President Joe Biden this week signed an executive order that will change the way the federal government handles election security.
“Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have that voted counted,” said Biden. “If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote.”
The order requires all federal agencies to help Americans better understand the voting process. It also asks the attorney general to come up with a program to make voting easier for eligible individuals in federal prisons or on probation by federal court.
“For the federal agencies, many of them have footprints around the country, with offices that people, outside the context of a pandemic could walk in and seek particular service,” said one official. “We want to make sure that we can maximize the use of that kind of walk-in service and have them be places where people can also register to vote – the goal is to make registering to vote and voting access as easy as possible.”
White House officials say the policy will help “protect the right to vote and ensure all eligible citizens can freely participate in the electoral process,” but critics worry it will exacerbate voter fraud.
During the current legislative session, lawmakers in 43 states have introduced over 250 bills designed to tighten election security.
Nonetheless, House Democrats on Wednesday approved a sweeping package that expands early and mail-in voting. It also decreases photo ID requirements, allows same-day registration, and requires independent redistricting of congressional districts.
Not a single Republican voted in favor of the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized the package as “exactly the wrong response [to the] distressing lack of faith in our elections” and expressed concerns that Democrats would use their “temporary power” in Washington to “try to ensure they’ll never have to relinquish it.”
President Biden signed the executive order on the 56th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” – when a group of African Americans demanding the right to vote were beaten by police in Selma, Alabama. “The legacy of the march in Selma is that while nothing can stop a free people from exercising their most sacred power as a citizen, there are those who will do everything they can to take that power away,” said Biden.
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Biden signs executive order expanding voting access
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