Democratic proposals to broaden ranked-choice voting and reduce the strictness of identification requirements are awaiting action on Governor Youngkin’s desk

Disenfranchisement via Ranked-Choice Voting

In recent years, Democrats, center-left activists, and establishment ​Republicans have increased their push across ​the nation for a ⁣ballot-counting scheme called⁣ ranked-choice⁣ voting (RCV).‍ It is a purposeful push, ⁢since RCV systemically favors left-leaning candidates and harms conservatives—even in cases when a majority​ of voters actually vote for conservatives.

With ranked-choice⁢ voting, as The⁢ Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood explained, “voters rank candidates in order ​of preference. If no candidate receives a ​majority of votes in the first ‍round, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his voters are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. The process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.” RCV ⁢has been pushed since the ’90s by leftist groups such as FairVote, which⁢ also​ seeks to abolish the Electoral College and replace it ⁤with a straight popular vote scheme.

Virginia SB428 ‌would potentially disenfranchise voters by allowing⁤ RCV to be adopted in elections for “any local or constitutional office.” The voting method not only enables candidates to win elections, even if they did not⁣ receive the most votes in the first tally of ballots, ‍but it also creates the opportunity for ballot exhaustion, which happens when a voter only ranks one‍ candidate on his ballot and that candidate is eliminated in the tally.

Potential Disenfranchisement via Noncitizen⁢ Voting

Virginia HB1454, SB246, and HB26 all risk disenfranchising citizens by making ⁤it more difficult to stop noncitizen voting. Thanks to ⁣the Biden administration’s ⁣open border free-for-all, millions of illegal aliens have been added to the tens of millions ⁤of noncitizens already present in‍ the ‍United States. Regardless of legal status, it is a crime for ⁤any noncitizen⁢ to vote ‌in ⁤a U.S. federal election. Even a single noncitizen vote disenfranchises all Americans by diluting their votes.

HB1454 and its companion bill⁢ SB246 would remove restrictions currently placed on the backs of the state-issued drivers’ privilege cards ‌that Virginia allows “individuals who are non-U.S.‍ citizens and cannot meet Virginia’s legal presence requirements”—i.e., illegal aliens—to⁣ obtain.

Virginia law currently mandates that “the front of a driver privilege card or permit shall be identical in appearance to a driver’s license or permit that is not a ​REAL ID credential and the back of the card or permit shall be identical in appearance to the⁢ restriction on the back of a limited-duration license, permit, or special identification card.” But these bills would⁢ remove the statutory requirement about the back of the cards, simply stating that the fronts of such driver privilege cards must​ match “a driver’s license⁢ or permit that is ⁢not a REAL ID credential.” The bills also direct the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to extend the validity of ⁤these limited-duration cards (currently two years ​or‌ less) ⁢to up to eight years.

HB26 invites voter fraud, including from‍ noncitizen‌ voting, by adding difficult-to-verify IDs from nongovernmental sources ​as valid identification to be‌ able to vote. Unless Youngkin vetoes the bill, it‌ will ​allow voters to provide ⁣“any valid identification card containing a​ photograph of the voter ​and issued​ by any private entity that⁣ is licensed or certified, in⁣ whole or in part, by” a state health or⁢ social service agency.

The people of Virginia, like all U.S. citizens, have a right to fair and honest‌ elections. Fair and honest ⁤elections cannot exist when⁢ any noncitizen or other ⁢ineligible voter casts a ballot ⁢that‌ is then counted, or ⁤when the method of tabulating the ballots overrides⁣ the will of the voters.

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