What is the American Confidence in Elections Act aka the Big Lie Bill

All across the country, Republicans in state legislatures are introducing and passing extreme and anti-democratic voter suppression laws to make it more difficult for Americans to vote. These laws often (and by design) disproportionately impact people of color. According to the Brennan Center, in 2023 alone, 11 states enacted 13 restrictive laws, including efforts to restrict vote-by-mail, strict voter ID requirements, and laws that undermined voter registration drives. Overall, at least 322 restrictive bills were introduced in 45 states across the country. 

And now, the GOP is taking their efforts national. House Republicans are pushing a new, horrible bill called the “American Confidence in Elections Act,” or the “ACE” Act, a bill that unsurprisingly will inspire zero confidence in our election system if it passes. The ACE Act is an anti-voter bill that will disenfranchise millions of voters and boost the influence of billionaires and corporations in our elections, and make it easier for authoritarians like Donald Trump to “audit” or otherwise challenge votes and election outcomes. That’s why we’re calling it the Big Lie Bill. 

House Republicans unveiled this legislation during a field hearing in Atlanta, proudly proclaiming that the bill was modeled after SB202, Georgia’s incredibly harmful voter suppression bill. Republicans also chose Georgia because of its proximity to Trump’s absurd and false claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him – you may remember Trump calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and demanding he “find” 11,000 votes so that Trump would prevail. It’s clear that the ACE Act has nothing to do with election integrity or voter confidence, and everything to do with helping Trump and other MAGA candidates get elected no matter what.

Fortunately, Democrats are fighting back by reintroducing the Freedom to Vote Act, which would actually improve voter confidence. Bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, which would restrict dark money in our elections, make Election Day a national holiday, improve vote-by-mail access, ban partisan gerrymandering, and a whole lot more.

What does the MAGA Big Lie Bill do?

One thing the ACE Act does not do is improve the integrity of our elections or our ability to participate in them, and would in fact inspire more conspiracy theories and further distrust. But here’s just a sampling of what’s in it: 

• Designates federal funding for more phony election “audits”
• Significantly restricts the ability to vote by mail, even in states that exclusively use this voting method  
• Expands corporate influence over our elections by raising contribution limits, rolling back disclosure requirements, and decreasing transparency in political donations
• Repeals President Biden’s executive order aimed at improving voter registration efforts by preventing federal agencies from promoting or helping Americans to register to vote 
• Makes voting more difficult for those who are elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to drop off their own ballots by prohibiting family members or others from dropping off their ballots instead
• Repeals efforts to fight disinformation during elections

What does the Freedom to Vote Act do?

In contrast to the Big Lie Bill, the Freedom to Vote Act would actually significantly improve confidence in elections, improve voter registration efforts, and make it easier for all eligible voters to participate. Here’s what’s in it: 

• Restricts the flow of dark money and corporate interests in our elections by improving disclosure requirements, tightening rules to prevent coordination between PACs and candidates, and expanding enforcement power of the FEC
• Promotes fair congressional maps by ending partisan gerrymandering
• Overrides voter suppression bills passed at the state level
• Makes it easier to vote by expanding mail voting, requiring early voting periods in all 50 states, and preventing unlawful voter purges
• Implements automatic voter registration and same-day voter registration
• Restores voting rights for formerly incarcerated citizens
• Includes provisions aimed at reducing long lines and wait times to vote

What can we do?

We can fight back against the ACE Act by both holding our representatives accountable if they support it, and by promoting the Freedom to Vote Act instead.  

If you have a Republican representative: Call them right now and demand they oppose the Big Lie Bill (ACE Act). MAGA Republicans are trying to restrict vote by mail, expand corporate influence on elections, reduce voter registration, and make voting more difficult for the elderly and disabled. Now is the time to stand up to protect voting rights for all Americans and save our democracy. 

For everyone: Share the above graphic! We can’t allow Republicans to control the narrative about elections. They are attempting to sow as much disinformation as possible to hold power. We have to make sure people know exactly what they are doing, and it starts with spreading the word. The more eyes, the better. 

Sample Social Media Posts

Please note: due to Twitter’s new policy, it’s best practice to encourage you to reword sample posts rather than directly copying and pasting. 

If you have a Republican MOC, here are some sample social media you can send their way: 

• I urge [@MEMBER] to oppose the ACE Act, which would do absolutely nothing to inspire confidence in our elections and would make it easier for candidates like Donald Trump to challenge election outcomes. I support Democrats’ Freedom to Vote Act instead.
• I’m disgusted by some of the provisions in the ACE Act, aka the Big Lie Bill. This bill would disenfranchise millions of voters by putting up restrictive barriers to voting. [@MEMBER] must reject this anti-democratic legislation.
• The so-called “American Confidence in Elections” Act does the opposite for me. I don’t have confidence in a bill that disempowers eligible voters. Congress must pass the Freedom to Vote Act instead to guarantee our voting rights and truly restore confidence in our elections.
• The ACE Act increases the role of $$ in politics and puts up barriers to voting for millions of Americans. This bill only benefits wealthy and corporate interests and would block progress on the critical issues that matter to our communities. [@MEMBER] must reject this bill. 

Further resources: 

• Brennan Center for Justice resource on the Freedom to Vote Act
• Declaration for American Democracy’s messaging guidance on the ACE Act (the Big Lie Bill) and graphics