaging in unethical and potentially criminal behavior related to benefits provided to third-party organizations. It may also help determine whether or not the administration is misusing federal resources to support voter registration efforts designed to unfairly benefit one political party over another. …
Biden has also named former Demos President [K. Sabeel] Rahman and former Demos Legal Strategies Director [Chiraag] Bains to act in roles responsible for reviewing and coordinating regulatory actions taken by federal agencies to further this effort.
Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal, Biden Bureaucracy Secretly Plans to Turn Out Voters After Failure of Election Takeover Bills, Feb. 10, 2022.
The Biden administration is secretly planning to impose an executive order directing all federal agencies to focus on voter registration and partner with private organizations to boost election turnout, according to members of Congress and a watchdog group.
Tarren Bragdon, The Federalist, How Biden Is Trying To Turn Election Offices Into Partisan Get Out The Vote Operations, April 4, 2022.
President Biden is trying to turn government into a get-out-the-vote operation for his own political party. After failing to pass federal legislation to federalize control of the elections through Congress, and after states passed election integrity bills of their own, the president is attempting a very quiet federal election takeover using an executive order to redirect federal tax dollars toward identifying new voting blocs who are expected to heavily support Democratic candidates.
Association of Mature American Citizens Newsline, More Federal Agencies Repurposed To Support Democrat Get Out The Vote Efforts, April 10, 2022.
Some of the first wave of federal government efforts to influence elections are already underway and are truly shocking. For example, the office in charge of food stamps at the Department of Agriculture recently sent out guidance to state welfare agencies on how “to promote access to voting through the child nutrition programs.”
FGA Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration Demanding Answers On Executive Order 14019, April 20, 2022.
FGA originally requested these documents on July 30, 2021. Now, 240 days later, not a single document has been provided as required under the FOIA law. Today, FGA is suing DOJ in Case 2:22-cv-00252 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida Fort Myers Division, asking a federal court to step in and compel the agency to comply with the law. …
To date, the Biden administration has refused to provide these requested documents to Congress as well.
Chase Martin, The Federalist, Why Won’t Biden Explain Why He’s Getting Federal Agencies To Meddle In Local Elections?, May 6, 2022
The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) responded to rising concerns about the ambiguity and radio silence on the details of this EO by submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in July 2021. We wanted answers to completely reasonable questions about the EO, but the administration ignored our FOIA request.
To date, no federal agency has responded with the records we requested. What is the administration trying to hide?
We’ve got an answer: Their silence is an attempt to get America to look the other way while they illegally involve themselves in state elections, which is far, far beyond the constitutional purview of the executive branch.
Hayden Ludwig, The American Conservative, A Further Push to Federalize Elections, May 19, 2022.
… there’s another pillar in Demos’s strategy: All-mail elections. Among its “reforms” is a Democratic takeover of the Postal Service, currently headed by Trump appointee Louis DeJoy, a vote-by-mail skeptic. …
Which is why the left has been quietly building a Democratic majority on the Postal Service oversight board since early 2021, appointing vote-by-mail advocates from both parties to the board who’ve promised to make delivery of mail-in and absentee ballots one of the agency’s top priorities.
But there’s a catch: By law, the Postal Service Board of Governors may only have five members from a single party. Hence, Biden has appointed the supposed “independent” ex-National Vote at Home Institute president Amber McReynolds, a partisan in disguise. This has created the opportunity for a Democratic supermajority when Republican William Zollars’s term expires in December.
Mollie Hemingway, The Federalist, Yes, Biden Is Hiding His Plan To Rig The 2022 Midterm Elections, June 23, 2022.
It is unclear why Biden and his political appointees are being so secretive about the work that went into their plan to engage in a federal takeover of election administration.
Whatever the case, Americans have a right to know whether these bureaucracies that are meddling in elections have experts in for each state’s election laws, what type of training is going on to ensure that state laws are being followed, whether they are allowing inspections and oversight to ensure no illegal activity, how they are determining whether a third-party group is genuinely non-partisan, whether they are allowing state investigators to approve money, and how much is being spent on this federal takeover of elections.
M.D. Kittle, Wisconsin Spotlight, Biden uses agencies to federalize elections, July 4, 2022.
In January, the Small Business Administration (SBA) proudly announced it was the first federal agency to apply to be a voter agency. . . .
Republicans on the House Small Business Committee say that’s not the SBA’s job, that the agency’s priorities are out of whack.
“Instead of focusing on the needs of small businesses, the SBA seems to be more interested in directing their resources elsewhere. Main Street USA and American families are under siege,” committee members said in a statement. “Inflation, under Biden and Pelosi, continues to run rampant. Small businesses cannot hire due to a labor shortage. Supply chain disruptions are hurting daily business operations. The price of gas at the pump is crippling budgets and pocketbooks. These are the real issues the Biden administration and the SBA should be prioritizing, not partisan political activities.”
No president of any party should be able to use the might of the federal government and taxpayer resources to influence the outcome of elections.
Independent Women’s Forum, Hungry Americans Should Not Be Force-Fed Voting Info By The Biden Administration, July 11, 2022.
American people are coming to welfare offices hungry for food stamps, baby formula, and other basic necessities, and they are not getting what they asked for. Stop using federal agencies to force-feed us election information. Stop giving Washington bureaucrats salaries to work elections when they are supposed to be working on food programs. We need the president to run the federal government, and stop trying to run elections.
Just the News, House Republicans blast Biden for colluding with left-wing groups on voting executive order, July 15, 2022.
Four House Republicans sent a letter Friday to White House Domestic Policy Director Susan Rice and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young accusing the Biden White House of colluding with progressive voting rights groups and attempting to "usurp state power to nationalize elections and commandeer the voting process to Democrats’ political advantage."
Victoria Marshall, The Federalist, Court Orders DOJ To Cough Up Biden’s Election-Takeover Documents Before Midterms, July 20, 2022.
A federal district court ruled last week that the Biden Department of Justice must hand over documents related to Biden’s executive order federalizing elections before the 2022 midterms and not after.
Russell Vought and Taren Bragdon, Washington Times, States must stand up against the Biden takeover of elections, July 22, 2022.
There’s only one problem with this plan: It’s unconstitutional.
Michael Anton, Compact, They Can’t Let Him Back In, July 28, 2022.
Bidenbucks: How the Federal Government is Quietly Taking Over Elections, FGA, Aug 1. 2022.
Victoria Marshall, The Federalist, 15 Republican Secretaries of State Demand Biden Halt Election-Takeover Plans, Aug. 4, 2022.
John Merrill, Alabama Secretary of State
John Thurston, Arkansas Secretary of State
Cord Byrd, Florida Secretary of State
Brad Raffensberger, Georgia Secretary of State
Lawrence Denney, Idaho Secretary of State
Holli Sullivan, Indiana Secretary of State
Kyle Ardoin, Louisiana Secretary of State
Michael Watson, Mississippi Secretary of State
Christi Jacobsen, Montana Secretary of State
Bob Evnen, Nebraska Secretary of State
Frank LaRose, Ohio Secretary of State
Steve Barnette, South Dakota Secretary of State
Tre Hargett, Tennessee Secretary of State
Mac Warner, West Virginia Secretary of State
FGA: DOJ Continues to Redact, Suppress Crucial Documents Involving Voter Registration Projects, Sept. 11, 2022.
Department of Justice Redacted Documents That Reveal Biden Administration’s Plan to Expand Voter Registration and Participation
What is the DOJ Hiding? Why is the Agency Failing to Reveal How They Are Involved in Elections?
… the DOJ did not turn over the specifically requested documents, and the documents they did turn over were heavily redacted.
Among the missing documents was the DOJ’s 15-page strategic plan that detailed how the agency will help increase voter registration and participation. This document is a finished product, completed as part of Biden’s Executive Order. In July, a Federal District Court ruled the DOJ must turn over the documents to the FGA, and this post-decisional document clearly is required to be disclosed.
View the redacted documents here.
Byron York, Washington Examiner, Joe Biden’s secret voter plan, Sept. 12, 2022.
It was standard Democratic boilerplate — and mostly false, at that. Democrats have long pushed the "voter suppression" story even as data showed it was a myth.
Joel B. Pollak, Breitbart News, DOJ Refuses to Release Biden Administration Plan to Intervene in 2022 Election, Sept. 12, 2022.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is refusing to release 15 pages of documents explaining the Biden administration’s strategy to implement a “voter access” policy that is being coordinated with left-wing groups just weeks before the 2022 election.
Newsmax, A Rogue Administration Has Secret Plans for the Midterms, Sept 16, 2022.
FGA: How Biden’s Election Takeover Scheme Is Being Carried Out, Sept. 27, 2022. Also published in The Washington Times.
KFOR News, OK AG joins other State Attorneys General to call for repeal of voting access Biden executive order, Sept. 29, 2022.
“I am a big supporter of increased voter participation in elections, but I am also a big supporter of States’ rights. I am just as passionate about stopping the growth of the federal government,” said Attorney General O’Connor. “This executive order directs the use of taxpayer dollars to promote voter registration and participation. The state chief legal officers’ opposition is based in law, noting that the U.S. Constitution does not provide this power to the executive branch and arguing that this responsibility falls on state legislatures. As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, I am committed to preserving the state’s right to free and fair elections.”
American First Legal: Election Integrity: AFL SUES 14 Federal Agencies for Refusing to Disclose the Biden Administration’s “Strategic Plans” for Election Meddling, Oct. 6, 2022.
This unprecedented exercise of federal power–without any clear statutory authorization or Constitutional sanction–raises obvious election integrity concerns and triggered a series of Congressional investigations.
Texas Attorney General Paxton Slams Biden’s Executive Order Designed to Use Taxpayer Funds to Aid the Left in Future Elections, Oct. 10, 2022.
Biden’s EO allows his hand-picked political appointees to direct federal agencies in using taxpayer funds to register voters, distribute vote-by-mail ballots, help voters they’ve chosen to participate in the electoral process, and engage in countless other quasi-electioneering activities at their political appointee’s discretion.
Kerry Picket, Washington Times, DOJ pressed to reveal Biden’s secret plans to boost voting, Oct. 24, 2022.
Steward Whitson, The Federalist, Time Is Running Out For Congress And States To Defuse Biden’s Election-Takeover Bomb, June 22, 2023.
Through this executive order, the president is abusing the power of his office and using taxpayer-funded resources to transform federal government agencies into get-out-the-vote machines for the left.
Conservatives fight secretive Biden voting order as 'Bidenbucks' , Ben Weingarten, Real Clear Wire, July 27, 2023.
What Else Is Biden Hiding In His Plan To Use ‘Bidenbucks’ To Get Out The Likely-Democrat Vote?, M. D. Kittle, The Federalist, Feb. 28, 2024.
Pennsylvania State Lawmaker Sues to Take Down Biden’s Election-Meddling Executive Order, Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal, March 22, 2024.
“Voter registration drives and GOTV [get-out-the-vote efforts] are a federally recognized private function, not a government function,” the federal complaint says. “But, Biden’s executive order requires agencies to develop plans for government-sponsored voter registration drives run by federal agencies and undisclosed third-party organizations.”
Biden’s secret weapon for November: using federal agencies to ‘get out the vote’ FOR HIM, New York Post, Tarren Bragdon, April 28, 2024.
Congressional Action and Letters of Inquiry
Nov 1, 2023 Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist, Senate Democrats Kill GOP Amendment To Defund Biden’s Federal Election Interference.
January 19, 2022 letter to Shalanda Young (OMB) from House members Ted Budd, Claudia Tenney, and 34 other House members. Related article.
March 29, 2022 letter to Susan Rice (Domestic Policy Council) and Shalanda Young (OMB) from House members Rodney Davis, Glenn Thompson, and 7 other House members. Related article. May 11, 2022: Biden Admin Still Won’t Answer Questions.
June 15, 2022 letter to GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan from James Comer, Rodney Davis, and 17 other House members. Related article.
July 15, 2022 letter to Susan Rice (Domestic Policy Council) and Shalanda Young (OMB) from House members Jim Jordan, James Comer, Rodney Davis, Ted Budd. Related article.
July 21, 2022 Rep. Ted Budd introduces “Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act.”
Oct 18, 2022 Rep. Norman Leads Letter Demanding the Department of Justice Disclose Its Plans to Carry Out President Biden's Executive Order
Nov. 29, 2023. Cassidy, Hagerty call out Biden for ignoring demands for transparency on taxpayer-funded voter mobilization plans. Nov. 29, 2023.
June 13, 2024. House Admin Republicans subpoena Biden officials over voting access push, Roll Call, Justin Papp.
Hundreds of Progressive Groups Want Feds to Do More
Brennan Center for Justice, Coalition Letter Urges Federal Agencies to Take Additional Steps to Implement Executive Order on Voting, June 7, 2022.
PDF with letter and list of all progressive signatories who push only for partisan democracy.
Dozens of these group issue report: “Strengthening Democracy: A Progress Report on Federal Agency Action to Promote Access to Voting,” March 2, 2023.
Strengthening Democracy: A Progress Report on Federal Agency Action to Promote Access to Voting, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, March 2, 2023.
Civil Rights Coalition Releases Report Highlighting Federal Agency Progress and Gaps on Voting Access, Urges the Biden-Harris Administration to Finish the Job, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, March 3, 2023.
Supreme Court Challenge
Supreme Court Won’t Consider Challenge to Biden’s Order on Elections Until Sept. 30, The Epoch Times, Matthew Vadum, June 12, 2024. Article from NTD.
Biden’s Voter Drive Scandal: 600 Agencies, Left-Wing Partnerships: SCOTUS Won’t Hear Challenge UNTIL Sept! Act For America, June 15, 2024.
States Pushback
Indiana elections chief directs 100+ federal agencies to halt alleged ‘unauthorized involvement’, Indiana Capital Chronicle, Leslie Bonilla Muniz, July 3, 2024.
Nine GOP-led attorneys general sue Biden administration over voter registration efforts. Montana Attorney General leads the charge, calling it a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Darrell Ehrlick, Daily Montanan.