Press Releases
Democrats Use Pandemic Relief Bill to Federalize Elections 33 Days Before Election Day
September 30, 2020
WASHINGTON – Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) today spoke out against Democrats using another pandemic relief bill to federalize elections. The Heroes 2.0 Act includes 71 pages of election mandates on states 33 days before the election and after more than a million people have already voted across the country.
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Text of Davis' written remarks:
Today, we find ourselves in almost the exact same situation as we were 5 months ago – voting on a so-called coronavirus relief bill filled with 71 pages of federal election mandates that have nothing to do with providing relief to those impacted by the coronavirus.
It is yet another attempt by Democrats to federalize our elections.
The bill mandates states provide same-day registration, 15 days of early voting, requires specific rules for polling locations, no-excuse vote-by-mail for every person, nationalizes ballot harvesting, and the list of federal election mandates goes on and on.
Unlike what my Democrat colleagues continue to tell the American people, these provisions have nothing to do with the pandemic because most of them were included in H.R. 1, which passed the House nearly a year before the pandemic began.
That said, I have a bill that would address election issues caused by the pandemic – the EASE Act – and I welcome House Democrats bringing it up for a vote.
Not only am I troubled because this is an attempt to federalize our elections, but it would change the rules mid-game – many states are already voting. The U.S. Elections Project estimates that more than a million people have already voted.
Meaning some people would vote under one set of rules and others under a another. This is not how fair elections are run in this country.
And we've seen what happens when states have last minute voting changes – it creates mass voter confusion and leads to people being disenfranchised.
This bill becoming law would be a disaster for election administrators and lead to even more confusion surrounding the 2020 election and ultimately more people being disenfranchised.
If this bill was a serious attempt at helping schools reopen safely, businesses keep their employees on the payroll, or others impacted by the coronavirus, 71 pages of provisions aimed at federalizing our elections wouldn't be included.
My friends on the other side of the aisle should drop these poisonous provisions and offer a clean bill to help our constituents – the parents, business owners, workers, and others who have found their lives turned upside down because of this pandemic.
I yield back.