The freedom to vote and make your voice heard at the ballot box is a Constitutional right, fundamental to our society and the Republic. The American public must be confident the electoral process is carried out fairly — that every vote is legitimate. Otherwise, trust in our sacred institutions so critical to a civil society and the rule of law will deteriorate completely. While it is the responsibility of individual states to carry out elections, Congress must have basic safeguards in place nationally to ensure confidence in our elections for federal office.
This is why I joined a number of my colleagues in introducing the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act, the most comprehensive election integrity bill to be considered in the House in more than twenty years. Below are the top ten reforms made by the ACE Act.
1. Gives state and county election officials access to federal databases, like the Social Security death list so they can better keep their voter rolls up to date.
2. Makes it easier for states to use REAL ID as photo voter ID to confirm citizenship by requiring “CITIZEN” to be printed on all qualifying individuals’ ID documents.
3. Limits federal funds from going to states that allow non-citizens to vote.
4. Makes common-sense reforms in the nation's capital (which should serve as an example to the rest of the country) to ensure voter lists are accurately updated and non-citizens are not allowed to vote.
5. Supports our military voters overseas by working to ensure their ballots count.
6. Protects free speech and donor privacy by codifying donor disclosure protections for tax-exempt organizations so nonprofits do not have to risk subjecting their donors to harassment and intimidation.
7. Repeals President Biden’s Executive Order that directed federal agencies to engage in election activities such as voter registration and mobilization activities. Federal agencies should abide by the Hatch Act and refrain from engaging in political activity.
8. Reduces federal funding to states that allow political operatives to collect absentee ballots from the homes of voters and drop them off at polling places or election offices. (This is known as ballot harvesting.)
9. Prohibits congressional campaigns from receiving taxpayer dollars as proposed by legislation the Democrats passed in the House during the previous Congress. (The Senate never took up and passed the bill so it did not become law.)
10. Curbs woke corporations from influencing our elections by removing the federal tax-exempt status for organizations that get in involved in elections through such activities as get-out-the-vote drives, mass mail-in balloting, or by providing employees additional time off to volunteer for candidates.
