Questions to Ask Federal Candidates
by Kurt Hyde, Board of Directors Member
Last month we discussed election-integrity questions for all candidates, focusing on how they addressed the issue in their campaigns. This month we’ll list some questions designed to determine how knowledgeable and, hopefully, sincere a candidate for the U.S. House or Senate is regarding election integrity. Be sure to ask the following of candidates for federal office:
1.Will the candidate vote against the “For the People Act” (numbered H.R. 1 in the 117th Congress) or any similar bill that would federalize American elections? Voting against H.R. 1 is an easy decision given the current climate, but what if a supposedly “conservative” version of this bill is introduced in the next Congress? H.R. 1 and similar bills are harmful for multiple reasons. In addition to eroding election integrity, they would unconstitutionally federalize our elections. Alexander Hamilton explained in The Federalist, No. 59, that Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution was not intended to allow the federal government to take over elections and warned of the dangers inherent in federalizing elections:
Suppose an article had been introduced into the Constitution, empowering the United States to regulate the elections for the particular States, would any man have hesitated to condemn it, both as an unwarrantable transposition of power, and as a premeditated engine for the destruction of the State governments?
Thus, make sure the candidate knows that even a supposedly “pro-election-integrity” version of H.R. 1 would still be unconstitutional. If enacted, the positive aspects of a “conservative” version would soon become targets for revision and elimination, eventually eroding the electoral process on a national scale.
2. Will the candidate vote to repeal the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as Motor Voter? If, when the next session of Congress begins, there is not such a bill already filed, will he or she sponsor a bill to repeal it?
3. Will the candidate vote to repeal the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA)? If, when the next session of Congress begins, there is not such a bill already filed, will he or she sponsor a bill to repeal HAVA?
4. Will the candidate vote in favor of a bill to re-establish the U.S. House Committee on Elections or an equivalent Senate committee? Beware of counterfeit election reform. There are some who would like to establish a congressional committee on elections, but what has been proposed so far would have unconstitutional power to regulate elections. The original intent of the committee on elections was to be a place where any candidate, if he had reason to dispute an election, could submit evidence and get a published report.
5. Will the candidate support legislation to conduct a congressional investigation, with a formal report, of the 2020 general election, similar to the 1869 investigation of the massive electoral fraud in New York the previous year?
With the campaign season heating up, candidates are already contacting potential donors. If they can’t give clear “yes” or “no” answers to the preceding questions, how could anyone be confident they will work for election integrity if elected?
In addition to asking the above questions of federal candidates, continue educating the electorate in your area. Distribute our key election-integrity materials, including the “9 Ways to Restore America’s Elections” slim jim, and host a showing of Art Thompson’s Restore Election Integrity webinar, in which he lays out key steps on how to accomplish just that.