Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to congressional lawmakers saying members can vote absentee on matters before the House because — get this — of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And so it begins. COVID. It’s the gift to leftists that keeps on giving.
Democrats will do whatever it takes to circumvent constitutional principles and laws and orders, especially if doing so chips off the election block. Democrats love absentee voting; it gives them an open door to fraud — that is to say, their best chances of winning votes.
Here’s Pelosi on the pandemic perils: “In light of the attached notification by the Sergeant-at-Arms, in consultation with the Office of Attending Physician, that a public health emergency is in effect due to a novel coronavirus, I am hereby extending the ‘covered period’” that allows remote voting, The Hill reported.
Pelosi has used the coronavirus as cause to call for absentee voting for House colleagues since May, 2020. Prior, legislators could vote by proxy in committees, but not on the full floor. In fact, in the 232-year-plus history of the House, members have never been able to take full floor votes on pieces of legislation and resolutions except when physically present.
There’s a reason for that.
The Constitution stipulates for both House and Senate that a majority of members must be present — enough to establish a quorum — in order to pass legislation. In addition, both House and Senate leaders have established rules requiring members, in most all circumstances, to be present for votes.
COVID changed all that.
COVID gave Democrats the excuse they needed to call for remote voting. And since, every 45 days, the proxy voting allowance in the House has to be reconsidered, reevaluated, renewed or rejected.
Pelosi has chosen to renew it. Why?
The coronavirus is a health threat, she says.
People could die, she suggests.
That, even as the Capitol has put the halt on most of its other coronavirus-tied restrictions, including face mask mandates.
The fact is Pelosi is using the coronavirus to continue a Democrat ploy to change the shape of America’s electoral system. Instead of Election Day, there’ll be Election Week — Election Month, even. Instead of limited exemptions for in-person voting, off-site voting will be the norm — absentee, mail-in balloting will be the norm. Instead of polling places that are secure, guarded by security, watched and scrutinized by trained election personnel, drop-boxes on street corners — eventually — will become the way of the vote. And ballot counters? Who cares; by then, voting will become something of such distrust and mistrust and suspicion, most voters won’t even bother.
If the coronavirus were still a threat, perhaps Pelosi could make a case for proxy voting. But it’s not, and she can’t, so it’s evident something else is going on, something else is at play. And that something else is obvious: Pelosi is using a bogus threat to beat a rife-with-fraud absentee balloting drum.
Just in time for the midterms the Democrats are predicted by almost all polling to lose.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
