WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence, in his first column for The Daily Signal, argues that HR 1 will increase opportunities for election fraud, trample the First Amendment, further erode confidence in our elections, and forever dilute the votes of legally qualified eligible voters.

Pence, who served as the presiding officer at the joint session of Congress certifying the Electoral College results on Jan. 6, covers the topic of election integrity as the U.S. House prepares to consider HR 1, the misnamed For the People Act.

“HR 1 serves one goal, and one goal only: to give leftists a permanent, unfair and unconstitutional advantage in our political system,” Pence writes. “HR 1 would turn a blind eye to very real problems at the state level, exacerbate existing vulnerabilities, and further undermine the American people’s confidence in the principle of ‘one person, one vote.’”

The Daily Signal, Heritage’s multimedia news outlet, will publish Pence’s column monthly. Pence is a distinguished visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

In the column, Pence writes about the tragic events of Jan. 6 as he prepared to hear objections raised under the Electoral Count Act. He said the day’s events prevented the American people from witnessing a substantive discussion in Congress about election integrity in America. Instead, congressional Democrats have chosen to pursue an unconstitutional power grab that would undermine confidence in America’s elections.

“Having run for office at both the state and federal levels, I have concluded that the bedrock principles of free and fair elections are access, security, and the ability to engage in free and open debate,” Pence said. “HR 1 is an unconstitutional, reckless, and anti-democratic bill that would erode those foundational principles and could permanently damage our republic.”

Pence documents at length the many problems with HR 1, including the onerous burdens that candidates, civic groups, unions, nonprofit organizations, and ordinary citizens would face—simply for exercising their First Amendment rights to engage in political speech.

“Under HR 1, donations made to many private organizations would be made public, exposing millions of Americans to the radical left’s cancel culture crusade,” Pence writes.

Pence’s full Daily Signal column on HR 1 is available here.

Click here for a detailed Heritage Foundation fact sheet on HR 1.

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