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Republicans have been running on the motto of making it ‘easy to vote but hard to cheat’. This is where two sides disagree on exactly what that process should look like.
For a long time, we have had election laws on the books that nobody really took seriously. Even in instances where election laws had been broken, we didn’t see much in the way of criminal enforcement.
The fiery rhetoric on both sides of the 2020 election cycle has changed that. Whether the steps he is taking are taking us in the right direction or not is a matter of some dispute.
Gina Swoboda, an elections officer in Arizona launched a website whose official stated purpose was to promote transparency in the election process. Here is how the site was described by its creators:
A first-of-its-kind website launched today that will finally give American citizens a way to examine crucial voting records.
Often criticized as sloppily kept and infrequently updated, voter registration lists for all 50 states will be posted in searchable format for the first time in American history. Citizens will be able to check their voting status, voting history, and those of their neighbors, friends, and others. They will be able to “crowd-source” any errors.
…”VoteRef is the beginning of a new era in American election transparency,” Swoboda said. “We have an absolute right to see everything behind the curtain. Too often election information is de facto secretive — it might technically be accessible but the average citizen has no idea how to access it. Today, that begins to change.”
Those who access the website will be able to search by name or address for registered voters. They also will be able to peruse voting histories — a list of elections that voter participated in, as well as other important election data obtained via official sources. — VoteRef
That website has been ordered to take down its public list of Virginia voters, or face felony charges. Under Youngkin’s new law, nobody is permitted to publish any list of voters except the one being kept in Virginia’s official records.
Because the VRP officials did not derive their list from elect they are in violation of the new state laws and subject to a class 5 felony if those lists remain online.
Their state website has the official language of SB 698, Lists of persons voting at elections; creation of searchable public lists prohibited. You will note the summary at the top of that page is as follows:
Elections; lists of persons voting at elections; creation of searchable public lists prohibited. Prohibits the recipient of a list of registered voters from publishing on the Internet any of the information contained in such list as a list, database, or other similar searchable format or providing information contained in a list of registered voters to a third party for such purpose. [Bold in original]
The VRP President objected to Youngkin’s use of this legislation, calling it incongruous with his campaign promises of election transparency and pledging to fight this in court so that voter rolls could be made public in all 50 states.
When pressed by The Federalist on why Youngkin chose to sign the bill despite its limitations on individuals’ ability to distribute state voter roll information, a representative from the governor’s office said that “SB698 protects election integrity by ensuring that accurate information is posted online, as opposed to outdated voter rolls, which are only accurate the day they are pulled from the voter registration system.”
“In Virginia, voter lists are updated each and every day to account for people moving or passing away, a posted online list will quickly become inaccurate as more updates are made,” the Youngkin representative said. “Additionally, this legislation addresses the concerns for sharing voters’ personal identifiable information on the internet.” —TheFederalist
Democracy is a messy process, folks. That’s why those who care about keeping the pillars on which this nation was founded in place need to be involved and have their voice heard.
We know for sure the activists on the other side don’t take any days off.
Psalms of War: Prayers That Literally Kick Ass is a collection, from the book of Psalms, regarding how David rolled in prayer. I bet you haven’t heard these read, prayed, or sung in church against our formidable enemies — and therein lies the Church’s problem. We’re not using the spiritual weapons God gave us to waylay the powers of darkness. It might be time to dust them off and offer ‘em up if you’re truly concerned about the state of Christ’s Church and of our nation.
Also included in this book, Psalms of War, are reproductions of the author’s original art from his Biblical Badass Series of oil paintings.
This is a great gift for the prayer warriors. Real. Raw. Relevant.
