(The following article is not an endorsement of Takebackaction.org, nor an indication, directly or otherwise, of support for any political party, philosophy, or candidate; it reflects the opinion(s) of its author.)
More often than not, liberals choose from any of the hundreds of polls to claim that the elected officials they oppose do not represent the will of their constituents and that we "must save democracy" by removing them.
The problem is many of those making this claim couldn’t care less about true democracy when it comes to an issue that consistently wins 70 to 80% support from Americans and is a cornerstone of the democratic process — Voter ID.
The latest example of this comes from Maine’s Secretary of State, pushed through by out-of-state liberal billionaires trying to tilt the rules of elections, testifying against establishing Voter ID rules last week.
Ironic that an elected official in charge of state elections believes that voter opinion should matter, and at the same time, shouldn’t matter when it comes Voter ID laws.
As the Maine Policy Institute reminded the secretary of state and all elected officials, this would leave Maine as one of only 15 states to not enforce mandatory Voter ID, despite 80% of Maine constituents supporting such a measure.
At Take Back Our Republic Action, of which this writer serves as president of, our coordinators are overwhelmingly conservative, and most have urged leaders to focus on fixing election operations for the future instead of staying focused on the past.
We’ve also had many good discussions on the distinction between a confusing ranked choice voting law with six or more candidates (13 in the case of one New York ballot) and "instant runoff" voting with five or fewer candidate, like the measure we helped to pass in Georgia for military and overseas voters.
While we continue to have constructive discussions on various ways to ensure election integrity, particularly after another chaotic and contested election season came to a close last November, any discussion about fixing election operations, by passing common-sense election rules that restore faith in election results, can only occur with stakeholders negotiating in good faith.
If one party in the negotiation starts from the position that the only election rule on which 80% of Americans agree — voter ID — must never be enacted or should be struck down, you are wasting your time.
It’s quite the coincidence that the majority of those in the 20% who oppose Voter ID overlap with those who believe Republicans must be defeated because they are "destroying our democracy."
Given this connection, the much more logical motivation for opposing Voter ID is that doing so makes it almost impossible to prove that someone is harvesting illegal ballots.
The fact is that elections operations are continuing to rapidly evolve, and because of this, it’s clear that there need to be sound, measured solutions that universally apply, help aid election operations, while ensuring election integrity.
Enacting Voter ID in every state is one such solution.
Even if you have differences on other issues related to election integrity, this writer believes most of us can agree that common-sense, widely-supported measures like this help restore our democracy.
Lastly, if you are part of the 80% of Americans who support Voter ID laws, then it’s important to also note that the type of election that occurs is also important to factor to consider as well.
John Pudner is president of Takebackaction.org, a nonprofit home for Americans seeking true political reform. The organization's conservative solutions include: working for voter integrity through steps like voter ID; stopping illicit foreign money via groups from impacting elections; and supporting innovations like Instant Runoff/Final-Five voting to take away the opposition's incentive to fund spoiler libertarian or pro-life candidates, that often allow progressive candidates to win with less than 50% of the vote. Read more John Pudner Reports — Here.
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