Republicans and States’ Rights

The GOP has attacked the For the People Act (HR1) for allegedly trampling on states’ rights by “federalizing elections.”

That argument is baseless: the Constitution expressly gives Congress the power to protect its own elections, and HR1 is responding directly to efforts in the states to, let’s say, selectively enfranchise its citizens. The Elections Clause was specifically meant to give Congress the power to address such inequality.

But even worse (assuming we live in a world where hypocrisy is even noticed anymore), the argument is totally hypocritical. Here’s how the Republican’s alternative bill, the Save the Democracy Act (S.459), “federalizes elections”: The bill:

• Bans automatic voter registration for federal elections.
• Mandates voter citizenship verification to register to vote in federal elections.
• Requires Social Security Numbers (SSN) to register to vote in federal elections (Here’s the GOP’s effort to turn the SSN — originally promised not to be National ID—into a National ID. If the Republicans want to create a National ID system, the least they can do is create a non-stupid National ID system.)
• Mandates that federal courts notify state election officials…