As the most devastating effects of the COVID-19 virus outbreak pass over the next few weeks, talk will inevitably return to local and national elections.
A year ago, almost to the day, we detailed what a Shelby County organization did during the 2018 election – submit thousands of voter registration forms on the last day to register. That action and others like it prompted several election law changes that were passed by the Tennessee legislature during its 2019 session.
One of those changes was later blocked by a federal judge, which, in turn, caused this year’s rushed legislative session to revise several election laws that now have been signed into law by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
But we believe it’s instructive to look back at what happened in 2018 because we believe such actions will be a drop in the bucket to the schemes Democrats and left-wing organizations will perpetrate in an effort to oust President Donald Trump and other Republicans from office.
We said at the time we wouldn’t speculate on the motives of the specific organization that submitted thousands of voters registration forms on the last day to register. But it wouldn’t be hard to understand what such a motive might be. An organization dumping so many registration forms would hope that an election commission would be so overwhelmed with the sheer volume that it would either not check the voter information at all or not check it thoroughly in an effort to the rush the individuals onto voter rolls.
That way, as we speculated, the dead could rise to vote, illegal immigrants could cast a ballot and people who didn’t meet residency requirements could walk unfettered into a polling place.
In the Shelby County case, some of the forms had been filled out weeks before and some months before. Some of the forms, according to state election coordinator Mark Goins, had only first names, others had incorrect Social Security numbers and some had the names of deceased people.
It takes time and diligence to track down the proper information, and that is why Democrats are in full force behind election-day voter registration and we’re not. We believe only qualified voters should cast ballots; their belief is more along the lines that, qualified or not, if you want to vote, you should be allowed to.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, whose lawsuits brought the aforementioned federal judge’s ruling, took credit for the changes in the laws. But even less restrictive laws are better than none at all.
The updated laws allow for penalties of up to $50 per violation when groups – like the Shelby County organization – don’t turn in people’s completed registration forms within 15 days of receiving them or before the deadline to register to vote, if it’s within the 15-day window.
They also create a penalty of up to $50 each time a registration group retains personal identifying information collected from voter registration without getting permission and telling voters how it’ll be used; when it sets quotas for people collecting forms; or when it pays workers per form collected.
In addition, the laws require people or organizations who realize they provided incorrect information about voter registration and eligibility, voting qualifications, or polling dates, times and locations to inform state and local election officials.
Sadly, the new laws also make previously required training for voter registration groups only voluntary, potentially preventing such groups from being educated on the laws that were just passed.
Meanwhile, across the state line in Georgia, a federal lawsuit has been filed because the ACLU and the Black Votes Matter Fund believe asking Georgia voters to put their own stamp on a mail-in ballot is akin to an illegal poll tax.
Many – though not all – state election boards across the country require voters to affix their own stamps, so this effort should be seen for what it is, a blatant attempt to embarrass the Republican-led Georgia secretary of state’s office in a state many Democrats believe has the potential to swing their way in the presidential election.
Nevertheless, a Postal Service spokesperson said in 2018 the agency will deliver ballots without a stamp.
“In cases where postage on returning Absentee or Vote-By-Mail ballots has not been affixed or is insufficient,” spokesperson Kim Frum told ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit investigative news organization, “it is the U.S. Postal Service’s policy to not delay returning ballots to the appropriate Board of Election as addressed on the return ballot envelope. The Postal Service is steadfast in our commitment to support democracy. We will not deny a voter their right to vote by delaying a time-sensitive ballot because of insufficient postage.”
More broadly, across the country, given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 virus and its potential return in the fall, states already are buzzing about the possibility of millions of mail-in ballots and their high potential for fraud. Thus, Tennessee and Georgia are just two small skirmishes in what is likely to become an all-out voting war for the rest of 2020.