Biden administration accused of violating the Hatch Act

  Prudent Politics:

...

The Biden administration’s initiative to boost voter registration is raising legal concerns, with experts suggesting it may violate multiple federal laws. President Joe Biden’s executive order, signed in March 2021, directs federal agencies to explore ways to promote voter registration and participation, collaborating with nonprofits in get-out-the-vote efforts.

However, the initiative’s opaque implementation process has made it difficult to ascertain its legality, according to legal experts who have been recently interviewed by reporters.

At the heart of the controversy is the Hatch Act, which restricts federal employees from engaging in political activities. Election law attorney Audrey Perry Martin indicated that the order could breach this law, depending on its execution. “If executive agencies accept volunteer services from third-party organizations with a partisan purpose to register voters, that would appear to violate the Hatch Act,” Audrey shared with the Daily Caller. The administration’s lack of transparency about the initiative’s details exacerbates concerns about potential legal violations.

The order mandates agencies to enlist “approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and State officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.” Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project suggest the initiative is a “partisan voter mobilization effort” favoring Democratic groups, citing its origins and the organizations involved in its planning.

Demos, a Left-wing think tank, advocated for a similar approach in December 2020 to enhance civic participation, especially among Black and brown Americans. The day Biden’s order was signed, Demos celebrated it as a priority for the administration and a culmination of its long-standing efforts. Many groups involved in a July 2021 listening session on the order’s implementation were members of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality, further raising concerns about partisan influences.

Perry Martin emphasized that the involvement of predominantly Left-leaning groups in implementing the order could signify Hatch Act violations if federal agency voter registration efforts appear politically motivated.

Proposals from these groups included the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) suggestion to use the Head Start program for voter registration and Demos’ proposal to leverage the Housing and Urban Development agency for the same purpose. These strategies could violate the Hatch Act if federal employees or nonprofits engage in partisan activities while assisting clients, according to Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation.

Von Spakovsky also argued that the executive order might violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits federal employees from making expenditures not authorized by Congress. “Unless Congress authorized and appropriated funds for federal employees to engage in voter registration activities, they are violating the law,” he said.
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This does look like an effort to sign up mainly Democrat voters.  Will the Biden DOJ defend the Democrat efforts?

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