All across the country, Republicans in state legislatures are introducing and passing extreme and anti-democratic voter suppression laws to make it more difficult for Americans to vote. These laws often (and by design) disproportionately impact people of color. According to the Brennan Center, in 2023 alone, 11 states enacted 13 restrictive laws, including efforts to restrict vote-by-mail, strict voter ID requirements, and laws that undermined voter registration drives. Overall, at least 322 restrictive bills were introduced in 45 states across the country.
And now, the GOP is taking their efforts national. House Republicans are pushing a new, horrible bill called the “American Confidence in Elections Act,” or the “ACE” Act, a bill that unsurprisingly will inspire zero confidence in our election system if it passes. The ACE Act is an anti-voter bill that will disenfranchise millions of voters and boost the influence of billionaires and corporations in our elections, and make it easier for authoritarians like Donald Trump to “audit” or otherwise challenge votes and election outcomes. That’s why we’re calling it the Big Lie Bill.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, House Republicans unveiled this legislation during a field hearing in Atlanta, proudly proclaiming that the bill was modeled after SB202, Georgia’s incredibly harmful voter suppression bill. Republicans also chose Georgia because of its proximity to Trump’s absurd and false claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him – you may remember Trump calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and demanding he “find” 11,000 votes so that Trump would prevail. It’s clear that the ACE Act has nothing to do with election integrity or voter confidence, and everything to do with helping Trump and other MAGA candidates get elected no matter what.
The “American Confidence in Elections Act” would do nothing to inspire confidence in our elections
There are a number of bills – introduced by Democrats – that would actually improve voter confidence. Bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, which would restrict dark money in our elections, make Election Day a national holiday, improve vote-by-mail access, ban partisan gerrymandering, and a whole lot more.
By contrast, Republicans are pushing the ACE Act, which would do nothing to improve the integrity of our elections or our ability to participate in them, and would in fact inspire more conspiracy theories and further distrust. Here’s just a sampling of what’s in it:
- Designates federal funding for more phony election “audits”
- Significantly restricts the ability to vote by mail, even in states that exclusively use this voting method
- Expands corporate influence over our elections by raising contribution limits, rolling back disclosure requirements, and decreasing transparency in political donations
- Repeals President Biden’s executive order aimed at improving voter registration efforts by preventing federal agencies from promoting or helping Americans to register to vote
- Makes voting more difficult for those who are elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to drop off their own ballots by prohibiting family members or others from dropping off their ballots instead
- Repeals efforts to fight disinformation during elections
We need to fight back – by defeating this bill and supporting real democracy reforms
The House is expected to vote on the ACE Act before the August recess. We don’t have time to waste. Call your representative now and urge them to vote NO on this anti-voter, anti-democracy, Big Lie bill.