{"id":2603852,"date":"2026-05-18T08:14:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-set-the-stage-to-silence-election-integrity-groups-when-theyre-back-in-power\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T08:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:19:59","slug":"dems-set-the-stage-to-silence-election-integrity-groups-when-theyre-back-in-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-set-the-stage-to-silence-election-integrity-groups-when-theyre-back-in-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems Set The Stage To Silence Election Integrity Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdems-set-the-stage-to-silence-election-integrity-groups-when-theyre-back-in-power%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2603852&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article argues that, despite Democratic setbacks such as failed Virginia redistricting efforts and Supreme court rulings limiting race-based gerrymandering, Democrats remain confident about retaking the House in November and are preparing a coordinated legal and oversight campaign against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/swing-states-have-a-long-way-to-go-to-safeguard-the-2024-election\/\" title=\"Swing states must do more to protect the 2024 election\">election-integrity advocates<\/a> once they have favorable congressional power.<\/p>\n<p>It cites the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) as tracking what it calls the left\u2019s \u201cplaybook,\u201d including plans for investigations, Hatch Act complaints, FOIA requests, and lawsuits aimed at constraining or delegitimizing groups that push for election security and voter-roll scrutiny. The piece specifically highlights a Hatch Act complaint filed by a left-wing nonprofit (Democracy Defenders Fund) against election Assistance Commissioner Christy McCormick, alleging improper partisan activity after remarks about \u201cthe left.\u201d It also claims the complaint involved editing McCormick\u2019s statements in a misleading way.<\/p>\n<p>The article further describes House Democrats launching investigations into alleged misuse of government data by a DOGE-related employee, while sending document requests to election-integrity organizations and labeling them \u201canti-voting.\u201d It then explains that left-leaning groups-including one associated with Marc Elias-have sued the DOJ and the Election Assistance Commission for communications and records, using broad definitions of alleged \u201celection subversion\u201d and seeking extensive email correspondence with non-government email domains.<\/p>\n<p>it portrays these actions as part of a recurring pattern-compared to past \u201ctargeting\u201d scandals-designed to pressure, investigate, or silence organizations promoting election integrity when Democrats gain or regain legislative control.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Recent stinging <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/15\/virginia-dems-last-hope-of-saving-rigged-maps-is-dead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">redistricting losses<\/a> not withstanding, Democrats at least outwardly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/05\/11\/congress\/hakeem-jeffries-guarantees-midterm-win-00914364\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">remain confident <\/a>about their chances to take back the House in November. And the left-wing legal apparatus is laying the groundwork to go to war on election-integrity warriors the minute they have a friendlier Congress to work with. <\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Public Interest Legal Foundation<\/a> (PILF) has been tracking the left\u2019s playbook as Democrats line up their targets for the next session of Congress. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are going to see a nationwide campaign,\u201d Logan Churchwell, the foundation\u2019s research director, told The Federalist in a recent interview. \u201cLiberals are preparing for payback, assuming the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/not-long-for-this-world-democrats-of-all-stripes-plan-to-campaign-on-gutting-filibuster\/\" title=\"\u2018Not Long For This World\u2019: ... Of All Stripes Plan To Campaign On Gutting Filibuster\">political winds shift<\/a> in their favor.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s not much the minority party can do at the moment beyond political temper tantrums, but they\u2019re looking to 2027 with ravenous eyes. <\/p>\n<h2>Eye on Their Prize<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/history.house.gov\/Institution\/Majority-Changes\/Majority-Changes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Historically,<\/a> midterms have been unkind to the party in power at the White House. Democrats were feeling pretty cocky about taking back the House, maybe even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2026\/05\/25\/can-the-democrats-take-back-the-senate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Senate <\/a>\u2014 that is until their gerrymandering gambit blew up in their faces. A double whammy of Virginia Dems failing in their <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/15\/virginia-dems-last-hope-of-saving-rigged-maps-is-dead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">scheme to steal<\/a> four congressional seats via a rigged redistricting plan and the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/04\/29\/supreme-court-smacks-down-rampant-race-based-gerrymandering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruling <\/a>ending racially gerrymandered districts has made the road to the House majority much more complicated. <\/p>\n<p>And polling, always subject to change and generally suspect, suggests Democrats are stuck in their own mud. A <a href=\"https:\/\/d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net\/documents\/econTabReport_ONiR6Nb.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">You\/Gov poll <\/a>last week found 37 percent of respondents would vote for the Democrat in their district, while 34 percent would vote for the Republican. All things considered, that\u2019s effectively a dead heat. <\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s a whole lot of dissatisfaction in the middle. The poll found 29 percent are undecided, voting for candidate C, or taking a pass on voting in November. <\/p>\n<p>And while many of its members may be clinically insane, the Democratic Party has a secret political weapon heading into November: <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/13\/john-failure-is-not-an-option-thune-just-failed-election-integrity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">majority Republicans<\/a> in the Senate. Their leadership doesn\u2019t seem all that interested in fighting for President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda. And the president, too, has veered from some of his key agenda points in the minds of a lot of MAGA conservatives, not the least of which is his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2026\/05\/01\/americans-remain-critical-of-trump-administrations-approach-to-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">military intervention in Iran. <\/a>There\u2019s definitely disaffection there, and it could prove costly for Republicans in November.  <\/p>\n<p>And if Democrats win back the House, expect plenty of speed bumps for Trump, including the return of impeachment theater. His allies, too, will take a hammering from a Democrat majority. <\/p>\n<h2>\u2018A Long, Nasty Pedigree\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Investigation letters from congressional committee ranking members and Freedom of Information Act lawsuits reviewed by The Federalist tip off what House Democrats are planning when they\u2019re back in power. They will weaponize every committee they can against the leaders of the election-integrity movement. <\/p>\n<p>In December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/state-democracy-defenders-fund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democracy Defenders Fund,<\/a> a leftist lawfare \u201cnonprofit\u201d led by former Obama administration diplomat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/person\/norman-l-eisen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Norm Eisen,<\/a> filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/fb1cd5ab-5a51-475c-87d1-10904a61146d.usrfiles.com\/ugd\/fb1cd5_0bfc3ba759664545a0ebe43e203ef16d.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hatch Act complaint<\/a> against U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eac.gov\/about\/commissioner-christy-mccormick\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christy McCormick.<\/a> Why? Because McCormick used the term \u201cthe left\u201d in public remarks during the Oct. 29 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americafirstpolicy.com\/events\/recent-progress-in-election-security-policy-roundtable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Recent Progress in Election Security Roundtable<\/a> hosted by the America First Policy Institute\u2019s Secure Elections Center. The attack group accused McCormick of politicking by mischaracterizing the Democratic Party and communist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was campaigning for the position at the time, of being \u201cproponents of voter fraud.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese remarks appear to constitute impermissible political activity \u2018directed toward the success or failure of a political party [or a] candidate for partisan political office\u2019 in violation of the Hatch Act,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/fb1cd5ab-5a51-475c-87d1-10904a61146d.usrfiles.com\/ugd\/fb1cd5_0bfc3ba759664545a0ebe43e203ef16d.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">complaint<\/a> to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel alleges. <\/p>\n<p>But DDF edited McCormick\u2019s remarks in an attempt to make its case, inserting the word \u201cDemocrats\u201d at times when the EAC official was referring to the left in general, according to the Public Interest Legal Foundation.\u00a0 As PILF President J. Christian Adams noted at the time, DDF submitted the complaint to federal investigators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osc.gov\/~assets\/docs\/osc-form-14-state-hatch-act-complaint-form.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with the certification<\/a> that all their \u201cstatements made in this complaint are true, complete, and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.\u201d Lying to the agency is a criminal offense. <\/p>\n<p>Adams said McCormick\u2019s comments about the left, particularly neosocialists like Mamdani, were true \u2014 and defensible. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMcCormick was correct: the \u2018left\u2019 has fought against efforts to keep aliens off voter rolls. Free speech is important and those who would weaponize the government against truth tellers have a long, nasty pedigree in world history. That\u2019s who you are, Norm Eisen,\u201d Adams <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/press\/pilf-statement-challenging-hatch-act-complaint-against-eac-commissioner-christy-mccormick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> in the pointed statement. <\/p>\n<h2>Like the \u2018IRS Targeting Scandal Days\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>In February, the ranking members of three House committees launched an investigation into a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/science-technology\/ssa-watchdog-probes-claim-ex-doge-engineer-mishandled-social-security-data-report\/3859167\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accused of<\/a> improperly handling Social Security data. The lawmakers sent <a href=\"https:\/\/larson.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/ranking-members-larson-garcia-and-morelle-investigate-doge-scheme-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letters<\/a> to more than a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >dozen nonprofit election-integrity groups<\/a>. They accuse the advocates\u2014 including PILF, the America First Legal Foundation, the Election Integrity Network, and True the Vote, of being \u201canti-voting\u201d organizations. The Democrats are <a href=\"https:\/\/larson.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/larson.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/2026-02-25.garcia-morelle-larson-to-true-the-vote-re-voter-data-agreement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">seeking<\/a> documents related to the \u201cuse of government data derived from SSA or any federal agency to conduct election monitoring in U.S. states.\u201d And they want \u201call agreements that bear the signature of any member of the U.S. DOGE Service or SSA.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>In a March <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/FebMarch-2026-DOGE-RM-Correspondence.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">response,<\/a> Churchwell disabused the ranking members of their flawed characterizations and off-the-mark documents grab. <\/p>\n<p>Last month, the leftist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/democracy-forward\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democracy Forward Foundation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/democracyforward.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/126cv01206-DEMOCRACY-FORWARD-FOUNDATION-vUSDEPARTMENT-OF-JUSTICE-Complaint.pdf\">sued<\/a> the Department of Justice\u2019s Civil Rights Division seeking records from the EAC on <a href=\"https:\/\/democracyforward.org\/news\/press-releases\/democracy-forward-sues-election-assistance-commission-for-withholding-records-on-efforts-to-restrict-voting-access\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201celection subversion activities.\u201d<\/a> What is \u201celection subversion\u201d, according to the foundation? Filing lawsuits demanding states with perhaps much to hide to turn over voter roll information for the DOJ\u2019s investigation into whether noncitizens and other ineligible voters are registered. The group demands communications with individuals and groups associated with \u201celection denial\u201d \u2014 a catch-all descriptor invented by groups like Democracy Forward to attack election integrity efforts. <\/p>\n<p>Democracy Forward, it should be noted, is led by Marc Elias, former general counsel for Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign and his dirty hands were all over the <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiosenate.gov\/news\/on-the-record\/gang-that-invented-the-russia-hoax-is-behind-issue-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Russia collusion hoax.<\/a> Elias and his law firm have been drivers of the left\u2019s lawfare assaults on conservatives. He\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/jonathanturley.org\/2024\/05\/11\/it-simply-does-not-make-any-sense-federal-judge-trashes-latest-election-lawsuit-from-the-elias-law-firm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lost<\/a> a lot of cases.  <\/p>\n<p>A few days later, Elias\u2019s operation filed a sweeping FOIA lawsuit against the Election Assistance Commission seeking communication records between EAC and ANYONE not using a .gov email. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll email communications (including email messages, complete email chains, email attachments, calendar invitations) sent by (a) the EAC Commissioners listed below to (b) email addresses that end in .com, .co, .us, .net, .org, .mail, .edu, .law, .legal, .ch, .me, or .group that (c) concern official business,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/democracyforward.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Compl-1-26-1271-DFF-v-EAC.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> states. <\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s more. And it\u2019s all just the beginning. Congressional Democrats and their \u201cnon-partisan\u201d minions are preparing to try once again to silence \u2014 or shut down \u2014 organizations fighting for free and fair elections. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cTaken together, you see a playbook <a href=\"https:\/\/oversightdemocrats.house.gov\/news\/press-releases\/cummings-launches-investigation-of-true-the-vote-raises-questions-about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not used since Elijah Cummings<\/a> and the IRS targeting scandal days,\u201d Churchwell said. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite recent redistricting setbacks, Democrats still aim to win the House and the left\u2019s legal apparatus is preparing to target election-integrity groups<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2603853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-18-at-12.44.45-AM-1024x573.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3685,32644,34382,32504,40526],"class_list":["post-2603852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-democrats","tag-election-integrity","tag-election-security","tag-political-strategy","tag-voter-suppression"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-18-at-12.44.45-AM-1024x573.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2603852"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2603856,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603852\/revisions\/2603856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2603853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}