Rep. Calvert: Supreme Court Ruling is a “Victory for Election Integrity”

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee:

"Today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme court in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee is a victory for election integrity and the rule of law. The case considered two election laws in Arizona, one banning the practice of "ballot harvesting" and another requiring voters cast ballots in their designated polling precinct if they opt to vote in-person. As Justice Alito noted in his opinion, 'the steps taken by Arizona were not taken to infringe upon the voting rights of minorities, but were reasonable steps intended to protect the integrity of elections.' I have been outspoken in expressing my concerns with ballot harvesting and urged for the practice to be banned. Justice Alito echoed my sentiment by highlighting that 'Limiting the classes of persons who may handle early ballots to those less likely to have ulterior motives deters potential fraud and improves voter confidence. That was the view of the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker.'

The court's ruling makes clear that 'one strong and entirely legitimate state interest is the prevention of fraud.' I am thankful that a majority on the court is dedicated to preventing election fraud and has indicated it will uphold the rights of states to enact election laws designed to protect the integrity of our elections.

Disturbingly, in California we have a state completely controlled by one political party that has demonstrated on multiple occasions that it is more interested in protecting itself than the integrity of our elections. In fact, just recently Democrats in the state legislature changed our elections laws on recalling state officials while a recall election was underway. Not only have they enacted ballot harvesting laws without basic safeguards or transparency, Democrat officials abused their power during the last election by attempting to shut down lawful ballot collections by Republican campaigns. The Supreme Court also ruled today (Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta) that a California law passed by Democrats to force conservative non-profit organizations to disclose their donors was a violation of free speech rights protected by the First Amendment.

As Democrats try to nationalize our elections it has become increasingly clear that their true desire isn't free and fair elections, it's to place their thumb on the scale and protect their own political interests."

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