“(iii) the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the DOGE Administrator, shall review each State’s publicly available voter registration list and available records concerning voter list maintenance activities”

  • partial_accumen
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    4 days ago

    I made these comments as I was reading the Executive Order. If you skip the rest of my post, at least scroll down to the last quoted section. If my reading is right, it could have huge implications. However, IANAL.

    Federal law, 52 U.S.C. 30121, prohibits foreign nationals from participating in Federal, State, or local elections by making any contributions or expenditures. But foreign nationals and non-governmental organizations have taken advantage of loopholes in the law’s interpretation, spending millions of dollars through conduit contributions and ballot-initiative-related expenditures. This type of foreign interference in our election process undermines the franchise and the right of American citizens to govern their Republic.

    Looks like this follows the rule of “Every GOP accusation is projection”.

    (d) The head of each Federal voter registration executive department or agency (agency) under the National Voter Registration Act, 52 U.S.C. 20506(a), shall assess citizenship prior to providing a Federal voter registration form to enrollees of public assistance programs.

    This one is weird. Is this saying that those on public assistance programs get extra scrutiny if they’ll be allowed to vote?

    (ii) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Election Assistance Commission shall take appropriate action to review and, if appropriate, re-certify voting systems under the new standards established under subsection (b)(i) of this section, and to rescind all previous certifications of voting equipment based on prior standards.

    This one is divorced from reality. 180 days to make voting equipment comply with these new rules? Many voting districts are using older equipment because their limited funds. For any of the software based machines, 180 days barely defines the project requirements and assembles a team, much less the needed onboarding and execution of the change. What about mechanical voting machines? These could take years to design changes and implement them. The consequence if the machines (electronic or otherwise) aren’t updated? " and to rescind all previous certifications of voting equipment based on prior standard". Those machines are no longer eligible to be used in elections.

    Sec. 8. Preventing Foreign Interference and Unlawful Use of Federal Funds. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall prioritize enforcement of 52 U.S.C. 30121 and other appropriate laws to prevent foreign nationals from contributing or donating in United States elections. The Attorney General shall likewise prioritize enforcement of 31 U.S.C. 1352, which prohibits lobbying by organizations or entities that have received any Federal funds.

    Woah! Talk about burying the lede. Receive federal funds and you lose your right to lobby or contribute to any political campaign? Wouldn’t that include every Fortune 1000 company, Elon Musk, and every single person that has received PPA loans or even FEMA relief?!

    • sporkler
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      4 days ago

      I would suspect that if the specially selected voting machine certification team doesn’t certify the equipment within 180 days there will be no valid way to collect votes from those districts. Too bad they only have time to certify the machines in ‘certain areas’

      Source: paranoia

    • dogslayeggsOP
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      3 days ago

      The Attorney General shall likewise prioritize enforcement of 31 U.S.C. 1352, which prohibits lobbying by organizations or entities that have received any Federal funds.

      This is a WILD interpretation of 31 U.S.C. 1352 by whomever wrote this report. 31 U.S.C. 1352 is about using federal funds to influence contracting, not lobbying.

      Here is the text: (1) None of the funds appropriated by any Act may be expended by the recipient of a Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement to pay any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with any Federal action described in paragraph (2) of this subsection.

      (2) The prohibition in paragraph (1) of this subsection applies with respect to the following Federal actions:

      (A) The awarding of any Federal contract.

      (B) The making of any Federal grant.

      © The making of any Federal loan.

      (D) The entering into of any cooperative agreement.

      (E) The extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.