Election Reform at the State Level What Needs to Get Done T he Constitution of the United States guarantees the right of every eligible citizen to cast an equal vote to determine who will represent him or her in government. In this connection, the Heritage Foun-dation website heralds that “the right to vote in a free and fair election is the most basic civil right, one on which many other rights of the American people depend.” In like manner, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s website proclaims, “Secure elections are the cornerstone of a thriving republic” and then defines election fraud as “any attempt to subvert or manip-ulate the electoral process by illegal means.” Moreover, practices that promote the glue that binds our citizenry and casting of illegal or unreliable ballots the States in this Union.” are inherently a violation of the Four-teenth Amendment by leading to the At the core of the impact of election diminution in value of validly cast fraud in one state upon other states ballots not only in that state but also in a presidential election, the Texas in other states, as in the 2020 case of “Bill of Complaint” to the Supreme the election of the president and vice Court declares that in the 2020 presi-president of the United States. dential election, the widespread irreg-ularities and fraud in these contested It was this diminution of votes in other states worked to dilute the efficacy states in the 2020 presidential elec-of the legitimate vote in other states, tion that led to the December 7, 2020, thereby creating judicial standing for filing of the state of Texas election the citizens of the adversely impacted fraud suit in the US Supreme Court states. The Complaint says in part: against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Mich-igan, and Wisconsin. Attorney General “In a presidential election, ‘the Paxton’s brief opened with this: impact of the votes cast in each State is affected by the votes “Lawful elections are at the heart cast for the various candidates of our freedoms. [ . . . ] Trust in in other States.’ (Anderson v. the integrity of that process is the Celebrezze, 460 US 780 (1983)) continued on page 22 20 • AMAC Magazine
AMAC Magazine April 2021: Page 20
