Former Vice President Mike Pence has been widely out of the public eye since leaving the White House. However, now the former vice president seems to be emerging to directly address the 2020 presidential election, events at the Capitol on January 6th, as well as the ultimate need for increased election integrity. In an op-ed titled “Election Integrity is a National Imperative” Pence blasts Democrats push for their “reckless” election reform bill H.R. 1.
In Pence’s first extended comments regarding the 2020 election since leaving the White House, the former VP notes that the election was plagued by “significant voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law.” Pence points to the sweeping last-minute election changes prompted by governors and secretaries of state in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Throughout Pence’s article, he picks apart the “reckless” H.R. 1 bill being pushed by the left. The bill will ultimately increase election fraud, diminish the votes of legal voters, and provide a direct assault on the First Amendment.
The Daily Signal reports:
The bill would force states to adopt universal mail-in ballots, early voting, same-day voter registration, online voter registration, and automatic voter registration for any individual listed in state and federal government databases, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and welfare offices, ensuring duplicate registrations and that millions of illegal immigrants are quickly registered to vote.
States would be required to count every mail-in vote that arrives up to 10 days after Election Day. States must also allow ballot harvesting—where paid political operatives collect absentee ballots from places such as nursing homes—exposing our most vulnerable voters to coercion and increasing the risk that their ballots will be tampered with.
At the same time, state and local election officials would be stripped of their ability to maintain the accuracy of voter rolls, barred from verifying voter eligibility, and voter ID would be banned from coast to coast.
HR 1 is also loaded with ill-advised changes to federal campaign laws that would impose onerous legal and administrative burdens on candidates, civic groups, unions, nonprofit organizations, and ordinary citizens who want to exercise their First Amendment rights to engage in political speech, including on public policy issues that are vital to the life of our nation.
Pence ends his op-ed by reminding us of the utmost importance of election security and protecting the freedom of every American’s voice, “the American people must have the utmost confidence that every voice matters, and every vote counts—or democracy cannot survive.”
