Shapiro Would Use Government Force to Coerce Voter Registrations
By State Senator Cris Dush
For how many decades have we heard that the IRS is feared more than death?
Why is it that when we receive a letter in the mail from the IRS, so many are afraid to even open it?
It is because of the coercive power of government and the threatened use of force of government behind those letters.
As historians and other learned individuals have noted, all government is force. It can compel an individual to do something or not to do something.
Scammers use that coercive power when they send you letters that look like official documents to get people to send money, drain their accounts, or steal their identities when they respond with personal information. Abuse of that coercive power has cost Americans billions.
Governor Shapiro knows it as well and is using the coercive influence of government to compel people who go to get their driver’s license without any inclination or desire to register to vote to register. He is doing it without the authorization of the law to do so.
Anything that uses the force of government to compel a person to do something or not to do something must come from the rules committee of We the People — namely the Legislature, through the creation of laws.
When laws are written, as the courts have recognized, they must have three elements to be complete: they must declare the purpose of the law, they must direct the action to be taken, and they must establish vindicatory measures.
Shapiro is acting beyond the power of his office and should immediately reverse this action.
There is nothing in Pennsylvania’s election laws that grants a government agency the right to take actions that compel a person to register to vote. The election laws allow for offering opportunities, which is why, up until Sept. 19, PennDOT was able to present a screen at registration that asked if you wanted to register to vote.
What the law does not allow is for the government agency to tell you that you will be registered, even if one is offered the opportunity to “opt out.” Telling you that you are going to be registered and forcing you to go against what the government is telling you is quite different from the government giving you more opportunities to register. The first is forcing an action, and the second is freedom, allowing an opportunity to take an action.
People who come to PennDOT to obtain a license and have no intention to register to vote are now subjected to unlawful coercion to register.
The People have not granted the governor the authority to compel them to say “no.”
Governor Shapiro is using in government the same tactics used by those who imitate the government to coerce you into surrendering your personal information or sending money to fraudulent organizations. He is acting beyond the power of his office and should immediately reverse this action.
Cris Dush serves as Majority Chairman of the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee and represents the 25th Senatorial District in Cameron, Clinton, Elk, McKean, Potter, and portions of Jefferson and Centre counties.
