Republicans Break With Trump Over Proposal To Nationalize Elections

A growing number of Republicans are breaking ranks with President Trump over his calls for the party to nationalize America’s voting system.Senate Majority Leader John Thune became the latest to push back on Mr. Trump’s suggestion, telling a reporter that he is “not in favor of federalizing elections,” calling it “a constitutional issue.”“I’m a big believer in decentralized and distributed power. And I think it’s harder to hack 50 election systems than it is to hack one,” the South Dakota Republican said on Tuesday. “In my view, at least, that’s always a system that has worked pretty well.”Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin offered a similar stance on Tuesday: “I do not want to see us nationalizing elections.” He added, however, that he supports “basic standards for federal elections,” like ensuring that “only citizens can vote” and making voter ID a “basic national standard.”Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky weighed in the same day, arguing that the president’s proposal is unconstitutional. “That’s not what the Constitution says about elections,” Mr. Paul said during an interview on Tuesday. He added that “the time, place and manner of elections” is “a state activity” and that “I’m not for nationalizing it.”Mr. Trump ignited the debate on Monday during a podcast episode with a former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, calling for Republican officials to “take over” voting procedures in more than a dozen states.“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places,” Mr. Trump said. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”Putting elections under congressional control would likely require a constitutional amendment. Article I of the Constitution states that “the times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”The clause has been interpreted as granting states primary authority over election administration while providing Congress with limited regulatory power. Currently there are more than 10,000 election administration jurisdictions across the country, with each state maintaining its own voting procedures.Mr. Trump has long expressed interest in overhauling the country’s election system, frequently citing his unproven claim that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election against President Biden.House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed Mr. Trump’s concerns on Tuesday, stating that “It’s always been the responsibility of the states to administer elections, and it’s a system that works well” but that “we have real concerns about some of the blue states, frankly, that have not been doing that well.” While Mr. Johnson stopped short of endorsing the president’s proposal, he suggested Mr. Trump was “expressing that frustration” and that “We’re looking for solutions.”Later in the day, Mr. Johnson echoed Mr. Trump’s election tampering allegations, suggesting voter fraud might have occurred in recent congressional elections, though he acknowledged having no evidence to support his claims.“We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on Election Day in the last election cycle, and every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost,” Mr. Johnson said. “It looks, on its face, to be fraudulent. Can I prove that? No, because it happened so far upstream. But we need more confidence in the American people in the election system, and it’s essential. And everybody, no matter what party you’re in, should agree with that.”Mr. Johnson is championing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require individuals to provide proof of American citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. A recent survey from the Pew Research Center found that 83 percent of Americans favor ID requirements for voting.

Republicans Break With Trump Over Proposal To Nationalize Elections

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