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House Democrats passed H.R. 1, the so-called “For the People Act,” on Wednesday. The bill would radically change American democracy, nationalizing elections and making permanent changes to voting rules that would virtually ensure Democrats never lose another election.
The bill is 791 pages long — a massive piece of legislation, adopted with little examination or debate. Some provisions — like expanding access for voters with disabilities, improving election security, and ensuring that all voting machines use in U.S. elections are also manufactured in the U.S. — are uncontroversial. Others are potentially explosive.
37 Things to Know About H.R. 1, ‘For the People Act’ Here are 37 key points:
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Federal control over congressional elections: The bill begins by declaring that “Congress finds that it has broad authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of congressional elections under the Elections Clause of the Constitution.” The Constitution actually gives primary authority to the States, but allows Congress to “make or alter such Regulations.” The House Democrats interpret this provision as dramatically as possible to override the states.
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Declaring that “States and localities have eroded aceess to the right to vote”: The bill declares that photo ID, “burdensome” voter registration procedures, purges of ineligible voters, restrictions on vote-by-mail, rules against felons voting, and other measures that states and municipalities have taken to guarantee the integrity of elections are, in fact, “restrictions on the right to vote.” It also suggests these are forms of “racial discrimination” and “systemic racism.”
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Restricting challenges to H.R. 1 to the federal court system in D.C.: The bill declares that the only courts with jurisdiction to hear challenges to its constitutionality, or to the validity of regulations promulgated under the law, are courts within Washington, D.C. — a notoriously Democrat-friendly jurisdiction. That minimizes the chances that any challenges could be brought to more conservatives courts, or to judges appointed by past Republican presidents.
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Automatic and online voter registration: The bill requires every state to make sure “all eligible citizens are registered to vote in elections for Federal office” unless individuals opt out. It also requires states to make voter registration available online. It allows voters who have no other signatures on file with the state to supply their signatures when requesting a ballot. The state may not request more than the last four digits of the applicant’s Social Security number.
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Protection for illegal aliens who are registered to vote: The bill protects non-citizens from prosecution if they are registered to vote automatically and never made an affirmative declaration that they were U.S. citizens. Agencies that register voters are not required to keep records of who declined to affirm their citizenship.
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Changing personal information at polling places: Voters are allowed to change their address and other information at polling places, other than on Election Day itself, and are allowed to cast regular, not provisional, ballots on that basis.
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Same-day voter registration: “Each State shall permit any eligible individual on the day of a Federal election and on any day when voting, including early voting, is permitted for a Federal election—to register to vote in such election at the polling place … [and] to cast a vote in such election.” The provision includes a clause that requires same-day voter registration to be implemented in time for the upcoming elections in 2022 — when Democrats fear losing the House.
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Preventing states from purging ineligible voters from rolls: One section of the bill is called the “Stop Automatically Voiding Eligible Voters Off Their Enlisted Rolls in States Act,” whose acronym is the “SAVE VOTERS Act.” It restricts the criteria that states may use to strike voters from the roll, and requires that voters and the public be notified first. The bill also makes it more difficult for states to remove voters from the rolls through “cross-check” with other states unless they have extensive information corroborating the voter’s identity. It also restricts “third parties” from challenging voters’ eligibility unless they have “personal knowledge” of ineligibility — and punishes challenges with up to one year in prison for each violation. The U.S. Postal Service is also required to remind people who fill out a “hard copy change of address form” to update their voter registration.