“Shut up, Maudlin.”
Taylor called the development “a little more than just an ominous sign,” and said what he feared most was what “Trump’s team might try to do with the organization’s powers now that it’s leaderless.”
“The EAC holds one power that matters enormously right now. It controls the federal voter registration form,” Taylor wrote. “That should set off alarm bells.”
Taylor theorized that Trump's gutting of the EAC could serve as a "Trojan horse" to force through his push to seize control of states' voter rolls. Trump has already enacted rules compelling states to share voter roll data with the federal government by threatening to withhold federal funding, and the SAVE Act includes a provision that could force under-resourced states to hand over that data as well.
“A captured EAC could conceivably start to do the dirty work right away, under the direction of loyalists the White House plans to parachute into the commission,” Taylor wrote.
“What’s more, they could rewrite state-specific instructions on the voter forms to create registration traps and onerous requirements, confusing instructions, translation issues, and on and on. Surely, the sycophants in Trump’s orbit are thinking of other evil ways to manipulate the EAC’s powers to steer the elections in Trump’s favor.”
First, the Senate has to approve members of the EAC. That’s not going to happen before November.
Second, have you ever heard of the “federal voter registration form?” I’ve registered to vote three times in my life: once when I turned 18; when I moved to Illinois; and when I moved back to Texas. The federal registration form allows you to access state when, I guess, you don’t know how. (Of course, I also remember voter registration forms at the counter of every state, county, or city agency in Texas. Voter registration was encouraged. Democrats ran things, then. Seriously.).
If you don’t know how to register to vote in your state, how likely are you to think the federal government is the place to try? Considering America’s low voter registration rate, and even lower voter turnout (especially in midterms), what kind of threat, exactly, is an eviscerated ECA? It doesn’t have a quorum, and I don’t think Trump can just toss three people on there and say: “Now you do. Get to obstructing.”
If you’re already registered to vote, this won’t affect you. If you aren’t, you probably aren’t voting in November, anyway. Or you’ll be contacted in a voter registration drive and use the applicable state form.
And as for “taking over state voter rolls”? Still gotta go through the courts. Half a loaf in that effort is worse than useless. It’s all just a tool to scream “RIGGED!” anyway, but nobody’s listening to that false wolf story anymore. The SAVE act is not law, and isn’t going to be (and would likely be unenforceable under Purcell, which the Supremes are not going to reconvene to eviscerate before November, if it did clear the Senate.). Withholding funds is going to trigger court challenges, too. We’re not trying to outshine the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, here.
Either way, it’s good to know the sky is still falling….
