Newhouse Protects Voting Rights, Condemns Democrats’ Attempted Federal Takeover of Elections

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) released the following statement in advance of voting against H.R. 5746, the legislative vehicle Democratic leadership is using to ram through their “voting rights” legislation. This unprecedented power grab would nationalize elections, stripping states’ rights in direct opposition to the U.S. Constitution.

“Once again, Democratic leadership is attempting to circumvent the will of the American people by ramming their disingenuous ‘voting rights’ legislation through the House,” said Rep. Newhouse. “I firmly believe in protecting the right to vote for all Americans. This legislation does nothing to protect that right. Rather, this legislation will undermine the United States Constitution by disregarding state voter ID laws and nationalizing elections. I stand firm in protecting our states' rights against the Biden Administration's latest attempt at an unconstitutional power grab and will vote NO on H.R. 5746.”

Background:

This legislation:

• Disregards state voter ID laws. Requires clearance of states’ existing and new voter ID laws and forces states to accept signature verification, specifically prohibiting ID as a condition to vote by mail.
• Publicly funds campaigns and makes FEC partisan. Installs a “Free Speech Czar” at a newly partisan FEC who would control the regulator’s operations and enforcement actions. Creates a 6:1 funding match to any small donor contributions of $200 or less in House of Representatives campaigns—meaning for every $200, the Federal government will match $1,200. This funding would come from a surcharge on corporate and high taxpayer settlements with the Federal government. For the 2022 cycle, House candidates could receive up to $7.2 million in public campaign funds.
• Nationalizes elections.  Creates a one-size-fits-all election administration scheme and strips away important election integrity safeguards implemented by states.  These federal mandates include no-excuse absentee voting, automatic voter registration, same day registration, a ballot receipt deadline seven days after an election, and mandatory 15 days of early voting.
• Creates an Elections Czar. Makes the United States Attorney General an unelected, unaccountable “Elections Czar,” with the ability to change state voting laws, such as reviewing and approving states’ voter ID laws, all while ignoring state constitutional processes.
• Severely limits states’ ability to conduct voter roll list maintenance. Imposes new restrictions on State efforts to keep their voter registration lists clean and accurate.  This new list maintenance process weakens a nearly 30-year federal requirement and rewards bad actors and punishes the good.

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