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Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Claudia Tenney stated on July 3, 2024 in a social media post: Biden Executive Order 14019 “requires our taxpayer-funded federal agencies to violate the Hatch Act and engage in illegal vote harvesting.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"pants- fire\\"](\\" * Elections * New York * Claudia Tenney ![\\"A](\\" A man fills out voter registration card outside the Loop Super Site in downtown Chicago, Oct. 11, 2020. (AP) ![\\"Jill](\\" By Jill Terreri Ramos August 2, 2024 # Biden order on voter registration tells federal agencies to follow laws, not break them #### If Your Time is short * The National Voter Registration Act, passed in 1993, states that voter registration agencies may include federal offices. * Executive Order 14019 states that when agencies carry out the order, all applicable laws must be followed. * The order does not command federal agencies to collect ballots. See the sources for this fact-check A New York lawmaker has joined other Republicans taking fresh aim at a 3-year- old executive order from President Biden. U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney claims the order violates the law limiting federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity and requires federal offices to illegally collect ballots. Experts on election law say that’s a false interpretation of Biden’s order which was designed to promote information about voter registration. Tenney, a Republican seeking re-election in a district that reaches from the North Country into Western New York, claimed on Facebook that Biden\'s executive order \"requires our taxpayer-funded federal agencies to violate the Hatch Act and engage in illegal vote harvesting.\" The Hatch Act limits partisan political activity by federal employees and by state and local employees who deliver federally funded programs during work hours and bans them from using government offices and resources. We wondered how this order could require federal employees to engage in partisan political activity and illegally harvest votes. \"Ballot harvesting\" or \"vote harvesting\" is a term often used by people in a pejorative way to refer to collecting completed absentee ballots and submitting them. Some voting rights experts see the term \"ballot harvesting\" as pejorative and prefer the term \"ballot collection.\" Many states allow at least certain individuals to collect some ballots on behalf of others. Biden signed Executive Order 14019 on March 7, 2021. It builds on a 1993 law, the National Voter Registration Act, which aimed to expand opportunities for eligible voters to register at places such as military recruiting offices, state motor vehicle departments and federal agencies. The National Voter Registration Act specifies that voter registration activities must be nonpartisan and that the \"person providing assistance at a voter registration agency cannot attempt to influence an applicant’s political preference or party registration\" or make an applicant believe that public benefits or services are dependent on decisions related to their registration, according to the Congressional Research Service. Biden’s order states that \"the head of each agency shall evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation.\" These activities include updating websites and other public-facing materials with information on how to register to vote, how to request a vote-by-mail ballot, and how to cast a ballot in upcoming elections, and pointing visitors to their own states’ election information. A state can request that federal agencies be designated voter registration agencies, under the order, and states must approve of any such designation. Military recruitment offices are already voter registration agencies under the National Voter Registration Act. #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on August 5, 2024 in an X post Tim Walz “changed the Minnesota flag so it could resemble the Somalian flag.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • August 6, 2024 We approached Tenney’s office for evidence of her claim, and a spokesperson told us the executive order directs federal agencies, who employ political appointees, to promote access to voting. The Hatch Act prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch from engaging in political activity, and by using civil service employees to \"handpick\" who they register to vote, the Biden administration is engaging in illegal vote harvesting, she said. Experts we spoke with said the order does not violate the Hatch Act and does not lead to vote harvesting. \"The order has nothing to do with ‘ballot harvesting,’ in any way that term could be defined,\" said David J. Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a nonpartisan organization that works with election officials from both political parties. \"It is merely an order authorizing federal agencies to cooperate with the states to provide voter registration opportunities to all citizens through those agencies.\" Harvesting can be a scary word, conjuring up images of collecting ballots from people against their will or collecting fraudulent ballots. But ballot distribution and collection is still run by the states under this order, said Jonathan Diaz, director of voting advocacy and partnerships at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan organization that promotes voting. Trevor Potter, a Republican and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, founded the legal center. \"This is not directing federal agencies to do anything in support of a candidate or party or ballot initiative,\" Diaz said. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel issued two opinions in the early 2000s about whether voter registration drives in federal offices violate the Hatch Act. The office has found that registration drives organized by nonpartisan organizations are allowed. Partisan drives, those with a goal of helping a party or candidate, are not allowed. \"Nonpartisan voter registration is not partisan, and therefore is not a problem under the Hatch Act,\" said Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. Our ruling Tenney claimed that Executive Order 14019 \"requires our taxpayer-funded federal agencies to violate the Hatch Act and engage in illegal vote harvesting.\" Her use of the words \"requires\" and \"violate\" are not suggestions of what the order could do. They are strong words, but they are wrong. The order calls on federal agencies to expand voter registration activities and to do so within the bounds of the law. The Hatch Act prohibits partisan political activities in government offices. Promoting voter registration to would-be eligible voters who come in contact with federal agencies is not a partisan activity. The order does not require federal agencies to violate the Hatch Act. The order also does not call for federal agencies to collect any ballots, so the claim of illegal vote harvesting is baseless. This statement makes a ridiculous claim, and we rate it Pants on Fire! #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Facebook post, Rep. Claudia Tenney, July 3, 2024. The White House, \"Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting,\" 14019, March 7, 2021. U.S. Office of Special Counsel, advisory opinion, nonpartisan voter registration drives in the workplace, undated. U.S. Office of Special Counsel, advisory opinion, \"Federal Hatch Act Advisory: Voter Registration Drives in the Workplace,\" April 14, 2004. National Voter Registration Act, passed in 1993. Phone interview, Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights Program, Brennan Center for Justice, July 16, 2024. NPR, \"Republicans are turning Biden’s voter registration order into a partisan flash point,\" June 30, 2024. Email interview, David J. Becker, executive director and founder, The Center for Election Innovation & Research, July 17, 2024. The Associated Press, \"GOP targets a Biden executive order on voter registration ahead of the fall election,\" June 21, 2024. Phone Interview, Jonathan Diaz, director, voting advocacy and partnerships, Campaign Legal Center, July 18, 2024. Email interview, Meg Deneen, spokesperson, Rep. Claudia Tenney, July 17, 2024. Congressional Research Service, \"Voter Registration Agencies Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA),\" April 15, 2024. PolitiFact, \"The Biden administration is not scheming to register noncitizens to vote,\" March 7, 2024. Verify, \"No, Biden’s executive order doesn’t allow ineligible people to vote,\" March 21, 2024. U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, FAQ, \"The National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 (NVRA).\" ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Jill Terreri Ramos ![](\\" ![](\\" Claudia Tenney stated on July 3, 2024 in a social media post: Biden Executive Order 14019 “requires our taxpayer-funded federal agencies to violate the Hatch Act and engage in illegal vote harvesting.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Jill Terreri Ramos • August 2, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ritchie Torres stated on May 23, 2024 in a television interview: “The loss of SALT deductibility cost our state $15 billion in revenue. 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Biden Executive Order 14019 requires our taxpayerfunded federal agencies to violate the Hatch Act and engage in illegal vote harvesting