The GOP-led House passed on Tuesday a bill to prohibit noncitizens from voting in local Washington, D.C., elections, overcoming the majority of Democrats who voted against the measure.
A <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025163" target="_blank" rel="noopener">total</a> of 210 Republicans and 56 Democrats supported the legislation, which bars foreign nationals from voting in local contests in the nation&#8217;s capital and repeals a <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/dc-council-passes-non-citizens-voting-bill-washington/65-ec15212a-2d97-4f42-ad18-15202fca197e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">measure</a> passed by the D.C. Council in 2022 that allowed it in the first place. Another 148 Democrats voted against it.
&#8220;Free and fair elections are a prerequisite for a healthy republic. The radical DC Council’s decision to allow noncitizens — including illegal aliens and foreign agents — to vote in local elections dilutes the voting power of the citizen voter,&#8221; said Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), who introduced the House <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/884/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bill</a>.
&#8220;That power must be defended, and I am thrilled House Republicans took action today to do so,&#8221; Pfluger added. &#8220;Anyone who voted against this legislation, voted for the transfer of political power away from legal voters. With the House passage of my legislation, we are one step closer to restoring the sanctity of the voting process to ensure that only American citizens are voting in our nation’s capital.&#8221;
In 2023, the House <a href="https://rollcall.com/2023/02/09/house-passes-resolutions-to-block-dc-voting-criminal-code-changes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> a resolution from Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to block the enactment of the D.C. <a href="https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/laws/24-242" target="_blank" rel="noopener">measure</a> via the Home Rule Act. However, the Democrats who controlled the Senate at the time did not take up the resolution and the bill went into effect. Last year, the House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-bill-to-bar-noncitizens-from-voting-in-d-c-local-elections" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> a similar bill from Pfluger, but it met a similar fate.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=wisepops&amp;utm_campaign=dad&amp;utm_content=fathersdaygiftpopups" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gift Dad an All Access Membership. Use code DAD40 at checkout to save 40%!</a>
Now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress, Democrats have been relegated to voting in the minority on party-line issues and otherwise can voice their dismay when they do not get their way — as did Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District&#8217;s non-voting delegate in the House.
&#8220;Republicans refuse to make the only election law change D.C. has requested: making D.C. a state so that it can hold elections for voting members of the House and Senate,&#8221; Norton said in a <a href="https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-statement-house-passage-two-anti-dc-bills" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
Noncitizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections, but they are allowed to for certain local contests in some municipalities in states like California, Maryland, and Vermont, along with D.C. Republicans in Congress have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/most-house-dems-vote-against-bill-to-require-voters-prove-citizenship-again" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed</a> for legislation requiring individuals to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in elections for federal office.
The House also passed on Tuesday a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2096/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bill</a> from Rep. Andrew Garbino (R-NY) to restore collective bargaining rights for D.C. police officers and reinstate the statute of limitations for disciplinary cases against members or civilian employees of the Metropolitan Police Department.

DC voting

Nearly 150 Democrats Oppose Bill Banning Noncitizens From Voting In Nation’s Capital

Congress

Illegal Immigation

Politics

U.S. House of Representatives

Voting

Voting Rights

Washington D.C.

It is both law and common sense that government power should stay out of political campaigns. The federal <a href="https://osc.gov/Services/pages/hatchact.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hatch Act</a> is one example of a law that upholds this principle by prohibiting partisanship in federal agencies. Of course, there are gray areas. The erstwhile Biden Administration took advantage of this to push federal agencies into politics, setting a dangerous precedent. Just hours after his inauguration, President Trump <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5169190/biden-voter-registration-executive-order" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revoked</a> that Biden policy and restored the separation of electioneering and state.
In March 2021, Biden signed <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/10/2021-05087/promoting-access-to-voting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Executive Order 14019</a>. Entitled “Promoting Access to Voting,” the order made it a federal “responsibility … to expand access to, and education about, voter registration and election information.” It required all federal agencies to “consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.” The order specifically required the Federal Bureau of Prisons to assist inmates with registering to vote.
This may sound innocuous to those not involved with the inner workings of political campaigns. To cast a ballot, a person must be registered to vote. That’s a government process. So what’s the problem with federal agencies getting involved?
Campaign operatives know better. “Voter registration is the groundwork that underpins any path to electoral victory,” <a href="https://highergroundlabs.com/5-innovative-technologies-driving-progressive-voter-registration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Higher Ground Labs, which funds leftist political startups. Political campaigns and their allies actively work to register voters and then get them to vote, focusing on people likely to support their own preferred candidates. These voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns can make the difference in close elections.
Consider the innocuous sounding <a href="https://www.voterparticipation.org/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Voter Participation Center</a>. The group’s only purpose is to register voters, and it claims to be nonpartisan. Yet its president, Tom Lopach, built his career working for <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/kennedy-ted-senator-profile" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sen. Ted Kennedy</a> and was executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In an <a href="https://freebeacon.com/elections/do-you-like-nascar-this-non-partisan-voter-registration-group-doesnt-want-to-help-you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exposé</a> last year, The Washington Free Beacon showed that the Voter Participation Center had carefully targeted its work to avoid registering voters who might lean Republican. This included telling Facebook not to show the group’s voter registration ads to people interested in NASCAR or golf.
On its website, the Voter Participation Center acknowledges that it’s not trying to register all Americans. Rather it’s focused on what it <a href="https://www.voterparticipation.org/our-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calls</a> the “New American Majority—young people, people of color and unmarried women.” Of course, these demographic groups tend to vote for Democrats (although Trump made <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/gen-z-voters-donald-trump-election-ab7b40b4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">significant gains</a>, especially with <a href="https://apnews.com/article/young-black-latino-men-trump-economy-jobs-9184ca85b1651f06fd555ab2df7982b5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">young men</a>).
The trouble with government agencies running voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote campaigns is that it’s very easy to benefit one party or the other. This could happen by accident, but could also be the result of top-down directives or individual government employees. It might also be impossible to detect such intentional partisanship, especially prior to an election. Consider that it took a series of leaks before The Daily Wire could verify suspicions that some <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FEMA staff were refusing to help Trump supporters</a> in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
Across federal agencies, there are countless lists of Americans. These include farmers and ranchers, school employees, recipients of various welfare programs, and people with student loans. Obviously, some of these lists include people who are much more likely to support one political party or the other. Many also include demographic data—the exact kind of information political campaigns use to find and target their most likely supporters.
Do Americans really want Democrats turning welfare programs into get-out-the-vote campaigns? Should Republicans turn around and use government programs to register and turn out rural voters?
Thankfully, President Trump refused to simply turn the tables. He rejected Biden’s precedent and made <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overturning</a> Executive Order 14019 one of his first acts in office. This is even more laudable given that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-voter-turnout-republicans-trump-harris-7ef18c115c8e1e76210820e0146bc3a5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high voter turnout</a> helped Trump win the recent election (as <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2024/06/15/more-evidence-that-republicans-are-now-the-party-that-benefits-from-high-voter-turnout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> by Prof. Ilya Somin earlier last year).
Political parties, campaigns, and other allied groups have a strong interest in registering voters and getting out the vote. These are inherently political activities. Federal government agencies have too much power and too many interested parties to be trusted dabbling in such things. All Americans owe President Trump thanks for rebuilding the wall of separation between electioneering and state.
* * *
Trent England is the founder and executive director of <a href="https://saveourstates.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Save Our States</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Residents Vote In The First-In-The-Nation New Hampshire Primary

Why The Feds Should Have No Place In Voter Registration Efforts

Biden Administration

Donald Trump

President Trump

Prisoners

President Donald Trump and his transition team are preparing to launch his second term with a series of high-profile executive actions on critical issues like the border, trade, and national security. Promoting election integrity ought to be high on the list of priorities.
The federal role in elections is limited, and rightly so. The Constitution leaves the power to regulate elections with the states. But the Biden administration and its Democrat allies expanded and abused federal power to stack the deck for their own reelections. They failed, and now President Trump has the chance to right the ship.
Trump can start by repealing <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/03/07/executive-order-on-promoting-access-to-voting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Executive Order 14019</a>, Joe Biden’s unprecedented attempt to weaponize the federal government to help elect Democrats and defeat Donald Trump. The order requires every agency to focus on voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities in close coordination with partisan left-wing groups like the ACLU and the League of Women Voters. Small wonder, then, that the administration’s efforts were focused on driving turnout among college students, so-called “underrepresented groups,” and other demographics that make up the core of the Democratic Party.
Much of what the administration did remains hidden from Congress and the public, but what we know is shocking. Earlier this year, Vice President Harris announced that the Federal Work-Study program would <a href="https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/kamala-harris-says-government-will-pay-college-students-to-register-voters-joe-biden-president-white-house-2024-trump-election-november-federal-work-study" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pay</a> students to register and turn out voters, a policy only a hair away from buying votes with tax dollars.
The <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-red-state-official-demands-answers-biden-executive-order-attempting-register-illegals-vote" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Marshals Service</a> renegotiated jail contracts across the country to require officials to provide voter registration materials to federal prisoners, with no apparent regard for whether they are eligible to vote or are even citizens.
And the <a href="https://www.sba.gov/article/2024/03/19/sba-administrator-guzman-announces-agencys-first-ever-voter-registration-agreement-michigan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Small Business Administration</a> signed an unprecedented decade-long voter registration agreement with Democrat officials in Michigan, just weeks after a mass protest vote in the Democratic Primary revealed huge problems there for the Biden campaign.
Each of these, and the countless other rules, “Dear Colleague” letters, and agency actions that resulted from the Biden order should be systematically identified and undone. Existing contracts with third party groups for voter registration, mobilization, and related activities should be terminated. President Trump should issue his own order affirmatively banning any federal involvement in voter registration and turnout activities in the future, unless federal law explicitly requires it. The Trump administration should also release the planning documents and records the Biden administration has refused to disclose to Congress. And the Justice Department should consider opening investigations if the evidence suggests that officials violated federal laws like the Hatch Act by using their offices to illegally influence the election. 
Speaking of DOJ, under Merrick Garland the agency has chosen to spend its resources attacking popular voting laws in red states like Georgia and suing to force Virginia to add self-identified noncitizens to the rolls ahead of the election. Incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi has the chance to end that nonsense and refocus the Department on investigating and prosecuting election crimes like noncitizen voting. Rather than support Marc Elias-backed lawsuits, Trump’s DOJ should aggressively defend voter ID laws, citizenship requirements, and other commonsense election integrity measures against baseless attacks in the courts. And the Department could go on offense, suing states with bloated voter rolls for violating the National Voter Registration Act’s clear requirements to maintain clean and accurate lists.
<h3><a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE</a></h3>
The Trump administration should also make it far easier for state officials to use federal records to identify and remove ineligible noncitizens from the voter rolls. Under Biden, the federal government made it a chore to access programs like Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, prompting states like <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ohio-secretary-state-sues-biden-administration-obstructing-removal-non-citizen-registered-voters">Ohio</a> to sue for access. The Trump Administration should require federal officials to grant access promptly upon request and look for ways to make accessing these resources as easy and inexpensive as possible.
President Trump has the chance to make election integrity a cornerstone of his second term. Dismantling harmful policies like Executive Order 14019, defending election integrity laws, and empowering our states are critical steps to strengthen the foundation of our constitutional republic. By taking bold action, President Trump can rebuild faith in the democratic process and help make elections great again.
* * *
Jason Snead is the executive director of Honest Elections Project Action.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Voters Cast Ballots In States Across The Nation On Super Tuesday

Why Election Integrity Should Be A Core Focus Of Trump 2.0

Election Fraud

Elections

Joe Biden

Opinion

U.S. Politics

You need to go out and vote today.
This election is just too important.
You need to vote because there are serious matters at stake, as I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/my-closing-statement-why-i-voted-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussed yesterday</a>. But there is a broader question at stake today in this election: whether we are a nation that wants to be dynamic, or whether we want to slide into senescence. Are we a nation that wants an economy of innovation, or one of redistribution and stagnation? Are we a nation that wants a foreign policy of strength, with powerful allies and our enemies in retreat? Or are we a nation that wants to abandon the world stage, handing power to our enemies as the light dies? Are we a nation that wants to build on the roots of family and community, or one that wants to trade the institutions that make life worth living in favor of top-down dictation from a self-appointed elite who believe that their untried values ought to supplant time-tested virtues?
Most of all, you need to vote because you owe it to both your ancestors and your progeny to do so.
See, here’s the thing: Democracy, in the general sense, is totally unnatural.
The earliest beginnings of democracy were in ancient Athens, but of course, the vote was heavily restricted; the same was true in ancient Rome. Modern democracy has its roots in Magna Carta, in the Estates General of France — but didn’t reach full fruition in the way we think of democracy until the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2078-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
It takes centuries to inculcate the values of democracy, and the rights of the people to be free of arbitrary government — which is what lies at the heart of Western democracy. We are not subjects. We are citizens. We are citizens with rights and duties. We build social fabric together in order to share those duties and to enable the functioning of those rights. And governments are instituted by men in order to protect those rights and to enshrine those duties.
That is what lies at the heart of the American experiment. That is why we have checks and balances too, why we are small-R republicans and not just pure democrats. The founders, you see, were cautious about democracy: They knew its promises and its perils. That’s why the single most important paragraph ever written on the American system can be found in <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/james-madison-federalist-no-51-1788">Federalist 51</a>, by James Madison, framer of the Constitution:
<blockquote>But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controuls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to controul the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to controul itself. A dependence on the people is no doubt the primary controul on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.</blockquote>
The founders instituted those checks and balances. But, Madison is right in the end: The primary control on the government is a dependence on the judgment of the people.
And that is the thing we must agree upon in order for democracy to work.
This struck me last week when I was standing in line with my wife to vote. People of every age and race were in that line, all agreeing to a common principle: that we would abide by the collective decision about who would represent us, for president, for Congress, for the Senate. That we shared a nation together, and that if we lost, we would understand that next time we might win. That we were willing to delegate some of the highest-stake decisions in life to a system that values the opinions of our fellow citizens.
See, democracy only works when both sides are invested in the bargain. If one side always believed they would lose, they wouldn’t buy in: They’d revolt. That’s when democracy breaks down. Jefferson says in the Declaration that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. That consent can only continue if we all believe enough in one another, and in our system.
That system is fraying, for certain. For a thousand reasons that we all know.
But it’s not breaking down today. We’re all going to the polls. Thanks to the checks and balances of the framers — who understood both the value and the dangers of democracy — we can rest assured that if the other person wins, yes, things will get worse, but we will survive. This will not be the last election.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Election Night 2024 on DailyWire+</a></h3>
With that said, this vote matters more than most. While this won’t be the last election, it is an inflection point. We can continue down a path of polarizing the country by race, sex, and identity — or we can reverse that process. We can continue to tear apart the country by indicting each other as oppressors and pretending our own oppression — or we can seize the future together. We can continue to retreat from the world — or we can remember that America remains the last, best hope of mankind.
And so today, you should vote.
You should vote because you can — and because that is an immense privilege, earned by the blood of others and still denied to most of humanity today as we speak. And you should vote because you should: because your vote will certainly matter.

Voters Cast Ballots On Final Day Of Early Voting In North Carolina

Why You Need To Vote Today

2024 Election

Ben Shapiro

Democrats

Kamala Harris

Republicans

Election Day is nearly upon us and Democrats are finally telling Americans what their top priority will be if they win the White House and Congress this November. It isn’t securing the border, tackling inflation, or even enshrining on-demand abortion.
No, if Democrats win big in November, their first move will be <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4942046-voting-rights-bill-priority-house-democrats-majority/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passing</a> a new bill to launch a federal takeover of elections. Democrats have tried this before, repeatedly trying to ram through Congress numerous versions of a bill called <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1?s=2&amp;r=1">H.R. 1</a>, an 800-page grab bag of Left-wing election “reforms” that fundamentally rewrite the nation’s voting laws. Democrats claim this is just about voting rights. In truth they are once again aiming to launch a partisan power grab that sacrifices the integrity of American elections to give liberals a permanent political edge.
What might be in this bill? Based on Democrats’ proposals in the last Congress, Americans should be ready for the messy rules of COVID-style mail-in voting permanent. States would not only be required to offer no-excuse mail-in voting, but the option to permanently vote by mail. At the same time, it would be harder to clean bloated voter rolls than it already is, all but guaranteeing that people will stay on the rolls — and states will keep sending them ballots — long after they move or pass away.
Speaking of dirty voter rolls, Democrats want to require automatic voter registration, an error-prone practice that <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/automatic-voter-registration">half</a> our states currently do not use. Democrats know automatic systems register ineligible people. In fact just weeks ago, <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2024/09/23/voter-registration-noncitizen-oregon-motor-voter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oregon</a> admitted its system automatically registered roughly 1,300 noncitizens. That’s why they slipped a little-known provision into H.R. 1 that prevents anyone, including noncitizens, from being prosecuted if they illegally vote after being automatically registered.
Their bill would erase laws against organized vote harvesting in roughly two dozen states. Democrats want to deploy an army of party operatives and union organizers to “help” voters fill out ballots, then collect and return them. The trouble is, vote harvesting creates obvious opportunities for voter intimidation and fraud. One shocking example: the <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/louisville/news/press-releases/former-mayor-of-martin-sentenced-to-90-months-for-civil-rights-offenses-fraud-vote-buying-and-identity-theft">mayor</a> of Martin, Kentucky bribed and coerced poor and disabled voters into casting absentee ballots in favor of her reelection. In North Carolina, harvesters tampered with or destroyed <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/four-people-plead-guilty-north-carolina-ballot-probe-2016-2018-electio-rcna49534" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hundreds of votes</a>, forcing a high-profile redo of a congressional election in 2018. 
Democrats’ proposals would have made voter ID requirements illegal, too. Time and again, ID laws have been shown to have no negative impact on turnout. Thirty-six states have ID laws and 90% of the public <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/overwhelming-majority-of-americans-want-voter-id-proof-of-citizenship-to-vote" target="_blank" rel="noopener">favors them</a>, but Democrats think they know better. Not only does H.R. 1 treat practically any document with a name and address as ID, it <a href="https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/s2747/BILLS-117s2747pcs.pdf">introduces</a> a bizarre new standard that lets anybody who claims to know a voter “for at least six months” vouch for his identity. Try that at your local bank.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
The problems would only get worse as elections draw to a close. Most states <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/table-11-receipt-and-postmark-deadlines-for-absentee-mail-ballots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">require</a> ballots to be received by the close of polls on Election Day, but Democrats tried to force every state to accept ballots up to seven days late. That’s the deadline in California, a state that routinely takes weeks to report results. If Democrats rewrite the nation’s laws, delays risk becoming the new national norm. That’s especially true as the Left nudges more people towards mail-in ballots, and liberal groups push <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-scam-gop-senator-blasts-ranked-choice-voting-after-alaska-democrat-wins-house-seat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranked-choice voting</a> (RCV) into more states. After all, with RCV, tabulation cannot even begin until every ballot is received.
The other provisions of Democrats’ voting bills are far-reaching, including mandates for 24-hour drop boxes with little thought given to security beyond labeling them “secure.” States must offer same-day registration, even though officials have little or no time to verify a voter’s eligibility before he casts a vote. New redistricting rules would give liberals the upper hand in drawing political maps. And campaign finance laws like the DISCLOSE Act would undermine Americans’ free speech and privacy rights.
To pass any voting bill, Democrats would first need to go nuclear on the Senate filibuster. Democrats tried to ax it once before, but two Senate Democrats — Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema — bucked their party and held the line.
But neither senator will be in office next year and progressives sense an opportunity. Senate Democrats and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/24/kamala-harris-filibuster-abortion-rights-00180699" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kamala Harris</a> have made <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-gear-overhaul-senate-filibuster-major-bills-win-2024-rcna152484" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eliminating</a> the filibuster a campaign issue. Once it goes, a federal takeover of elections, statehood for D.C., Supreme Court “reform,” and more all become possible on a purely partisan basis.
Ronald Reagan once observed that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” That timeframe may be generous. Progressives are signaling that our republic is never more than one election away from a fundamental reorganization.
When Democrats say that democracy is on the ballot, they mean it. If Americans want to stop Congress from rewriting out voting laws, the best thing to do this November is vote Republican.
* * *
Jason Snead is the executive director of Honest Elections Project Action.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Americans voting in an election

The Future Of Democracy Is On The Ballot

Mail-In Voting

Voter ID

Voter Registration

Voting Bill

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-justice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice Department</a> sued <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alabama" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alabama</a> on Friday over its efforts to clean up its voter rolls and ensure that non-citizens are not registered to vote, saying its actions come “too close” to an election. 
The lawsuit comes after Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen <a href="https://www.sos.alabama.gov/newsroom/secretary-state-wes-allen-implements-process-remove-noncitizens-registered-vote-alabama" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an effort last month to remove non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls. In its <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-alabama-violating-federal-laws-prohibition-systematic-efforts-remove" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a>, the DOJ said that this effort violated federal law because the National Voter Registration Act restricts actions states can take within 90 days of a federal election. 
“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law.”
On August 13, 84 days before the November 5 election, Allen said that Alabama officials had identified up to 3,251 people on Alabama voter rolls with non-citizen identification numbers assigned to them by the Department of Homeland Security. 
In response to the findings, Allen sent letters to the 3,251 people to give them a chance to update their information to discover if they had become naturalized citizens since entering the country or if they should be taken off the rolls because they were not U.S. citizens. Allen said that the federal government had refused to answer requests for information on foreign nationals living in his state, prompting his initiative. 
This action triggered a DOJ review, which found that “both native-born and naturalized U.S. citizens have received letters stating that their voter record has been made inactive and that they have been placed on a path for removal from Alabama’s statewide voter registration list.”
The DOJ said it wants to make Alabama send out “remedial mailings” in order “to educate eligible voters concerning the restoration of their rights and adequate training of local officials and poll workers to address confusion and distrust among eligible voters accused of being noncitizens.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
Allen argued that his action was necessary to clean up the voter rolls and that individuals would still be allowed to vote if they were actually American citizens. 
“I have been clear that I will not tolerate the participation of noncitizens in our elections,” he said back in August. “I have even gone so far as to testify before a United States Senate Committee regarding the importance of this issue. We have examined the current voter file in an attempt to identify anyone who appears on that list that has been issued a noncitizen identification number.”  
Earlier this month, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/undocumented-individual-charged-connection-voting-fraud-and-passport-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> in Alabama with using a fake identity to vote in the 2016 and 2020 elections, as well as obtaining fake passports.

Overhead shot of a person filling out a voter registration and absentee ballot forum at home.

Justice Dept Sues Alabama Over Efforts To Remove Non-Citizens From Voter Rolls

Alabama

Courts

Department of Justice

A federal appeals court ruled against <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mississippi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mississippi’s</a> permanent voting ban for certain felons, going against Supreme Court precedent in doing so.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that the Mississippi Constitution’s lifetime voting ban for felons convicted of certain crimes violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Mississippi Constitution revokes an individual’s right to vote permanently if they receive a felony conviction for <a href="https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&amp;crid=c71663b9-9b85-4977-b69d-2737c5b5bc1c&amp;nodeid=AABAAOAAC&amp;nodepath=/ROOT/AAB/AABAAO/AABAAOAAC&amp;level=3&amp;haschildren=&amp;populated=false&amp;title=%25C2%25A7+241.+Qualifications+for+electors.&amp;config=00JABiMjA5NGUwNy0wZjYwLTQxNzMtOTUyYi1jMzk5YjAxYjNhYTQKAFBvZENhdGFsb2eQw0EiFEVosveh1rcBQAz6&amp;pddocfullpath=/shared/document/statutes-legislation/urn:contentItem:8PFV-60S2-D6RV-H20T-00008-00&amp;ecomp=7gf5kkk&amp;prid=a50cec77-a99d-4582-abff-67e04facc6f4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crimes</a> including arson, bigamy, bribery, embezzlement, forgery, murder, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, rape, or theft, as well as those crimes the Mississippi attorney general determines fall under those explicit categories, such as armed robbery and timber larceny.
The case decided on by the court last month, <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/19-60678/19-60678-2023-08-04.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hopkins v. Hosemann</a>, was initiated by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the law firm Simpson Thatcher &amp; Bartlett in 2018.
Judge James Dennis ruled that Mississippi’s continuation of its lifetime ban on certain felons went against progress by “bucking a clear and consistent trend” in the country modeled by the 35 states and the District of Columbia that gave up permanent felon voting bans over the years.
Dennis further declared that Mississippi’s permanent ban “serves no legitimate penological purpose” and thwarts proper rehabilitation.
“By severing former offenders from the body politic forever, [Mississippi] ensures that they will never be fully rehabilitated, continues to punish them beyond the term their culpability requires, and serves no protective function to society,” stated Dennis. “It is thus a cruel and unusual punishment.”
Judge Edith Jones countered in a dissenting opinion that the majority ruling itself contradicted the Constitution and reflected judicial activism.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Section Two of the Fourteenth Amendment <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/14th-amendment%23:~:text=Section%25202.,State,%2520excluding%2520Indians%2520not%2520taxed." target="_blank" rel="noopener">allows</a> states to deprive citizens of the right to vote for either “participation in rebellion, or other crime.” Jones declared that this provision expressly allows for lifetime voting bans for felons.
“The carve-out reflects a long tradition in this country, and before that, in British law, and before that, in the Western world,” said Jones. “This tradition can be summed up in Lockean terms: if a person breaks a law, he has forfeited the right to participate in making them.”
Jones also cited the Supreme Court precedent set in the 1974 case Richardson v. Ramirez, which determined that felon voting bans don’t violate the Equal Protection Clause. In that case, the court ruled that the question of handling voting rights for felons should be hashed out in a legislative forum, and that it wasn’t for their court to “choose one set of values over another.”
“[G]o and convince the state legislatures. Do the hard work of persuading your fellow citizens that the law should change,” said Jones. “[T]he court turns that advice on its head. No need to change the law through a laborious political process. The court will do it for you, so long as you rely on the Due Process Clause, rather than the Equal Protection Clause.”
The five felons who sued for the right to vote were Dennis Hopkins, Herman Parker, Walter Wayne Kuhn Jr, Bryon Demond Coleman, Jon O’Neal, and Earnest Willhite. Hopkins, Parker, Kuhn, and Willhite were convicted of <a href="https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&amp;crid=e6805b47-997f-4320-80b5-1981477d5b8a&amp;nodeid=ABYAAJAABAAW&amp;nodepath=/ROOT/ABY/ABYAAJ/ABYAAJAAB/ABYAAJAABAAW&amp;level=4&amp;haschildren=&amp;populated=false&amp;title=%25C2%25A7+97-17-41.+Grand+larceny;+felonious+taking+of+personal+property;+felonious+taking+of+property+of+established+place+of+worship;+penalties.&amp;config=00JABhZDIzMTViZS04NjcxLTQ1MDItOTllOS03MDg0ZTQxYzU4ZTQKAFBvZENhdGFsb2f8inKxYiqNVSihJeNKRlUp&amp;pddocfullpath=/shared/document/statutes-legislation/urn:contentItem:8P6B-8B52-8T6X-73J0-00008-00&amp;ecomp=7gf5kkk&amp;prid=377ab010-0d38-4cdd-b976-d7791c69315c">grand larceny</a>; Coleman was convicted of <a href="https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&amp;crid=d81c4742-9466-4750-8b96-36d5f6e707ed&amp;nodeid=ABYAAJAABABR&amp;nodepath=/ROOT/ABY/ABYAAJ/ABYAAJAAB/ABYAAJAABABR&amp;level=4&amp;haschildren=&amp;populated=false&amp;title=%25C2%25A7+97-17-70.+Receiving+stolen+property;+dual+charges+of+both+stealing+and+receiving+same+property+not+to+be+brought+against+single+defendant+in+same+jurisdiction;+penalties.&amp;config=00JABhZDIzMTViZS04NjcxLTQ1MDItOTllOS03MDg0ZTQxYzU4ZTQKAFBvZENhdGFsb2f8inKxYiqNVSihJeNKRlUp&amp;pddocfullpath=/shared/document/statutes-legislation/urn:contentItem:8P6B-8B52-8T6X-73JR-00008-00&amp;ecomp=7gf5kkk&amp;prid=377ab010-0d38-4cdd-b976-d7791c69315c">receiving stolen property</a>; and O’Neal was convicted of <a href="https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&amp;crid=68b33329-1635-4df1-a520-52925a49f30c&amp;nodeid=ABYAAJAABAAE&amp;nodepath=/ROOT/ABY/ABYAAJ/ABYAAJAAB/ABYAAJAABAAE&amp;level=4&amp;haschildren=&amp;populated=false&amp;title=%25C2%25A7+97-17-5.+Arson;+second+degree;+other+buildings+or+structures.&amp;config=00JABhZDIzMTViZS04NjcxLTQ1MDItOTllOS03MDg0ZTQxYzU4ZTQKAFBvZENhdGFsb2f8inKxYiqNVSihJeNKRlUp&amp;pddocfullpath=/shared/document/statutes-legislation/urn:contentItem:8P6B-8B52-8T6X-73HB-00008-00&amp;ecomp=7gf5kkk&amp;prid=377ab010-0d38-4cdd-b976-d7791c69315c">second degree arson</a>. All have completed their sentences.
Mississippi does offer a slim chance for voting rights restoration: the legislature may pass a bill to restore a particular individual’s voting rights, referred to as a “suffrage bill.”
In response to the ruling, Mississippi requested an en banc rehearing. Court of appeals hearings normally consist of three justices; with this request, all justices of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals would hear the case.

Federal Court Strikes Down Felony Voting Ban As ‘Cruel And Unusual Punishment’ In Unprecedented Ruling

Felony

General

Mississippi

U.S.

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> promised to sign a law preventing the city of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/washington-d-c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington D.C.</a> from overhauling its crime and voting laws.
The Washington, D.C., city council passed a bill to overhaul the city&#8217;s criminal code, and another one allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections. But the House of Representatives passed two resolutions blocking those bills from becoming law, and the Senate is expected to vote on them as early as next week. Biden said Thursday that he would sign the bills if passed.
According to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1160662044/president-biden-will-allow-congress-to-overturn-new-dc-crime-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPR</a>, Biden reportedly told Senate Democrats during a closed-door meeting Thursday that he would not veto the bills, which are expected to pass with bipartisan support. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) confirmed the decision to reporters after the meeting.
Biden confirmed the news himself on Twitter. &#8220;I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule – but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings,&#8221; Biden <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1631392285182009376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> from the official Presidential Twitter account. &#8220;If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did – I’ll sign it.&#8221;
The Senate is expected to vote on the bills as soon as next week. Two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Bob Casey (D-PA), have already expressed support for the bills. With Casey&#8217;s Pennsylvania colleague, John Fetterman, out for an extended period of time with health problems, the Democrats do not seem to have the votes to stop the resolutions from passing, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/02/biden-wont-veto-gop-effort-to-repeal-dc-criminal-code-00085247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">POLITICO</a> reported, adding that with Biden signaling his support for the measures, they could earn more Democratic votes by the time they reach the floor. The bills require a simple majority to pass, and cannot be filibustered.
The House of Representatives passed a resolution to block the D.C. legislation allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections from becoming law on February 9. Some 42 Democrats joined Republicans, and the vote passed 260-162. Another resolution blocking the city from overhauling its criminal code passed 250-173, with the support of 31 Democrats.
D.C. city officials passed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/non-citizens-allowed-to-vote-in-local-washington-d-c-elections-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act</a> on its first reading last year, which Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser allowed to pass without her signature, as she refused to veto the legislation. Washington, D.C., city councilmember Charles Allen introduced the bill in October 2020, arguing that it aligns with the chamber’s values and history of expanding voting rights.
<a class="c-link" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-4883">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-led-house-moves-to-stop-d-c-s-illegal-immigrant-voting-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other bill</a>, the one overhauling D.C.’s century-old criminal code, would not take effect until October 2025. While proponents argue the overhaul updates and improves an outdated system, critics warn it would embolden wrongdoers by reducing the penalties for certain crimes. Among other changes, the bill would reduce maximum penalties for violent crimes such as carjacking, and expand the rights to jury trials for misdemeanor offenses.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed the criminal code changes, but the D.C. Council voted to override the veto. Bowser then proposed targeted alterations to the revised code, including restoring maximum penalties for gun crimes and carjackings, as well as delaying its implementation to 2027, per NBC Washington.
Under the Home Rule Act of 1973, Congress is allowed to overrule legislation passed by the D.C. city council before it becomes law.
Brandon Drey and Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.

President Biden Departs White House

Biden Says He Will Sign Bills Blocking D.C.’s Radical Overhaul Of Voting Rights Criminal Code

Biden Says He Will Sign Bills To Stop D.C. From Overhauling Criminal Code, Letting Non-Citizens Vote

Crime

Senate

Non-citizens who have resided in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/washington-d-c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington, D.C.</a>, for at least 30 days can now vote in local city elections after the review period for a newly passed bill allowing such votes to occur ended last week, according to local media.
D.C. city officials passed the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act on its first reading last year, which Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser allowed to pass without her signature, as she refused to veto the legislation. However, acts of the city council are subject to congressional review due to the district residing in the federal territory.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill had 30 session days to object to the legislation, with the House voting to stop the bill from taking effect, WAMU reported. However, the Senate ran out of time before the review period ended.
The new law still has to secure approximately $1.6 million in funding to create the new voter registry for non-citizens, WAMU reported, adding that Congress still has options to block the measure, specifically by prohibiting D.C. officials from spending money on it taking effect.
Washington, D.C., city council member Charles Allen introduced the bill in October 2020, arguing that it aligns with the chamber&#8217;s values and history of expanding voting rights.
&#8220;Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute, and care about our community in our city,&#8221; Allen said at the time of the vote.
During the passing last year, the bill&#8217;s lead sponsor, Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, bragged how she &#8220;championed expanding voting rights so that those who have made the District their home have the right for their voices to be heard in our local issues, no matter their immigration status.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/d-c-s-new-voters-aliens-and-diplomats-muriel-bowser-mayoral-elections-11669237497" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a> editorial board argued in a November 23 piece that the bill extends local voting rights to illegal immigrants and foreign diplomats:
<blockquote>It reads like a bad parody of progressive decadence. Try to imagine American diplomatic personnel showing up to cast ballots for the mayor of Beijing or Moscow. Beyond that, the standard objections to noncitizen voting apply. It weakens the incentive to naturalize. Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal races, so including noncitizens in local races would force election officials to manage two voter lists and two sets of ballots. It’s begging for a fiasco.</blockquote>
<a class="c-link" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-4883">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
The move comes after Biden administration officials have claimed they are working to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state of the Union and give the city autonomy to govern its local affairs.
House Republicans passed a resolution to block the law from taking effect with the support of 42 Democrats.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-led-house-moves-to-stop-d-c-s-illegal-immigrant-voting-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> the D.C. voting resolution and previously warned that such &#8220;misguided efforts would allow crime to run rampant and disenfranchise American citizens in our nation&#8217;s capital.&#8221;
&#8220;Voting is a pillar of American democracy and a constitutional right that undeniably needs to be protected and preserved for citizens of this country,&#8221; Comer said in a statement to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/washington-dc-city-council-bill-allowing-noncitizens-vote-law?intcmp=tw_fnc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>. &#8220;The D.C. Council&#8217;s reckless decision to allow non-U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants the right to vote in local elections is an attack on the foundation of this republic.&#8221;
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) assailed Republicans in Congress for introducing &#8220;undemocratic&#8221; and &#8220;paternalistic&#8221; resolutions to overrule the D.C. Council.
&#8220;Instead of abusing its power over D.C. by nullifying legislation enacted by the D.C. Council, the House should adhere to democratic principles and pass my D.C. statehood bill, which would give D.C. residents voting representation in Congress and full control over their local affairs,&#8221; Norton said in prepared remarks.
During a speech, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused her GOP colleagues of &#8220;expanding&#8221; their support of disenfranchisement in the &#8220;overwhelmingly black city,&#8221; pointing out how Republicans already oppose D.C. statehood.
&#8220;The D.C. City Council has the right to determine its policies for D.C. residents,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And if any member of this body does not like that, they can feel free to change their registration, resign their post and run for D.C. City Council.&#8221;
In January, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a bill to stop non-citizens from voting in local elections in Washington, D.C., saying that allowing non-citizens and illegal immigrants to exercise voting rights reserved for American citizens violates the nation&#8217;s constitutional principles, &#8220;but also naively invites foreign meddling in our elections.&#8221;
&#8220;Voting is a privilege and the tool by which American citizens exercise their say in who leads our country, how we spend our tax dollars, and what policies should be instituted,&#8221; Cruz <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ted-cruz-introduces-bill-to-block-non-citizens-from-voting-in-washington-d-c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;I am vehemently against unconstitutionally cheapening the votes of American citizens and ignoring the rule of law in this nation.&#8221;
Fellow GOP Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) also introduced a resolution in Congress in December to block the non-citizen voting law from taking effect, calling it an &#8220;insane policy.&#8221;

CORONAVIRUS ELECTIONS

Non-Citizens Allowed To Vote In Local Washington D.C. Elections: Report

House Republicans

Immigration

Muriel Bowser

U.S. Senate

The city council of Washington, D.C., voted 12-1 on Tuesday to advance a bill that would allow non-citizen residents to vote in future local elections.
The bill will move ahead to an upcoming final vote before being sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).
“Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute and care about our community in our city. They, like all DC residents, deserve a right to have a say in their government,” D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen said during the Tuesday legislative meeting, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/3674089-dc-council-advances-bill-to-let-noncitizens-vote/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> The Hill.
“They raise families here, contribute to their community. They run businesses that people depend on, and they pay taxes that we decide how to spend. Yet they have no ability to elect local leaders who make decisions about their bodies, their businesses and their tax dollars,” Allen added.
The bill, if approved, would permit non-citizen residents in the District of Columbia to vote in local elections that include its mayor, attorney general, and school board members. The residency requirement was only 30 days for non-citizens, an important detail that led Councilmember Mary Cheh to oppose the bill.
The bill&#8217;s advancement comes as Washington faces a growing number of migrants bused into the area from Texas and Arizona. Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has sent more than 8,100 migrants to the nation&#8217;s capital as of last week, according to a <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/operation-lone-star-stops-human-smuggling-attempts-at-border" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from his office.
Arizona has reportedly sent nearly 2,000 migrants to Washington over the past four months, <a href="https://www.kold.com/2022/09/16/arizona-has-bused-nearly-2000-migrants-border/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> KTVK-TV. The cost for each busload was noted as $82,146 per trip.
The D.C. non-citizen voting bill comes as a growing number of locations across the U.S. seek to add non-citizens to their lists of registered voters. So far, similar initiatives have faced strong legal challenges in the courts.
In San Francisco, an August ruling struck down a city ordinance allowing non-citizens to vote in school board elections. As The Daily Wire previously reported, it was approved in 2016.  The law was <a href="https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Complaint-Filed.pdf">challenged</a> by various groups, including the California Public Policy Foundation and the United States Justice Foundation.
“The State of California has a long-standing requirement that voters must be United States citizens,” the plaintiffs <a href="https://californiaglobe.com/articles/california-judge-overturns-san-francisco-law-allowing-noncitizens-to-vote/">argued</a>. “This requirement applies to every election in the state, even those conducted by charter cities, because determining voter qualifications is a matter of statewide concern where state law supersedes conflicting charter city ordinances.”
A similar law in New York City proposed to permit up to 800,000 non-citizens to vote in city elections. The law was struck down by the state&#8217;s Supreme Court in June.
“The New York State Constitution expressly states that citizens meeting the age and residency requirements are entitled to register and vote in elections,” Justice Ralph Porzio <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/27/nyregion/noncitizen-voting-ruling-nyc.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in his ruling. “There is no statutory ability for the City of New York to issue inconsistent laws permitting noncitizens to vote and exceed the authority granted to it by the New York State Constitution.”

Washington, D.C. Advances Bill To Let Non-Citizens Vote

Illegal Immigration

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/north-carolina" target="_blank" rel="noopener">North Carolina</a> Supreme Court ruled Friday that a constitutional amendment implementing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/voter-id" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voter ID</a> requirements may be invalid because the legislature that passed it was racially gerrymandered.
In a 4-3 party line <a href="https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&amp;pdf=41699">ruling</a>, the state Supreme Court found that a 2018 amendment to the state constitution may be invalid because the majorities in the state legislature came from districts that had been unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered. The ruling did not outright overturn the amendment, which was ratified by voters in the same year, but remanded the case back to a lower court for further study.
&#8220;In the final week of the final regular legislative session preceding the 2018 general election, a General Assembly that was composed of a substantial number of legislators elected from districts that the United States Supreme Court had conclusively determined to have resulted from unconstitutional racial gerrymandering enacted legislation presenting six constitutional amendments to North Carolina voters,&#8221; Justice Anita Earls wrote for the Court&#8217;s Democratic majority.
The two amendments at issue in the case were the voter ID amendment, as well as another amendment preventing the state income tax from ever being raised above 7%. The amendments were passed by a three-fifths majority of both chambers of the legislature; but the voter ID amendment only passed by two votes in the state House of Representatives and three in the Senate; the tax cap amendment passed by just one vote in the House and four votes in the Senate. In the general election in 2018, both amendments were ratified a majority of voters.
At the same time, a federal court ruling found that nearly 30 legislative districts were illegal racial gerrymanders; 100 of the state&#8217;s 170 legislative seats had to be redrawn, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-constitutions-constitutional-amendments-supreme-court-government-and-politics-b7f91cdc8dd7ee1ed80cc50e0fe91382">Associated Press</a> reported. Judges allowed the state legislators elected in 2016 to serve their two-year terms. But in 2018, using redrawn legislative maps, voters in the state broke Republican supermajorities in both houses, the <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article264680559.html">Raleigh News &amp; Observer</a> added.
The 2018 election formed the basis for the lawsuit, brought by the NAACP, which contended that even though voters had approved the amendments, they were invalid because they had been introduced by an unconstitutional legislature.
&#8220;We conclude that &#8230; the North Carolina Constitution impose[s] limits on these legislators’ authority to initiate the process of amending the constitution under these circumstances,&#8221; Earls wrote, adding, however, that the trial court&#8217;s ruling invalidating the amendments was too broad.
&#8220;In particular, the trial court should have examined &#8230; whether the legislature was composed of a sufficient number of legislators elected from unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts—or from districts that were made possible by the unconstitutional gerrymander—such that the votes of those legislators could have been decisive in passing the challenged enactments &#8230; In this case, however, the record is clear that votes of legislators from unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts could have been decisive.&#8221; The Court remanded the case back to the trial court to determine whether the amendment would have kept the legislators who passed it in power, whether it would have continued to exclude certain voters, or whether it would constitute the same kind of discrimination as the gerrymander itself.
Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Tim Moore (R), called the decision a &#8220;judicial coup&#8221; and vowed to keep fighting for the amendments in court.
“This party-line ruling is in direct contradiction to the rule of law and the will of the voters,&#8221; Moore said in a <a href="http://speakermoore.com/unprecedented-nc-supreme-court-ruling-undermines-voters-constitution/">statement</a>. “I will continue to fight for the Voter ID and Tax Cap Amendments, which were overwhelmingly approved by the people of North Carolina. It’s time to end the judicial coup that is unilaterally altering our constitution and subverting the will of North Carolina voters.”

Man hand knocking a wooden judge gavel, law and auction concept.

NC Supreme Court Says Voter ID Amendment May Be Invalid Because Of Racial Gerrymandering

Court

North Carolina

Racism

A federal judicial nominee recently nominated by President Joe Biden told law school students two years ago that people who support voter ID laws have “privilege” and are going by “the very same playbook” as those who upheld Jim Crow-era voting laws, according to footage reviewed by The Daily Wire. The attorney, Natasha Merle, also said the GOP was trying to &#8220;scare people.&#8221;
Merle, an NAACP attorney, was included in Biden’s 13th round of nominees on January 19, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/01/19/president-biden-names-thirteenth-round-of-judicial-nominees/">according</a> to a White House memo. She would work for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Merle prides <a href="https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/staff/natasha-merle/">herself</a> on promoting “racial justice primarily in the areas of criminal justice, political participation and educational opportunities,” and was lead counsel in a <a href="https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/ldf-v-trump/">case</a> against former President Donald Trump accusing his election integrity commission of being “racially discriminatory.” She has <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/courses/28478">taught</a> law school courses such as “Racial Justice” at Columbia. 
In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltqUhsgOsHg">remarks</a> given at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Virginia, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2020, Merle derided efforts by the legal system to investigate voter fraud as racist. 
“That’s the goal of investigations and prosecutions into unfounded allegations of voter fraud. To scare people from even attempting to exercise their right to vote,” she noted. 
About a minute later, Merle went so far as to say voter ID laws — a way for polls to ensure legal citizens are casting a ballot — are discriminatory toward black people. She referenced the Alabama legislature’s move mandating voter ID, which was <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/naacp-seeks-rehearing-alabama-voter-191419312.html">upheld</a> in court after the NAACP sued. 
On their face, photo ID laws may seem reasonable to some. The narrative is that you need a photo ID for everything. You need a photo ID to drive. You need a photo ID to cash a check. But if we check our privilege, we recognize this narrative is false. In many parts around the country, people do not have cars. They cannot afford cars. . . In spite [of] this the Alabama legislature still passed this law based on unfounded suspicion of voter fraud. . . The state refuses to accept government-issued public housing ID, which is overwhelmingly held by black voters and are government-issued.
According to Merle, who spoke for about an hour and fielded questions from students and professors, Republicans are going by “the very same playbook” Democrats did in suppressing voting during the 1960s. Merle could not be reached for comment. 
The unearthing of Merle’s comments comes on the heels of Biden putting forth another nominee named Nancy Abudu, who, as first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-judicial-nominee-said-proof-of-citizenship-is-voter-suppression">reported by</a> The Daily Wire, said “proof of citizenship” is “voter suppression.” This sentiment has been <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/26/biden-georgia-election-law-is-jim-crow-in-the-21st-century/">echoed</a> by the president himself, who equated a Georgia law mandating photo ID to vote with “Jim Crow in the 21st century” and “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Earlier this month, Biden urged senators to pass legislation introduced by Democrats that would extend early voting, gut voter ID requirements, and allow no-excuse mail-in voting on the federal level. When questioned on his <a href="https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1481020304298332170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1481020304298332170%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Fkatiepavlich%2F2022%2F01%2F12%2Fbiden-boasted-about-praise-from-george-wallace-n2601743">comments</a> likening Republicans today to segregationists George Wallace and Bull Connor, as well as Confederate leader Jefferson Davis, Biden told reporter Philip Wegmann, “No, I didn’t say that.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a Daily Wire request for comment.
Send story tips to Gabe Kaminsky at <a href="mailto:gekaminsky@protonmail.com">gekaminsky@protonmail.com</a>. Follow him <a href="https://twitter.com/Gabe__Kaminsky">on Twitter.</a>

Biden nominee

FOOTAGE: Biden Court Nominee Argued Voter ID Requirements Are ‘Same Playbook’ As Jim Crow

NAACP

White House

Menu