CHARLESTON – West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner says the Biden administration is trying to take over states’ voter registration processes.
After a “frustrating and convoluted” conference call last week involving the White House and secretaries of state from across the country, Warner announced April 10 he plans to “double down on his staunch opposition” to the President Joe Biden’s executive order aimed to expand access to and education about voter registration and election information.
“The White House has no authority to register West Virginia voters, and we will not accept applications illegally gathered by federal agents,” Warner said.
Pushkin
| File photo
West Virginia and Mississippi are leading this push opposing what they call “federal outreach targeting the 2024 elections.”
But the chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party says Warner is the one who is wrong here.
“As chief election officer of the state, Secretary Warner should be encouraging participation in the process, instead he’s threatening to shut out those he believes won’t vote for him,” Mike Pushkin told The West Virginia Record. “Sadly for Secretary Warner, he need not look further than Republican primary voters to find people who won’t vote for him. And THAT is what this is all about.
“It’s a desperate political ploy from a failing gubernatorial candidate to garner attention ahead of the primary. Poll after poll shows he’s trailing far behind ‘undecided’ in that race. Now he’s showing us again why he’s unfit to serve as secretary of state, much less governor.”
In March 2021, Biden signed EO 14019 which also requires every federal agency head to design plans related to voter registration, ensure access to certain incarcerated individuals in federal custody and design a ballot tracking system for absentee voters under UOCAVA.
Warner says there is no such responsibility enumerated in the U.S. Constitution, and the 10th Amendment clearly states that powers not expressly given to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states.
A year after the EO was signed, Warner led a coalition of 14 other secretaries of state calling on Biden to rescind the order they called unconstitutional.
“Article 1 Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution says the times, places, and manner of holding elections, shall be left to the state legislatures,” Warner said. “West Virginia will emphatically not give up our state’s duty to register voters in a nonpartisan manner to the federal government, nor will we accept voter registration forms collected by federal agents.
“White House overtaking of state responsibilities is something we will fight all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Warner also said the National Voter Registration Act says states – not the federal government – shall offer voter registration opportunities.
“The White House knows they are prohibited from self-assuming power over the states' voter registration processes,” Warner said. “Biden's EO is federal overreach. This executive order is nothing more than another attempt by the White House to take away states’ powers, federalize our elections and turn voter registration into a partisan activity.
“Voter registration should be an apolitical service by individual states.”
Last week, state election officials learned the White House was implementing voter registration-related policies.
“I then had the chance to ask a White House official about the plans submitted by each agency to carry out the illegal executive order,” Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said in an April 10 op-ed. “I was told those plans are not public, and they never intended for them to be public. So much for transparency.”
Warner says the White House did not consult with state election officials in the development of the policies and plans to implement the EO, nor did the White House explain the need to deploy substantial federal resources to enact their plans during a presidential election cycle.
“I take great issue with the White House in that they did not consult state election officials before ordering Federal agencies to develop and deploy plans on how to engage in voter registration activities in our respective States,” Warner said. “Now they expect us to voluntarily give up our constitutional duty to register voters in the manners that states’ legislatures prescribe.”
Warner also calls the time of the announcement “disgusting.”
“Biden issued his EO three years ago in 2021, and they have been working behind closed doors until now,” he said. “Their lack of transparency and coordination is abhorrent. Now that it is an election year, they roll out their plan to make over 600 federal agencies voter registration centers and try to do so without explanation or legal justification.
“This is Biden's attempt to improperly influence the outcome of the November General Election. The timing of the White House rollout is not coincidental. It is blatant election interference. West Virginia will not stand for this.”
Warner says the plan will “duplicate the excellent work our county clerks do on a daily basis.”
“They will also exacerbate issues like disenfranchisement, voter rolls bloated with duplicate registrations, voter confusion, delays in local processing and separation of powers,” Warner said. “Adding federal agencies to an already complex administrative process will make it even more challenging for election officials to ensure timely and accurate registration services before the election.”
