The brazen political calculus distorting our election policy debates

Voting.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

Voting rights vs. voting integrity has become one of the great debates dividing Washington and the country.

Both President Biden and Vice President Harris made pitches this week for Democrats' federal election overhaul bills during their speeches commemorating last year's attack on the Capitol, presenting the legislation as part of the same fight for democracy as ensuring the Electoral College certification proceeded undeterred by a riotous mob. Many Republicans, meanwhile, see these bills as part of a broader strategy to make permanent some of the changes to voting that took place amid the pandemic and to prevent state legislatures under GOP control from revisiting practices like mass mail-in voting or ballot collection by third parties.

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W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.