Confidence in American elections is at an all-time low. Nancy Pelosi's 2019 H.R.1, which has been under consideration for almost two years now, paves the way for the majority of power over election laws to shift from the state level into the hands of the federal government, essentially making legal many of the questionable practices put in place during the 2020 election.
Adam Brandon, President of the grassroots community Freedomworks, recently announced that Cleta Mitchell will chair the new multi-million dollar National Election Protection Initiative organized by Brandon, who hopes to leverage his group's influence to help salvage election integrity. Mitchell is a well known conservative attorney who took part in former President Trump's now-infamous January phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger concerning election integrity and transparency. Announced in an exclusive interview on Newsmax, Mitchell said in a statement:
"In my work as an election law attorney, a candidate, an officeholder, and an election volunteer over many years, I have seen firsthand the need for election laws and procedures that protect the integrity of every vote and voter, and the damage done to our country by violations of the duly enacted election laws of the state. What is urgently needed today is the involvement by conservative and patriotic Americans in the election process at the local and state levels, challenging the vast resources of the leftist groups who have dominated election activism for too long."
Brandon, who also hosts Newsmax TV's Save the Nation Sunday morning show, indicated that the initiative would serve as "a counterweight to the Biden administration's efforts to collectivize the United States." Inspired with the choice of Mitchell, he added:
"I cannot think of a better person to spearhead this initiative than Cleta Mitchell, who has been an outspoken advocate and voice of reason for improved election laws, especially during the chaotic 2020 election cycle. We are delighted to now be working with her in an expanded capacity and look forward to kicking off this new project with her as our guide."
Mitchell will lead a program concentrated on election integrity education, training, and deployment. The program will also include registering voters, recruiting and training local activists, working as election officials, monitoring election procedures, and identifying needed changes and reforms in election administration and law.
Freedomworks' mission is “is to build, educate, and mobilize the largest network of activists advocating the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty, and the rule of law.”
Brandon noted that "the integrity of our elections are the bedrock of our Republic and confidence in these institutions is on the decline." The organization conducted a Feb. 12-15 nationwide poll of 1,000 registered voters and found that:
- 79% support a photo ID requirement for voting.
- 72% support mandates for states to clean their voter rolls within 6 months before an election.
- 65% support making Election Day a federal holiday to re-establish in-person voting.
- 48% do not think every registered voter should automatically receive a mail-in ballot.
- 38% strongly oppose the government providing candidates with an additional $6 for every $1 in small-dollar donations raised by certain candidates, as proposed in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's H.R. 1 election bill.
Also, according to the poll, Democrat efforts to "reduce Election Day, expand no-excuse absentee balloting, and federalize elections have led to alarming support for the following" Poll results revealed:
- 43% believe the federal government should set election laws for all states.
- 49% believe states should require at least 15 days of early voting.
- 56% believe the federal government should require same-day voter registration.
Freedomworks declared, "These strongly held views of the American people are completely ignored by Speaker Pelosi's partisan H.R. 1 legislation just passed by the Democrats in the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening, a bill that FreedomWorks vigorously opposes." Discussing further these findings, the non-profit wrote in a statement to Newsmax:
"America is experiencing a crisis of confidence in its elections. The 75 million Americans who voted for President Trump's reelection have doubts in that outcome. On the other side of the aisle, the Democratic Party spent four years spreading fringe theories about Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Election integrity is the most important issue to the conservative movement, and no organization is better equipped to fight this battle than FreedomWorks because of our grassroots community. The outcome of the 2020 presidential election and its associated legal battles underscore the need for conservatives to engage at all levels in fighting for secure elections that generate confidence.
The FreedomWorks advantage in this battle is the grassroots; as the nation's most effective multi-issue grassroots organization, we will engage and motivate our committed activists to become involved in their communities' elections process."
Remarkably, a poll by Scott Rasmussen found that in 2018, two-thirds of Democrats (64%) believe that Hillary Clinton would have won the 2016 presidential election had there not been any Russian interference.
The National Election Protection Initiative’s 6-point agenda includes:
- Identify key states and counties where election integrity has been an issue, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
- Clean up the voter rolls in those states, including mobilizing grassroots efforts on local levels to root out illegitimate voter registrations.
- Voter registration drives to maximize finding more legal voters.
- Partner with groups and movements with like-minded election integrity reform goals.
- Deliver and educate more local election officials, including poll workers and poll watchers in each of the target states over the next political cycle, ensuring accurate talking points, resources, and legal assistance.
- Lobby against federal and state legislation that threatens election integrity.
On the last essential point of importance, the program pledged:
“In addition to playing a leading defense against the Democratic power grab in Washington, we will promulgate model policies that secure America’s elections and can be replicated across different states. These include policies to repeal COVID-related election changes as the pandemic fades; policies to promote in-person voting with paper ballots; and policies to oppose same-day voter registration, automatic registration, and registration of 16-year-olds.”
