President Joe Biden’s parting gift to his replacement is a March 2021 executive order that effectively compels federal agencies to mobilize and register elements of historically Democratic voting blocs along with potentially ineligible voters.
With President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris now in a surprisingly tight race, this scheme — which critics have suggested will play out as “election interference” — could potentially hand the election over to the Democrats. After all, the leftist think tank whose recommendations ostensibly inspired Executive Order 14019 indicated that the scheme could net as many as 3 million new voter registrations a year.
While Democrat-controlled states like Michigan appear keen to take EO 14019 as far as they can, Republican-run states and states with Republican election officials have an opportunity to limit its impact.
Most Republican secretaries of state and attorneys general have spoken out about EO 14019.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for instance, blasted the EO in October 2022, stating, “It’s difficult to see how this is anything but a grotesque insult to election integrity, on top of being unconstitutional.”
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft stated, “This executive order undermines state sovereignty and threatens the integrity of our elections.”
In terms of concrete action taken by Republican AGs, however, the record is thus far somewhat mixed. While some have taken concrete steps, as we will outline below, others thus far seem to be content to rest on having issued a strongly worded letter.
There are a number of outstanding questions, even though the country goes to the polls in about three months: What have states with Republican trifectas done about the EO? In cases of states that have yet to take meaningful action, what are they planning on doing, if anything? Is it too late now to act?
Hellbound and Down 