FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 4, 2021 

Contact: Prudence Robertson, probertson@sbalist.org (240) 672-2828 

Washington, D.C. The U.S. Senate today failed to advance S. 4, the latest attempt by Democrats to impose a federal takeover of state elections. If enacted, S. 4 would erode voter integrity safeguards and force state legislatures to seek permission from the federal government to pass or change state election laws through a constitutionally questionable process called preclearance.

National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued the following statement:

“For months now, Democrats have been attempting to force a federal takeover of elections into law—an unprecedented power grab to rig the rules in their favor, let unelected left-wing federal bureaucrats veto state election laws for political gain, and ensure Democrats can’t lose for the next 100 years. The effort is being led by California and New York liberals who could care less about the rest of Main Street America, like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and socialist congresswoman AOC. This is an all-out assault on state voting laws, an attempt to destroy free and fair elections—and Senator Murkowski is trying to help them.

“The truth is that Murkowski has joined with Democrats in their plan to silence millions of conservative voices for generations to come. She’s fallen victim to their manufactured myth of ‘voter suppression’ and ‘21st Century Jim Crow Laws’ and she’s caved to partisan pressure from liberals who could care less about Alaska and even less about free and fair elections. We urge every member of the Republican Senate to hold their ground and continue fighting for elections in which it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat, or else become a casualty to Democrats’ media-assisted pressure campaign like Murkowski.”

Read Ken Cuccinelli & former Alaska lieutenant governor Loren Leman’s op-ed for Must Read Alaska: “S. 4 and S. 1 — federal takeover of elections — would be bad for Alaska.”

An exit poll of Virginia voters conducted by pollster Scott Rasmussen on November 2nd found that 81% of Virginia voters believe photo I.D. should be required for voting, including 94% of Youngkin voters and 66% of McAuliffe voters.

What do real “voter suppression” and “Jim Crow” laws look like? The 1902 Virginia Constitution imposed poll taxes, literacy tests and even a civics test as hurdles to voter registration and voting, all intended to deny as many black citizens access to voting as possible. That same constitution also employed devices to allow illiterate whites onto the voter rolls. These included “going easy” on the civics tests for prospective white voters who could not read, as well as so-called “grandfather clauses,” by which illiterate whites whose father or grandfather fought for either the Union or Confederacy (virtually always the Confederacy) would also be able to register to vote.

Georgia’s 1958 civics test was used to bar black citizens from voting, but it was not only southern states discriminating against voters. California, Connecticut, Delaware, and more also have had constitutional and/or statutory provisions to impede minority voting.

  • Read more about Democrats’ “voter suppression” myth being used to justify giving unelected federal bureaucrats ‘veto’ authority over state-passed election laws in Mr. Cuccinelli’s op-ed for Fox News: “Democrats’ election takeover – here’s what’s at stake for every state.”

 

  • Read more about Democrat’s partisan, politically-driven attempt to force a federal takeover of elections into law in Mr. Cuccinelli’s op-ed for The Exponent-Telegram: “Dems make it impossible for Sen. Manchin to support H.R. 4.”

Polling shows the majority of U.S. voters, including Black and Hispanic as well as urban and independent voters, overwhelmingly support voter I.D. protections and want it to be easy to vote and hard to cheat.

The Election Transparency Initiative, a partnership between American Principles Project (APP) and the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), was organized to combat H.R. 1/S. 1 and advocate for state-based election reforms that voters can trust.

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