A roll of "I voted" stickers is ready for voters at Union Congregational Church in Green Bay during the spring primary election Feb. 15, 2022. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — There’s concern from both political parties after President Donald Trump called this week for the nationalizing of American elections.
Trump made the comment originally while on a podcast, then addressed it again at the White House.
“These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over,” Trump stated.
“But the Constitution says it should be states that administer elections, Mr. President. That’s what the Constitution says,” responded CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.
“You know what? They can administer the election, but they have to do so honestly,” Trump replied.
The U.S. Constitution, since its creation, has granted that elections are to be administered by the states.
“I think the states should never be giving up any of their authority to the federal government. That’s a blanket statement. And for that purpose alone, the state of Wisconsin and other states, they should be protecting what is theirs,” says State Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard.
A Wisconsin lawmaker on the other side of the aisle also opposes nationalizing elections.
“My initial reaction is, the man who attempted to overthrow the results of the 2020 election is asking for the federal government — that is now violating constitutional rights — to then be in charge of our elections, as we head into a mid-term and where his political party is deeply unpopular. That is alarming and concerning at best, and should be unacceptable at worst,” says State Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner, D-Green Bay.
The only way to change what is written in the Constitution is through a constitutional amendment, which requires approval from a majority of Congress or approval by three-fourths of the states.
Some Wisconsin Republicans are stopping just short of agreeing with Trump, but say there should be changes to American elections.
“We have a big problem. For example, the state of Washington, they just mail ballots to everyone. You know, it’s an invitation to cheating. I think it’s something they are considering doing in other states. I think Nevada,” says Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Republican who represents part of the Fox Valley, as well as the Lakeshore. “It’s hard to have confidence in national elections when you do have states just mailing out ballots to anybody, so I certainly sympathize with President Trump.”
“Election integrity is a major problem in this country, and the president is frustrated, and he should be. I am frustrated as well. I think you should have to show ID to vote. That’s why the SAVE Act ought to be passed in the Senate,” adds Rep. Tony Wied, a fellow Republican who represents Green Bay and Northeast Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin offered this statement in response to Trump’s comments:
Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy, and our state has a proud tradition of running them safely that makes sure Wisconsinites voices are heard. What Donald Trump is talking about is very plainly unconstitutional and downright scary. He is openly talking about tilting the scales and rigging a future election – and we all have to stand up to this attack on Americans’ fundamental rights.
Baldwin’s Republican counterpart, Sen. Ron Johnson, said in a tele-townhall this week that he’s against nationalizing elections, but he thinks the state-run election process could use some cleaning up.
“First of all, I do not want to see us nationalizing elections. I do believe it’s fitting and proper to set some basic standards for federal elections, like only citizens can vote in federal elections,” he said. “You know, we have to show ID to fly. Nobody wants your legitimate vote cancelled out by a fraudulent vote. So, that ought to be a basic national standard.”
Johnson continued, “There are other things. I think we’ve gone way too far in terms of early voting. You know, voters don’t even know some of the late breaking news in these elections. I think we need to tighten that up. We used to have Election Day. I think we need to tighten up the requirements for absentee voting. I’m opposed to mail-in balloting. You know, we just mail ballots to everybody and hope they come in. Automatic registration would be a real mistake.”
Trump’s comments come from his continued claims that he should have won the 2020 presidential election. However, no widespread voter fraud has ever been substantiated.
Rivera-Wagner reiterates that the voting systems we have in place can be trusted and should be trusted.
“To be quite clear, I trust the people of Green Bay to be able to run our local elections. These are mee-maws and pop-pops. These are people who are ensuring your eligible vote is counted. I respect them enough to believe in them, in the process that we currently have outlined, to know that they can take care of our elections,” he says. “What we don’t need is a federal government rooted in cruelty and chaos trying to take over one of the most central parts of living in this country, which is being able to vote for the candidate of your choice, and so I am alarmed and concerned that this type of rhetoric will lead to more of what we saw after the 2020 election.”
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