BATON ROUGE, LA – Jeff Landry is leading a 13-state coalition calling for Joe Biden to rescind his Executive Order 14019 which authorizes the executive branch to utilize all federal executive agencies’ power, resources, and reach to carry out voter registration and voter mobilization activities. The Landry coalition’s opposition is based in law, noting that the U.S. Constitution does not provide this power to the executive branch and arguing that this responsibility falls on state legislatures.
“The government’s job is to provide an equal opportunity for all eligible citizens to exercise their right to vote, ensure that every legal vote is counted, and keep the process transparent and secure,” said Landry. “It is not the government’s job to entice people to vote.”
In their letter to Biden, Landry and his attorney general colleagues explain that regulating the registration process has been a state legislative function and that Biden’s plan attempts to grant political appointees who lead the hundreds of federal agencies with offices across the country the power to intervene in elections in unprecedented ways.
What’s more: the letter highlights the real concern of third-party organizations improperly injecting themselves into the election process by using Biden’s Executive Order to circumvent state election laws. These federally-backed third-party organizations may create the appearance of corruption, thus undermining the integrity and public trust in elections.
Landry, who fought successfully against this in the 2020 election cycle when the Center for Tech and Civil Life tried to inject private funds into the Louisiana election system, added: “Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the Executive Order is its command for federal agencies to support ‘approved’ third-party organizations as they conduct voter registration efforts by allowing them to do so on federal agency premises in states across the country.”
“The Executive Order provides no details as to which groups will be approved, who will approve them, and what criteria will be used for approval,” continued Landry. “Obviously, there is a legitimate concern that only those groups aligned with the political party of the current administration, Joe Biden’s political party, will receive approval and be granted this unprecedented support and access.”
“The Executive Order appears to create a get-out-the-vote campaign that benefits one party over the other,” concluded Landry. “I am proud to stand with my fellow attorneys general for election integrity and against this unethical, illegal, and unconstitutional Executive Order. We must protect our election system to ensure fair and transparent elections, untainted by undue influence.”
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Joining Jeff Landry in the letter are the attorneys general from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
