The following article appeared on Townhall.com on February 13th, 2019.
House Resolution 1 should really be called the ‘Fill the Swamp Act.’ This crooked piece of legislation would mandate a colossal takeover of state election process to empower big government liberals and corporate interests. So of course, Democrats are trying to force it through.
It seems every year that passes more and more power is shifted away from the people and into the hands of a wealthy, elite few in Washington. These politicians and bureaucrats love micromanaging more and more of our everyday lives. From our roads and bridges, our firearms, our relationships with our doctors, our elementary schools, our farms and even our toilets, these freedom and federalism hating politicians cannot help themselves from interfering with Americans’ choices.
But now, on top of all that, they want to dictate how states run their elections? They want to tell Tennessee to enact same-day voter registration, with no time for verification? They want to tell Tennessee we cannot require IDs to be shown at the polls, increasing the likelihood of fraud? They want to tell Tennessee that some unaccountable commission must draw its districts? They want to tell Tennessee it must subsidize far-left candidates in other states with taxpayer money?
How dare they try to strip Tennessee of its autonomy. H.R. 1 is nothing other than a power-grab designed to elect Democrats that will give the federal government even more power. This bill is wrong, and the American people deserve to know.
Democrats are shopping it under the auspices of being concerned about voter fraud. Welcome to the party – Republicans have been raising concerns with deceased folks voting for years. If fraud is really a concern, then let’s allow states to require voter identification.
But no, that’s not really what they are after. They’d welcome fraud if it benefited them. After all, we’ve heard Democrats wail for one and a half years about widespread election meddling by foreign actors. But their words ring hollow -- If Democrats want to cut down on foreign interference in our elections, then why are they allowing illegal aliens to vote?
The fact is there is no constitutional authority for the federal government to seize control of Tennessee or any other state’s election process. The Constitution creates a federalist system with power disbursed amongst the people, and I will fight to ensure it always does. As a Representative ought, I will keep my oath to uphold the Constitution and my promise to Tennesseans to drain the swamp.
