Free Republic

House Republicans are demanding a probe into why federal taxpayer-funded election grants were given to politically connected Democratic operatives during the 2020 cycle. GOP lawmakers on the House Oversight and Reform Committee plan to send a letter on Friday to the inspector general of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) requesting the probe. The EAC is a nonpartisan federal agency which helps states administer elections.... ...Of the $400 million, so far only $326 million has been accounted for by the EAC. Furthermore, the Government Accountability Office estimates there are questions raised regarding at least 20% of the grants disbursed....

In recent closed meetings the government’s Election Assistance Commission (EAC) eliminated the requirement that banned voting machines from connecting to the Internet. The AP reported (emphasis added): Key elements of the first federal technology standards for voting equipment in 15 years should be scrapped because language that would have banned the devices from connecting to the internet was dropped after private meetings held with manufacturers, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday. The lawsuit against the U.S. Election Assistance Commission [EAC], filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., claims those meetings should have been open and that changes to...

An understaffed tiny federal agency and 2 private testing labs responsible for certification of nation's voting systems The fallout of the Nov. 3 elections has put the spotlight on the integrity of electronic voting machines used in the United States. In response, authorities have pointed to certifications of the machines as a safeguard against potential systemic problems with the voting machines and their software. A deeper look into the certification process used for the machines, however, reveals that the main certification agency in the United States, the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC), maintains an unexpectedly small staff, and one of...

A team of election security experts used a “Google for servers” to challenge claims that voting machines do not connect to the internet and found some did. It was an assurance designed to bolster public confidence in the way America votes: Voting machines “are not connected to the internet.” Then Acting Undersecretary for Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security Jeanette Manfra said those words in 2017, testifying before Congress while she was responsible for the security of the nation’s voting system. So many government officials like Manfra have said the same thing over the last few years...

The federal Justice Department has refused to support a U.S. elections official who sided with Kansas, Alabama and Georgia in a fight over whether voters should have to show proof of citizenship when registering using a national form. The government conceded in a court filing that the executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and his agency cannot win the lawsuit on its merits because he never determined, as required by the National Voter Registration Act, that the documents were "necessary" to determine the eligibility of voters. Residents of other states only need to swear that they are citizens,...

"Inconceivable." "This is the first time in 14 years I've seen this." Those were some of federal district Judge Leon's comments regarding what the Department of Justice asked for in court today, as part of an important case that could impact the integrity of the 2016 election. The DOJ sought to not fight a lawsuit against the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC), conceding to a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction filed by the League of Women voters and other activist groups. The EAC had decided to allow Kansas, Arizona, Georgia, and other states "to enforce state laws ensuring...

Several well-funded organizations -- including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP -- are fighting efforts to prevent non-citizens from voting illegally in the upcoming presidential election. And the United States Department of Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is helping them. On February 12, these groups filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court seeking to reverse a recent decision by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The Commission's decision allows Kansas and other states, including Arizona and Georgia, to enforce state laws ensuring that only citizens register to vote when they use a federally designed...

U.S. Election Comm. Quietly Lets States Verify U.S. CitizenshipRecognizing that voter identification is not sufficient, the government agency created by Congress to oversee the administration of elections has quietly reversed itself to allow states to verify U.S. citizenship before permitting voters to register. It's a crucial issue that's left the voter ID argument in the dust considering it's been proven that identification measures aren't enough to keep illegal immigrants from voting in U.S. elections. Regardless, liberals and Democrats in Congress assert that requiring voters to provide a government-issued ID to vote discriminates against minorities because they are either too...

Recognizing that voter identification is not sufficient, the government agency created by Congress to oversee the administration of elections has quietly reversed itself to allow states to verify U.S. citizenship before permitting voters to register. It's a crucial issue that's left the voter ID argument in the dust considering it's been proven that identification measures aren't enough to keep illegal immigrants from voting in U.S. elections. Regardless, liberals and Democrats in Congress assert that requiring voters to provide a government-issued ID to vote discriminates against minorities because they are either too poor or too ignorant to get one. The powerful...

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a brief self-congratulatory trip to Tripoli, Libya, in October 2011 -- with U.S. military assets lurking offshore in case they needed to rescue her -- she joked, in the presence of then-Ambassador Gene Cretz and Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, that they had not-so-long-ago been worried that the ambassador might end up the target of a murderous Libyan assault. "As Gene and Assistant Secretary Feltman and I were walking through here, they were talking about how the last time Jeff was here was when we were very worried that Gadhafi and [Libyan...

Civil rights groups on Friday appealed last week’s federal court decision that said states can require proof of citizenship on their voter registration forms — a ruling the activist groups said runs counter to Supreme Court precedent. The judge had ruled that the federal Election Assistance Commission couldn’t refuse requests by Kansas and Arizona that registration cards distributed in their states include proof of citizenship requirements. But the activists said that imposes an illegal burden on would-be voters. “The EAC has the authority to reject the states’ unproven claims and unreasonable request to require more paperwork from eligible Americans who...

A federal commission rejected three states’ requests to ask voters for proof of citizenship, issuing a complex decision Friday that said it’s up to the national government, not the states, to decide what to include on registration forms. Under the motor-voter law, federal officials distribute voter-registration forms in all of the states. Arizona, Kansas and Georgia all asked that those forms request proof of citizenship, but the federal Election Assistance Commission rejected that in a 46-page ruling. The EAC said states can check driver’s license databases or ask federal immigration authorities for information, but they cannot tell the federal government...

This latest scandal involving ugly discrimination against a dedicated member of the military is just another outrageous example of why Congress should shut down the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Rep. Greg Harper (R-Miss.) has introduced a bill to eliminate one of the least known and most useless agencies in Washington: the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The fact that this supposedly temporary $18 million-a-year agency is apparently on the hook to pay damages for refusing to hire a military veteran provides another sound reason for shutting it down. This is the second time in less than two years that the...

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Justice Department gave a group called the New York Agency for Community Affairs a grant of $135,130 in fiscal year 2005 to “provide youth leadership training to students at select New York City schools, form ‘ACORN Youth Union’ chapters, and coordinate student campaigns to address issues such as school funding, neighborhood safety, and school governance,” according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week. The GAO report says that in fiscal years 2005 through 2009 the federal government gave ACORN and what the GAO calls “potentially related organizations” more than $40 million in federal funds.  According...

Van Jones, President Obama's former "green jobs" czar and newly appointed Princeton lecturer, has teamed up with a coalition of extremists to push an environmental activist agenda to "transform the American economy" and bring about "social change." The groups working with Jones have been described as using the tactics of guerrilla communication, agitation and disruption techniques. One organization working alongside Jones, the radical Earth First! environmentalist group, has a history of violence and sabotage. Jones spoke Monday at a Northern Arizona University event titled "Challenging America: Achieving Sustainability and Justice Through the Green Collar Economy." He spoke with Billy Parish,...

If the 2000 election is remembered for Florida's infamous butterfly ballot, 2004 will be known as the year when many Americans cast their first electronic votes.

Back in the depression era, FDR claimed that he could get the nation's economy moving again if only he had extended powers over farming, business and industry, like his buddy Stalin had. To that end, the Roosevelt administration designed a complete regulatory bureaucracy, with each agency to be controlled by little politburos and the politburos, in turn, overseen by a dictator in the White House. The problem was, the whole scheme was totally and completely unconstitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court told the administration exactly that. So, FDR attacked the U.S. Supreme Court, threatening court packing and other unheard of...

In the July 19 issue of "Newsweek" Michael Isikoff writes: "American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call 'alarming' intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack."(1) That report was surprising enough that even Senator John Kerry interrupted his foolishness on the campaign trail to go get himself updated with a national security briefing he hadn't taken time for in previous weeks. As Isikoff reported: "The prospect that Al Qaeda might seek to disrupt the...