Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s new stimulus bill would mandate nationwide “ballot harvesting,” allowing party operatives to return other people’s ballots to polling places without “any limit” on the number of ballots.
“Ballot harvesting” was legalized in California in 2016, and first used in the 2018 midterm elections. It allows anyone to drop off someone else’s mail-in ballot at a polling station. There is no process for vetting or verifying those delivering the ballots — no background checks or identification requirements. Democrats dropped hundreds of thousands of ballots off at polling stations in 2018, helping Democrats as they flipped seven Republican seats.
The practice is illegal in most other states, largely because it is susceptible to fraud and intimidation. Republicans were caught flat-footed in 2018; they experimented with the tactic in recent special elections, only to find that their voters adamantly refuse to give their ballots to strangers. Democrats are more open to the practice — often because the “harvester” previously registered the voter, according to Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel.
House GOP rams through new DHS funding plan with shutdown far from over
Spanberger denies ‘deal’ with swing-district Democrat as gerrymandering claims abound statewide
House Republicans pass rival DHS plan, setting up Senate fight as shutdown set to become longest in history
Fulton County makes case for return of 2020 ballots seized by FBI
At least 2 students killed, several injured in school bus crash in Tennessee: ‘A parent’s worst nightmare’
Trump touts progress in Iran talks and success in Venezuela, says ‘Cuba is next’
Watchdog blasts BBC, CNN, NYT for applying ‘war crime’ label almost exclusively to US, Israel in Iran conflict
LA United School District scandal leads to charges as $22M scheme allegedly drained funds meant for students
Pima County deputy accused of kidnapping woman in custody, fired from department investigating Guthrie case
Leftist Bob Costas Admits Men Have No Business in Women’s Sports: ‘Common Sense Is Not Transphobic’
Utah’s Republican Governor Signs Bill Protecting Gunmakers from Frivolous Lawsuits
White House slams ‘trash reporting’ over claims ICE chief hospitalized for stress, yelled at by Trump admin
Breaking: Tiger Woods Involved in Rollover Crash in Florida
ICE arrests Latin Kings member after NYC sanctuary release despite assault charge on first responder
WATCH: Trump goes viral for illustrating how to cut government waste with his favorite White House pen
California’s “ballot harvesting” law has yet to be challenged in court. It is one reason that California remains a one-party state, with little prospect for change in the foreseeable future.
Pelosi wants to take that system nationwide.
Her bill, released Monday afternoon, provides that every state:
A) shall permit a voter to designate any person to return a voted and sealed absentee ballot to the post office, a ballot drop-off location, tribally designated building, or election office so long as the person designated to return the ballot does not receive any form of compensation based on the number of ballots that the person has returned and no individual, group, or organization provides compensation on this basis; and (B) may not put any limit on how many voted and sealed absentee ballots any designated person can return to the post office, a ballot drop off location, tribally designated building, or election office.
In other words, paid party operatives can literally truck thousands and thousands of ballots to the polls, provided they earn a salary or fee, and are not paid by the ballot
House GOP rams through new DHS funding plan with shutdown far from over
Spanberger denies ‘deal’ with swing-district Democrat as gerrymandering claims abound statewide
House Republicans pass rival DHS plan, setting up Senate fight as shutdown set to become longest in history
Fulton County makes case for return of 2020 ballots seized by FBI
At least 2 students killed, several injured in school bus crash in Tennessee: ‘A parent’s worst nightmare’
Trump touts progress in Iran talks and success in Venezuela, says ‘Cuba is next’
Watchdog blasts BBC, CNN, NYT for applying ‘war crime’ label almost exclusively to US, Israel in Iran conflict
LA United School District scandal leads to charges as $22M scheme allegedly drained funds meant for students
Pima County deputy accused of kidnapping woman in custody, fired from department investigating Guthrie case
Leftist Bob Costas Admits Men Have No Business in Women’s Sports: ‘Common Sense Is Not Transphobic’
Utah’s Republican Governor Signs Bill Protecting Gunmakers from Frivolous Lawsuits
White House slams ‘trash reporting’ over claims ICE chief hospitalized for stress, yelled at by Trump admin
Breaking: Tiger Woods Involved in Rollover Crash in Florida
ICE arrests Latin Kings member after NYC sanctuary release despite assault charge on first responder
WATCH: Trump goes viral for illustrating how to cut government waste with his favorite White House pen
It is a practice that is known in Third World countries as “ballot stuffing,” and is outlawed in every democracy, no matter how poor — even in countries where the physical and administrative obstacles to voting are far greater than in the world’s most developed economy.
And it is Pelosi’s condition for saving the U.S. economy from coronavirus.
Story cited here.
