Republican AGs accuse Ed Dept. of partisan vote harvesting for Democrats

Nearly 20 Republican state attorneys general have called on the U.S. Department of Education to rescind guidance telling administrators they can use federal funds to pay students for get-out-the-vote efforts.

The seven-page letter essentially describes how the new allowance to hire college students to register voters through the Federal Work-Study Program would amount to partisan vote harvesting for Democrats.

“Voter-registration efforts can serve overtly political functions even when they seem facially nonpartisan, as turning out the right voters is often a matter of knowing where to boost ‘broad-based’ turnout,” 16 attorneys general, representing states such as Texas, South Dakota, and Georgia, wrote in an April 2 letter to the Education Department.

“In other words, laudable activities like encouraging voter turnout and registering voters have to happen somewhere, and that somewhere decides elections. Your guidance effectively licenses colleges and universities to subsidize this activity—and potentially swing elections by choosing where to direct these funds—with taxpayer money,” the letter continues.