H.R. 1: A Cautionary Tale of Unintended Consequences

The 2020 elections in Connecticut provide a cautionary preview of this proposed requirement in H.R. 1 to send absentee ballot applications to every registered voter.

Experienced town clerks and registrars from 169 towns remarked that the 2020 election was like "Drinking through a fire hose." Municipal election officials were unprepared and understaffed to handle the heavy volume of unsolicited mail-in ballots.

At the national level, H.R. 1 would mandate the mailing of absentee-ballot applications to 168 million registered voters.

While the financial costs of H.R. 1 are certainly concerning and undeniable, the dangers it poses to election integrity should be front and center.

Election officials expanded convenience at the expense of election security and spent monies for short-term objectives like unsolicited mailings with poor cost-benefit results.

H.R. 1 would solidify these short-term mistakes into a law with broad long-term consequences that would increase threats to the integrity of American elections.

States have run their own elections for over 230 years - never perfectly, but certainly better than an H.R. 1 federal takeover would achieve.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/06/04/hr_1_a_cautionary_tale_of_unintended_consequences__145865.html