House Republicans are expressing concerns about documents regarding a meeting between the White House and left-wing activists on voter registration. They fear that President Biden’s executive order from 2021, which required federal agencies to collaborate with “approved” external groups on voter registration plans, may be misused to benefit Democrats in the upcoming 2024 election.
While the Biden administration claims the operation is nonpartisan, internal documents suggest that the July 2021 planning call predominantly featured suggestions for election policy changes from left-leaning organizations.
“President Biden’s EO is an overreach of the executive branch’s constitutional authority and disregards the Constitution’s federalist election system,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said. “The states set the time, manner, and place of their own elections, and this EO must be looked at seriously.”
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik has raised concerns about what she calls “illegal coordination” between the Biden administration and progressive activists to influence elections.
She stated that lawmakers are investigating the 2021 executive order to ensure the integrity of elections. Stefanik, a potential candidate for Vice President in 2024, highlighted the issue.
The Oversight Project described the 2021 executive order as a partisan attempt to sway future elections using federal resources.
Stewart Whitson from the Foundation for Government Accountability highlighted a proposal related to public housing as evidence of collaboration between the White House and left-wing activists to target vulnerable populations likely to support Biden.
GOP lawmakers noted similarities between a document from the left-leaning Demos think tank and the Biden order.
Rep. Darrell Issa and others believe the meeting notes expose a covert effort by Biden to collaborate with progressives to increase Democratic political influence using federal resources.
“It’s all political in nature, and it’s totally wrong,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the Washington Examiner.
During the 2021 Zoom meeting, a representative from the League of Women Voters suggested registering people to vote at citizen and naturalization ceremonies conducted by federal courts.
On the other hand, a representative from the Sentencing Project, a group advocating for defunding prisons, proposed using federal resources to register inmates to vote in prisons, arguing against felony disenfranchisement as a form of voter suppression.
The GOP-led House Small Business Committee is investigating the Small Business Administration for its involvement in voter registration efforts related to the 2021 executive order. Rep. Dan Meuser highlighted concerns that Biden is collaborating with progressives, rather than nonpartisan groups, to engage the federal government in a potentially illegal national voter registration campaign.
Recent polls show that former President Trump holds a slight lead over President Biden. Republicans are scrutinizing the funding provided by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to a left-leaning group, which they believe influenced the 2020 election. They view the 2021 executive order, dubbed “Bidenbucks,” as legally dubious.
This order instructs agencies to work with outside organizations for voter registration services, a move deemed unconstitutional by conservative legal experts due to violations of federal rules like the Antideficiency Act and the Hatch Act.
The Washington Examiner reviewed meeting notes obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project and Foundation for Government Accountability, revealing discussions among activist groups on topics like registering illegal immigrants and making voter registration mandatory in public housing under federal law.
The virtual 2021 meeting, held on Zoom, included representatives from the Executive Office of the President, the Department of Justice, and organizations like the Open Society Policy Center and End Citizens United.
Rep. Roger Williams, the committee’s chairman, expressed particular worries about the Biden administration using the Small Business Administration as a campaign tool in Michigan, a battleground state.
“My colleagues and I are troubled by this alleged electioneering and allocation of taxpayer dollars to activities blatantly outside of the SBA’s jurisdiction,” Williams said. “The committee will continue to use every tool at our disposal to stop these blatant political acts.”
