OPINION:
Is voter registration emerging as a grave threat to democracy? This could actually be one of the left’s next arguments.
From its formal founding in 1828 until at least 1844, the Democratic Party referred to itself as “the democracy.” In recent years, the party — as well as several left-leaning organizations and much of the mainstream media — seems to have taken up the mantle again, repeatedly claiming democracy itself is on the ballot if the other side wins.
That’s why — in theory — it was a little surprising last week when a leaked confidential memo among Democrats warned that maybe registering voters isn’t a good idea because it might help former President Donald Trump.
To be clear, any political party has the First Amendment right to act within legal means to advance the interests of its candidates, policies and voters, and win elections. So, to start with, there was never anything wrong with Democrats aggressively registering voters — even “blindly” registering voters — if party organizers considered that a way to win.
But for years — arguably since 1828 — Democratic leaders insist they are the party defending democracy. More recently, Democrats have claimed they are defending voting rights from voter ID laws.
As I note in my book “The Myth of Voter Suppression,” voter ID laws and updating voter registration lists are broadly popular across racial and party demographics, and as a bonus, have had a net positive effect on voter turnout.
You can also be certain if a leaked Republican Party memo suggested that maybe registering voters is a bad idea, Democrats in Congress and much of the media would call it voter suppression, and President Biden would likely call it “Jim Eagle.”
Aaron Strauss, a data scientist who helps direct progressive spending at the firm OpenLabs, sent about a dozen major Democratic donors a confidential memo in January that says, “Indeed, if we were to blindly register nonvoters and get them on the rolls, we would be distinctly aiding Trump’s quest.”
Since first going to big donors, the memo has been circulated widely in Democratic circles, according to The Washington Post.
For context, Mr. Trump leads Mr. Biden by double digits among voters who didn’t vote in 2020, according to New York Times Siena College polling, while about one-third of those who didn’t vote last time would be new registrants this year. Also, Democrats previously had a double-digit lead among people who were not yet registered to vote.
This also occurs as Mr. Trump’s polling appears to be improving among traditionally reliable Democratic voters.
The Biden administration has through an executive order directed federal agencies to work with left-leaning groups such as Demos, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union to boost voting. Pennsylvania state lawmakers are challenging the constitutionality of the executive order. If — as the lawsuit alleges — the executive order is aimed at partisan gain, this internal memo suggests it’s a strategy that could backfire.
In theory, self-professed pro-democracy, voting rights organizations shouldn’t care what candidate voter registration campaigns help or hurt, just as long as people are voting. In theory, the self-proclaimed party of democracy wouldn’t even care.
Of course, these voter registration efforts usually haven’t been nonpartisan, and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that. That’s politics. But it has been too cute by a mile to claim their highest goal is preserving democracy.
Activist groups on the left that claim to be saving democracy already tried and failed to kick Mr. Trump off the ballot, after a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling. The left has had more recent success in going after the No Labels party, which announced it was bailing out on its effort to have a centrist unity ticket for the 2024 election.
The next goal is going after the “dangerous” presidential candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which the far-left Move On, and left-of-center Third Way announced it is targeting, having pushed No Labels out of the way.
Other than opposing ballot access for opponents, the left attacks voter ID and updated voter lists — when there’s really nothing more pro-democracy than election integrity.
So, it should come as no surprise that the left might be close to declaring voter registration drives a threat to democracy if such drives could lead to an undesirable election result.
• Fred Lucas, author of “The Myth of Voter Suppression,” is a writer for The Daily Signal, a media outlet of The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation is listed for identification purposes only; no endorsement of a candidate by the organization is implied.
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