The privilege of voting is precious to the people and is coveted around the world. Participating in elections is a hallmark of our citizenship. It is arguably the most consequential way that citizens can influence the direction of our republic. Lawmakers have an obligation to guard that privilege vigilantly, but the Biden administration has chosen instead to weaken the protections that ensure the integrity of the ballot.
Last year, President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14019, “Promoting Access to Voting.” This directed every federal agency, agencies that are staffed through partisan appointments, to create a plan to register and mobilize voters. It also orders these agencies to work with organizations such as activist groups to register and mobilize voters in whatever manner they see fit. In doing so, the Biden administration has politicized election processes that were uniquely guarded as a nonpartisan since the ratification of the Constitution in 1788.
There are few details about what the relationship between the federal bureaucrats and state election administrators would look like or where any oversight would occur. And the president has been even more opaque about who will decide which third parties will be selected to participate in these registration and mobilization schemes. As a result, the Foundation for Government Accountability filed a Freedom of Information Act request in July 2021 to obtain various documents pertaining to the executive order.
Nine months later, the Biden administration has yet to provide any meaningful, substantive response or produce any documents that would fulfill the public records request. This is in direct violation of the Department of Justice’s 20-day FOIA response rules. As such, the Foundation for Government Accountability has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida with the expectation that the court will obligate the Department of Justice to release the requested FOIA materials.
The Biden administration’s silence should concern all citizens. Silence, a lack of transparency, and an unwillingness to answer reasonable questions foster doubt in our election processes and election results at every level of government.
Democrats in Washington, led by the president, have tried to maintain unnecessary pandemic-era election policies while creating frivolous new ones. Their efforts would do grave harm to the nation’s electoral process by expanding federal control over state voting norms. Using taxpayer funds to pay political activists to join with federal bureaucrats is an unprecedented seizure of power from voters.
In the meantime, we have no choice but to ask: What is the Biden administration trying to hide?
When Biden took office in January 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki pledged in her first press conference that the administration would “bring transparency and truth back to government.” It clearly hasn’t kept this promise.
The public has the right to know what the government is doing, especially if it is undermining fundamental rights.
Madeline Malisa is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability.
* Article from: The Washington Examiner
