In The News

I firmly believe that states and local governments have the primary role in administering and conducting elections. This is why I opposed the previous effort by then Speaker Nancy Pelosi to federalize our election process. Instead of putting the federal government in charge, I believe Washington can play a support role in restoring confidence in our election process.

In order to address and improve election integrity, this week I cosponsored the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act. The ACE Act puts forward commonsense reforms that many residents of Southwest Michigan have asked for and support. For example, the ACE Act would grant election officials access to the Social Security death list. This would allow state and county election officials to remove voters who have passed away in a more timely manner and improve the accuracy of the voter rolls. The ACE Act also prohibits federal funds from going to places that allow ballot harvesting or allow noncitizens to vote. This measure also allows states to use federal funding to conduct post-election audits. 

Lastly, the ACE Act responsibly puts a stop to “Zuckerbucks” by ending the federal tax exemption for direct, indirect, below-cost services, subsidies, or other private funding for election administration.

At the end of the day, the ACE Act respects federalism by working with the states to help deliver transparency, accountability, and security in our elections with the goal of making it easier to vote and harder to cheat.

On another note, the House continues to try and find workable solutions to responsibly fund the federal government. I continue to believe the optimal path forward would be for Congress to pass all 12 appropriation bills to fund government. At this point, the Appropriations Committee has passed 10 of the necessary 12 bills out of committee. I will be sure to continue to provide updates on social media as the September 30^th funding deadline approaches. 

If you need assistance navigating a federal agency, please contact my office in Holland at (616) 251-6741, my office in Portage at (269) 569-8595, or my office in Washington at (202) 225-4401.