Biden government’s effort to pay university students for get out the ballot campus campaigns backed by kept- wing activists
Nearly 20 Democratic state attorneys general have requested that the U.S. Department of Education revoke assistance that allows administrators to give students for get-out-the-vote initiatives.
The seven-page letter basically describes how Democrats would use the national Work-Study Program’s new hires to register voters may result in partisan voter harvesting.
” Voter- registration efforts can serve openly social functions even when they seem facially democratic, as turning out the appropriate voters is often a matter of knowing where to boost’ wide- 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, “eventually commendable actions like encouraging voter participation and registering voters have to take place there, and that place decides elections. Your instructions successfully allow colleges and universities to use taxpayer money to fund this activity, and they may also influence how elections are decided.
The attorneys public phone on the governmental agency to “reconsider your guidance” and suggest colleges and universities that national work- study funds cannot be used for “get- out- the- vote activities, voter registration, providing voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker under any circumstances”.
The controversy comes from a February memo from the Department of Education that stated that national work-study funds could be used to fund “broad-based get-out-the-vote” activities for students.
Federal Work-Study funds are used to support school students in recouping tuition by performing a part-time job on campus.
The department maintained that using national funds for this purpose may never violate standards of bipartisanship, since the guidance does no classify get- out- the- vote efforts as “political activities”, but as part of the “regular administration of Federal, State, or native government”, according to the department’s guidance.
An education department spokesperson said the guidance passed muster when questioned about the concerns of the attorney generals.
The spokesperson stated in an email to The College Fix that “federal work study positions with government agencies are only funded by taxpayer funds,” meaning that “any election work that they are doing is not partisan, and already paid for by taxpayer funds.”
The spokesperson continued, “in response to two letters the Department received asking for this policy change, one was from a bipartisan group of Secretaries of State and the other was from members of Congress,” according to the spokesperson.
Many of the attorneys generals who signed the letter referred to their memo and returned to their offices.
The education department’s plan is supported by leftist organizations like Civic Nation, a grassroots organization that Michelle Obama and other liberals support, according to a report from the Daily Signal in April.
One month before Vice President Kamala Harris said the government would pay students to “promote voter participation,” a member of the group contacted Wisconsin state officials in January about the plan.
This is a plan to use tax dollars to sway students ‘ votes on predominantly Democratic college campuses, according to many Republican lawmakers. College students, as well as university faculty, skew wildly to the left, representing a treasure trove of voters for the Democratic party.
” Biden signed EO14019 ordering federal govt to use taxpayer$ to mobilize ( his ) voters”, Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty stated on X. ” …Sounds like the election- year plan is underway”.
Biden signed EO14019 ordering federal govt to use taxpayer$ to mobilize ( his ) voters. @StephenM has FOIAed details, and I’ve sought them in Congress, but Biden is hiding them. Sounds like the election- year plan is underway. https ://t.co/fFIkVHZVpm
— Senator Bill Hagerty ( @SenatorHagerty ) February 28, 2024
The plan has also been denounced by other senior Republicans in Congress.
According to Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the effort is” about as crooked as it gets”, she told The Fix in a March interview. ” Every time I think this administration ca n’t stoop any lower, I’m proven wrong”.
But Democrats love the plan.
Michael Dannenberg, a policy aide at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and a former official in the Obama administration, celebrated the move on X in February.
Breaking News: The U. S. Dept of Ed is allowing work study students to be paid from their awards for non- partisan voter registration, poll worker, and get- out- the- vote work — an idea I’ve pushed for years. Yay! When we all vote, we all win. https ://t.co/ABVGC3MWN0
— Michael Dannenberg ( @M_Dannenberg1 ) February 26, 2024
” Breaking News: The U. S. Dept of Ed is allowing work study students to be paid from their awards for non- partisan voter registration, poll worker, and get- out- the- vote work — an idea I’ve pushed for years. Yay! When we all vote, we all win”, he wrote.
Democrat candidates in the 2020 election campaigned on bailing out student loans, hoping to court voters in young demographics. Many academics attributed liberal college students ‘ political activism to their victory in the midterm elections in 2022.
Democrats won in crucial battleground states like Nevada and Michigan as college students funded by MTV Campus Vote Challenge 2022, a purportedly nonpartisan organization, promoted voter registration and advocated for the establishment of polling places on campuses.
This election is expected to be no different, with 70percent of surveyed voters 27 and younger saying loan forgiveness is “very” or” somewhat” important. According to the survey, 50 percent of all voters support partial or complete student loan forgiveness.
In light of this, Biden has made the forgiveness of student loans a key component of his reelection campaign, and he has just announced yet another bailout despite the Supreme Court’s ruling opposing his first attempt.
MORE: Concerns are raised over universities turning over student FERPA information to voter data providers.
IMAGE: Andrey Popov / Shutterstock
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
