A 2021 executive order by Joe Biden, signed in the early weeks of his presidency, carries the seemingly harmless title of "Promoting Access to Voting." The order requires executive departments and all federal agencies who engage with the public to provide a plan for ways, through their normal course of business, to expand voter registration and to request vote-by-mail ballots.
The kicker in Section 3, subhead C says executive departments and agencies should solicit and facilitate "approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and State officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises." (See earlier related article from AFN)
Last week, a report in The Washington Examiner through documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request showed that the Biden administration has completely ignored the "nonpartisan" requirement in choosing nonprofits to assist the voter access project.
"What we uncovered at The Washington Examiner is that the Biden administration, the White House and the Department of Justice and other top agencies actually held a meeting, after this executive order was signed in the summer of 2021, with a whole cadre of organizations to discuss voter registration and how something like that would look in the future," Gabe Kaminsky, an investigative reporter with The Examiner said on Washington Watch Friday.
"What we uncovered and what is apparent through those documents is that the organizations involved in planning and coordinating on this executive order all share one thing in common – they all are left-leaning," Kaminsky told show host Jody Hice.
Among the leftist nonprofits consulted by the administration is the Southern Poverty Law Center known for its "hate map," which targets more than 1,200 "hate and antigovernment groups" across the country, conservative nonprofit groups. The American Family Association, the parent company for American Family News, is on that map.
"The SPLC is one of those organizations that was involved in this meeting that took place at the White House, along with groups like the George Soros-funded Open Society Policy Center; and Black Voters Matter, a group that was very active in getting Democrats elected in Georgia in 2022," Kaminsky explained.
Administration may be in violation of several laws
Conservative groups like The Heritage Foundation, The Foundation for Government Accountability, and others see this as taxpayer-funded effort to get more Biden-voting Democrats to the polls, Kaminsky said. Some in Congress are concerned about Hatch Act violations, he added.
The Hatch Act was passed in 1939 and prohibits executive branch employees, except the President and Vice President, from engaging some forms of political activity. The primary objective aims to prevent misuse of government authority and resources and to ensure impartiality of federal employees.
According to Kaminsky, more potential violations are in play from The Anti-Deficiency Act. That legislation dates back to 1870, with several amendments since then. It exists to prevent government agencies from incurring obligations or making expenditures in excess of the funds that have been designated for a specific purpose.
"There's concern from lawmakers that taxpayer dollars are being used in a way that they are not already authorized. That's something a lot of people are concerned about. There are certain laws that I think could become more relevant as lawmakers look into this and, potentially, as courts take up certain cases," he said.
