OK AG joins other State Attorneys General to call for repeal of voting access Biden executive order

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor has joined 11 other Attorneys General to ask President Joe Biden to rescind his 'Promoting Access to Voting' executive order from March 2021.

Biden’s order includes several provisions. It directs federal agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information, calls on the heads of federal agencies to come up with plans to give federal employees time off to vote or volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers, and proscribes an overhaul of the government’s Vote.gov website, according to an administration official who briefed reporters.

“I am a big supporter of increased voter participation in elections, but I am also a big supporter of States’ rights. I am just as passionate about stopping the growth of the federal government,” said Attorney General O’Connor. “This executive order directs the use of taxpayer dollars to promote voter registration and participation. The state chief legal officers’ opposition is based in law, noting that the U.S. Constitution does not provide this power to the executive branch and arguing that this responsibility falls on state legislatures. As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, I am committed to preserving the state’s right to free and fair elections.”

Attorneys General from Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah sent a letter to President Biden sharing concerns of third-party organizations improperly injecting themselves into the election process.

“President Biden’s executive order allowing federal agencies to engage in electioneering is illegal, unethical, and unconstitutional,” said General O’Connor. “This is an attempt to use the massive power of federal government agencies and our federal tax dollars to recruit voters in areas which have majority Democratic party members. It could also be used to promote the recruitment of Republican voters under a Republican administration. We cannot start a new activity of government, the buying of voters.”