I posted this on X, but wanted to submit it here as well.
I realized something. @realDonaldJTrump can implement nationwide voting for federal elections with:
- paper ballots, hand counted in public,
- voted in person on a single day,
- requiring photo ID
- voter rolls completely clear of invalid registrations (moved, dead, noncitizens, commercial addresses, etc.)
… and not have to enact a single law to do so. Here’s how.
After the electoral college meets and compiles all the votes, they’re counted in the Senate. Once that’s done, they ask for objections. And as long as one fifth of both chambers of Congress agree to object, the objection is put to a vote in both the House and Senate.
Republicans (should) control both houses. So they should simply state, as a matter of policy, that they will object to any Electoral College votes that do not meet the above standard. Since they (should) have majorities in both chambers, they can essentially block any state from contributing Electoral College votes for the Presidency that do not meet the above standards.
Which leaves races for the House and Senate, of course. Both chambers of Congress have to seat a duly elected Representative or Senator, but can expel them by a 2/3 majority. Again, simply have the Republicans state as a matter of policy that they will immediately seek to expel any Senator or Representative that was elected by a process that does not meet the above standard. Furthermore, state that they will not allow any Senator or Representative elected in a manner that doesn’t meet the above standards to serve on any committees whatsoever.
If the Democrats want to have any relevancy or power in either chamber, they’ll have to play ball. And since (as far as I know) there’s no need to pass any laws to put the above in place, it can be “policy” before the 2022 elections are held.
The key, of course, is cleaning up the election rolls.
Were I the incoming President and his cabinet, I’d simply privately fund a group to go through all the voter rolls in every state. There’s a number of citizen led efforts to identify invalid registrations, so all they need to do is put out the call to submit those lists to that official transition team group. Several of those groups are looking at people who have moved or passed away, some are looking at invalid addresses or commercial addresses. Some have identified places like homeless shelters and NGOs (including those involved in supporting mass illegal immigration) that have massive numbers of voter registrations, so that should give us a quick 80% solution or better. Then, on January 20, immediately order DHS to validate citizenship of all voters on all state voting rolls. Once we’ve got a pretty solid list together, sue the crap out of every state and local election office to remove each and every invalid voter registration. Refuse to count electoral votes from any state or county that does not clean up their voter rolls to the satisfaction of the administration.
And, of course, if any of the voters who were identified as invalid registrations voted in the last election, well… Trump did promise to prosecute any voter fraud to the maximum extent of the law. And if the number of invalid registrations may be high enough to affect the results of the last election, Trump could easily call on Congress to expel any member (or ask them to step down) seated in an election that might have been tainted by invalid registrations greater than the margin of victory. Force those seats to be run again before any Representative or Senator be allowed to sit in Congress.