For the Republic, Securing Risks to Our Consent

Are today's election processes any way to confer (or withdraw) our consent?

The founding fathers knew the scale of the risks they were taking in approving the Declaration of Independence to launch this Constitutional Republic, the United States of America.

At the time 250 years ago, ruthless tyrants, kings, warlords, and chieftains still ruled the world as the American Revolution against the British monarchy began to unfold.

“It was not puffed-up rhetoric for them to pledge to each other ‘our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor,’ wrote journalist and historian Theodore White of the founding fathers:

Unless their ‘United States of America’ won the war, the Congressman would be judged traitors as relentlessly as would the irregulars-under-arms in the field. And we all knew what English law allowed in the case of a traitor. The victim could be partly strangled; drawn, or disemboweled, while still alive, his entrails then burned and his body quartered.

These were very tough men fighting for an unheard-of idea of self-governance, as laid out by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, approved by the Continental Congress on July 4^th, 1776:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to [effect] their Safety and Happiness.”

And here we are on this great anniversary, after years of struggle to perfect the union, and secure human liberty, looking over the state of our nation’s elections, asking: are these processes any way to confer (or withdraw) our consent?

We see state governments of one party fighting to keep voter rolls from law enforcement review, telling us to trust them anyway.

When we see basic voter-list data, such as full dates of birth in registration lists, increasingly removed from public scrutiny by state legislatures — in violation, even defiance, of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) — the cause for securing our consent becomes even more critical.

It is up to us to secure it.

That the Supreme Court just agreed with states that allow ballots to arrive after Election Day, by using a fungible Election Day “post-mark,” is a blow to election-security efforts to standardize a nationwide process for mail-in ballots.

The fight to improve this goes on.

This is the shared mission of EPEC Team and many coalitions with which we align our efforts, as well as supporters, partners, donors, volunteers, advisors, and directors.

All give of their time, their skills, and treasure to a cause of securing our consent that only grows more critical in this digital era.

Together, we call out and fix corrupted election systems. We celebrate improvements and best practices, too. EPEC Team has played a role in many improvements since we began this journey as a nonprofit devoted to voter participation and education. All because we stay involved in the work.

We also recognize that many citizens have withdrawn from participation over their frustration with political leaders’ lack of interest in securing our elections with requirements as basic as proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote.

We understand the frustration.

Americans are required to show ID and prove legal presence (yes, their citizenship) in practically every sphere of life – work, travel, driving privileges, securing government benefits; yet we see political activists and partisans fighting to thwart citizenship verification for voter registration and proof of identity.

Washington’s Warning

In his farewell address as he left office as our first president, George Washington warned of factionalism that a political party system could bring to America.

Rejecting a third term in office, wary of any monarchical overtones in the new republic, Washington urged Americans to subordinate “sectional jealousies to common national interests,” and to guard against the “strife of political factions” to preserve “religion and morality as the great pillars of human happiness.”

Today, that’s what we have, an adversarial system of elections that must be observed, and checked. That’s why we want to bring back into these efforts any citizens who may have “checked out.”

It is up to us, as citizens of the republic, to stay engaged in the oversight, trust and verification of election systems. It needs everyday Americans to be a part of it, and it must be a year-round effort.

If the balloting process is the conduit of our consent, the way we ensure that this unique experiment in self-government “of the people, by the people, for the people” shall not perish from this earth, as Abraham Lincoln noted in his Gettysburg Address to commemorate the Civil War dead, then we must see all of the evidence and verify.

That means confirming that voter lists are maintained to accuracy, that election systems are secure for casting ballots, and election departments are maintaining neutrality, even checking any rogue actors and processes that distort lawful balloting.

We will keep at it, because our citizenship in this great republic is worth the work. We thank our many partners in this journey.

May you, family, and friends enjoy the celebrations of the amazing freedoms we enjoy and are committed to preserving.

From EPEC Team: Happy 250^th Anniversary, America!