With the presidential elections coming up toward the end of this year, many people are getting prepared to go out and vote for the candidate they would like to see as President. However, to do that, they need to be registered to vote.
In 2021, President Joe Biden ordered federal agencies to expand their voter registration efforts, giving them just 200 days to submit their plans to the administration. However, nine states aren’t very happy about this and have filed a lawsuit to try to stop this executive order.
Voter Suppression Legislation Was Being Pushed
Before the Biden administration came into power, GOP-led statehouses had been pushing for voter suppression legislation in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
It was believed that many people who voted in this election shouldn’t have been able to vote, with this being part of the reason Republicans gave for Biden being able to win the presidency over Trump.
Biden’s Executive Order 14019
Biden’s Executive Order 14019 was implemented in the hope that it would increase voter registration among various marginalized groups. These groups tend to be low in voter turnouts.
However, the lawsuit claims that the order has been put in place to allow imprisoned felons to illegally register to vote, which is something the states involved are firmly against.
9 States Have Filed the Lawsuit
So far, 9 states have filed this lawsuit: Mississippi, Montana, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota. It is unknown whether any other states will sign it at a later date.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in the hope it would halt this executive order from coming into play for the time being, especially as the order initially gave them 200 days to submit their plans to the administration.
Felons Have Voted in Previous Elections
The lawsuit claims that the U.S. Attorney General has been registering imprisoned felons to vote and that felons have been successfully able to register to vote in previous elections.
It also claims that in some states, felons voting is illegal, so this executive order would be going against the law in these states. As it is against the law, the states don’t want to go against this law, which is why they don’t agree with all aspects of the executive order.
The Issue of Federal Bureaucracy
The main issue that states have made evident in this lawsuit is that federal bureaucracy is putting itself into the state electoral systems and voter registration processes without the public being allowed to comment.
The states believe that doing this will continuously create a voter registration pitch whenever a member of the public interacts with a federal bureaucrat.
A Violation of the Constitution
As part of the lawsuit, it is stated that this executive order is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. It also claims that it “exceeds any authority executive entities have under federal law … threatens states’ attempts to regulate voter registration.”
The lawsuit also claims that it is undermining voter registration systems set up by individual states and would have consequences for state elections, as it would turn the “federal bureaucracy into a voter-registration outfit to register voters for state and local elections as well as federal elections.”
Agency Plans Are a Secret
One of the main issues these nine states have is that the agency plans are secret. This means that they don’t undergo public scrutiny, which they believe the order should be subject to.
The U.S. Department of Justice also asserted executive privilege when it refused various public record requests from the Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability, which resulted in the federal government being taken to court.
Trying to Increase the Democrat Vote
The lawsuit claims that Biden wants to increase voter registration in order to get the Democrats more votes in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. This claim is being made by Republican-run states.
It is apparently harming sovereign interests and the ability to regulate voter registration of individuals within each state properly.
Expanding How People Vote
The point of the order was to help federal agencies and departments consider “ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.”
This is generally seen as a good thing, as not everyone knows how to register to vote or how to gain information on how to vote, as well as what promises have been made by those running for President. However, the lawsuit clarifies that these states don’t think this is a good thing.
Americans Are Paying the Price
According to Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, ordinary Americans are paying the price for the job done by the Biden-Harris administration, which he believes has been a “disaster.”
He believes that the President and Vice President of the U.S. have not been doing their jobs properly by focusing on getting more Democrat votes and not focusing on the job at hand. Reeves says the administration is trying to “expand their power” and is “violating the law.”
The Federal Government’s Response
The federal government is expected to file a response to this lawsuit in the upcoming weeks. However, what this response will be and whether it will agree with any aspects of this lawsuit is currently unknown.
It is important for individuals to check their voting rights in their state, make sure they are registered to vote by the deadline and be aware of any voting information they didn’t previously know to help keep themselves fully informed.
