Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) and Representative Claudia Tenney (R-NY24) introduced their Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act—a bill to stop the ongoing threat of President Biden’s Executive Order 14019.
Executive Order 14019 directs federal agencies to provide a strategic plan to the president’s Domestic Policy Advisor detailing how the agency will help increase voter registration and participation. It also mandates that the agencies support “approved” third-party organizations to provide voter registration services on federal agency premises. It’s this second part that is the focus of the Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act.
Sen. Budd and Rep Tenney’s legislation would prohibit federal agencies from entering into agreements with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) hand-selected by the White House to conduct voter registration activities or from using federal funds to carry out voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts targeting only likely Democrat voters.
“Americans deserve to know that their elections are free and fair, not influenced by the heavy hands of the federal government and special interest groups,” said Tarren Bragdon, President and CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA). “President Biden’s use of federal agencies to meddle in elections and steamroll state governments is a flagrant abuse of executive authority and should not set a precedent for future administrations. I am grateful for Sen. Budd and Rep. Tenney’s vigilant efforts to address this issue in both Chambers. With their Promoting Free and Fair Elections Act, Congress can thwart the current administration’s attempts to interfere with state election administration by denying it the funding needed to carry out its plan.”
