The Freedom to Cheat Act: The Radical Left’s Latest Attempt to Undermine Our Democracy

By Ken Blackwell

Democrats in Congress are unable to move forward on their massive spending bill because of bipartisan opposition. Polling showed President Biden’s Big Government Socialism Bill was wildly unpopular with the American people. That is no surprise when you consider it did not address any of the significant issues facing American families today like sky-high gas prices, rising food costs, spikes in violent crime, and a shortage of products because of a failing supply chain.

So, what’s next for the radical progressives in Congress? That would be pushing another wildly unwanted, unnecessary, unpopular bill.

The Left now wants a complete federal takeover of our local elections. The U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the right and responsibility to decide how they will conduct elections. After all, what works in Massachusetts, may not work in Montana, Mississippi, or Maine. However, the Left is fixated on trying to convince Americans to believe a more invasive federal government is somehow the answer to everything.

I will pose the question this way: Does it make sense to let the federal government run our state elections?  After all, this is the same incompetent federal government that botched the Afghanistan withdrawal, leaving thousands of Americans stranded. It is the same federal government that has given us gas prices 82 percent higher than last year; leaves our borders open to drug cartels, human trafficking, and child smuggling; and admits to being caught so flatfooted on dealing with COVID that it does not have enough tests, is denying therapeutics to American citizens, and has seen more deaths in 2021 than in 2020.

And this is the federal government the Left thinks should control more of our lives?!?

The Left gave this bill a disingenuous name on purpose — so that you may be fooled by what it truly does. It is called the “Freedom to Vote Act,” but when you look at what it actually does and does not do, it really should be called the “Freedom to Cheat Act.”

Here are a few reasons why.

The Freedom to Cheat Act would ban the need for voter photo identification to cast a ballot. Eighty-five percent of the American people support voter ID.

Across America, there are almost 2 million dead people still on the voting rolls. The Freedom to Cheat Act would prohibit states from cleaning their voter rolls before an election. Eighty-eight percent of the American people support cleaning voter rolls which is key to fair and honest elections.

82 percent of Americans support the commonsense reform that all ballots should be returned to election officials by Election Day, but the Left’s Freedom to Cheat Act would extend the deadline to over 2 weeks after the Election.  

Stripping away just these three provisions in our states would open our local elections to even more serious problems than we have ever faced.

Eligible and registered Americans should vote one time, their ballot should be counted only once, and that ballot should be protected from any possible tampering. The American people demand simple reforms like these at the state level, and they most certainly deserve it. One illegally cast ballot is one too many.

The Freedom to Cheat Act not only prevents states from implementing safeguards to protect voters, but it would also put federal laws on the books that leave us all exposed to fraud, abuse, and other illegalities.  

Voter ID, cleaning the voter rolls, and returning ballots to election officials on Election Day are commonsense reforms that the American people support. Many of these measures are being introduced in state legislatures across the country and would help restore faith, trust, and confidence in our election system. The Freedom to Cheat Act is a federal government takeover of our elections, and the reform-killing measures in it would throw open the doors of our elections to allow even more cheating and more fraud.

As a former Secretary of State in Ohio, I know firsthand that the federal government has no place in local elections. This latest move by the radical Left is something we should all stand up and fight against.

[Ken Blackwell serves as Chair of AFPI’s Center for Election Integrity and previously was Ohio’s Secretary of State.]