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Op-Ed: As Democrats push for federal
takeover of elections, Wisconsin forbids ballot harvesting and absentee
ballot drop boxes
[The Center Square] Chris Talgo | The
Heartland Institute
In the runup to the 2020
election, several states altered their voting procedures under the guise
of the pandemic. In most cases, these far-reaching changes were
instituted by governors under the premise that they could unilaterally
do so because the pandemic afforded them emergency powers. |
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 Americans should be outraged over this because according to the
U.S. Constitution governors do not have the authority to single-handedly change
voting rules – pandemic or not. Per Article 1, section 4, “The Times, Places and
Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be
prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.”
In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers tasked the Wisconsin Elections
Commission (WEC) with revising the rules for voting in the 2020 general election
after his request to the state legislature to do the same was rejected.
However, according to a recent ruling from Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge
Michael Bohren, the voting changes instituted by WEC for the November 2020
election are illegal.
Specifically, Bohren ruled that WEC’s guidance regarding absentee ballot drop
boxes violated the Wisconsin Constitution, which states, “voting by absentee
ballot is a privilege exercised wholly outside the traditional safeguards of the
polling place.”
Moreover, the Wisconsin Constitution notes, “the privilege of voting by absentee
ballot must be carefully regulated to prevent the potential for fraud or abuse;
to prevent overzealous solicitation of absent electors who may prefer not to
participate in an election; to prevent undue influence on an absent elector to
vote for or against a candidate or to cast a particular vote in a referendum; or
other similar abuses.”
Suffice to say, creating a network of absentee ballot drop boxes is probably not
the best way to “prevent the potential for fraud or abuse.”
Neither is ballot harvesting, which was also stricken down by Bohren.
Interestingly, Bohren’s ruling comes as Democrats push national voting laws that
would increase absentee voting and ballot harvesting, among many other
provisions that would make it easier to vote under false pretenses.
Over the past few months, Democrats have argued that the federal government must
circumvent the states by passing sweeping voting reform bills. Moreover, they
have argued that anyone opposed to a federal takeover of state elections must be
a “racist.”
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Here is President Joe Biden, comparing those who
oppose his call for the federal government to supersede state voting
laws to infamous racists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
“Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you
want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to
be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”
Biden failed to articulate how opposing his party’s national voting
bills actually makes one on par with the president of the
Confederate States of America because that comparison is laughable
on its face.
Biden also failed to mention that the vast majority of Americans
agree with many of the commonsense rules states have in place to
deter voter fraud. For example, recent polls show approximately 70
percent of Americans support voter ID laws, which Biden and
Democrats claim is akin to “voter suppression.”
What’s more, in 2020, voting percentages among minority groups
increased across-the-board.
Over the past several decades, great strides have been made in
ensuring that all Americans eligible to vote are able to cast
ballots. This achievement should be celebrated by all Americans,
regardless of party affiliation.
As we enter 2022, with midterm elections on the horizon, it is
imperative that states retain their sovereignty concerning voting
procedures. Make no mistake, when elections are overseen by states
rather than the federal government, the odds for corruption and
election malfeasance are dramatically reduced.
In conjunction, the odds of a nationally disputed election and loss
of confidence in American democracy are also less likely when
elections are decentralized and run by states rather than the
federal government.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is senior editor at The Heartland
Institute.
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