WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) published an op-ed in The Advocate highlighting major issues with H.R. 1 calling it “a recipe for election disaster and fraud.”
“Democrats argue that H.R. 1 is about voting rights, but this bill attempts to do a heck of a lot more than that — and it’s not a good thing. It’s a recipe for election disaster and fraud. We can all agree that every legal vote cast should be counted. But that’s not what this bill does,” Dr. Cassidy wrote. “This is not a voting rights bill. Ballot harvesting, letting non-citizens vote — this is an attempt to rig the system to help Democratic politicians stay in power.”
Cassidy wrote about the need to make voting more convenient and elections more safe and secure to ensure all eligible voters are able to vote.
Click here or read below for the full op-ed.
Bill Cassidy: We all want fair elections, but Democrats’ new bill doesn’t get us there
Democrats argue that H.R. 1 is about voting rights, but this bill attempts to do a heck of a lot more than that — and it’s not a good thing. It’s a recipe for election disaster and fraud.
We can all agree that every legal vote cast should be counted. But that’s not what this bill does.
This bill bans states from enforcing voter ID laws that ensure each ballot belongs to the person filling it out. If you need to show an ID to get on an airplane, you should have to show an ID to vote.
This bill would also mandate same-day voter registration at polling locations. This would make it more difficult to secure our elections.
Same-day registration without checking IDs means individuals can vote in our elections without even being a U.S. citizen, let alone a resident of that district. This is especially problematic given our concern over foreign interference in our elections.
H.R. 1 would allow for unlimited ballot harvesting like in California where political operatives can go to a homeless shelter, where many are mentally ill or addicted — or any large gathering — and solicit individuals to fill out a ballot. Then those political operatives can decide which votes they want to turn in, the ones that support their chosen candidate. This is a recipe for fraud.
It would add extra barriers for states that want to occasionally clear out their rolls to make sure people are not registered in multiple states or that ballots are being sent to those who are no longer alive.
After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana reviewed our rolls to see if someone was registered to vote in Atlanta or Houston and also a different parish. If they were, their registration was removed from the Louisiana rolls. That’s a good thing — you should not be able to vote more than once in a single election.
While Democrats are proposing plan after plan to increase your taxes, H.R. 1 would take that money and give it to politicians to fund their campaigns. There is a laundry list of provisions in this bill that have nothing to do with voting rights.
We should work to make voting more convenient. We should embrace early voting. We should increase the number of polling places to reduce lines. We should work to make elections more safe and secure. These are all things that ensure eligible voters are able to vote.
This is not a voting rights bill. Ballot harvesting, letting non-citizens vote — this is an attempt to rig the system to help Democratic politicians stay in power.
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