The Biden administration continues to shield from the public its plans for federal agencies to turn out the vote, citing “presidential communications and deliberative process privilege.”
Newly released emails, however, demonstrate the focus of the White House and various government departments on registering voters and getting them out.
In a response to a request by The Daily Signal under the Freedom of Information Act, the General Services Administration refused to provide its strategic plan for implementing President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14019.
Biden signed the order in March 2021 while saying he wanted to increase voter participation. The GSA, the federal government’s chief procurement agency, also runs the Vote.gov website.
A spokesperson for the General Services Administration didn’t respond to The Daily Signal’s inquiries about this report.
Many congressional Republicans, as well as government watchdog groups, expressed concern about federal agencies’ engaging in partisan political activity in violation of laws such as the Hatch Act.
Biden administration agencies have ignored requests from over 50 members of Congress and from media outlets for basic information about implementation of Biden’s order on turning out voters.
In response to The Daily Signal’s request, GSA provided 12 pages of email correspondence that included a White House press release about the executive order.
“GSA, however, is withholding the agency’s strategic plan in full pursuant to FOIA Exemption 5, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), including under the presidential communications and deliberative process privilege prongs of that exemption,” the agency’s response letter says.
Still, emails between White House officials and GSA officials, obtained by The Daily Signal through the FOIA request, make several references to the strategic plan or to “strategic planning” to boost voter turnout.
That day, the White House issued a press release outlining broad ways in which government agencies would respond to the president’s order, including the GSA.
“The General Services Administration will ensure Vote.gov is a user-friendly portal for Americans to find the information they need most to register and vote,” that White House press release said. “Available in over ten languages and in a format accessible for voters with disabilities, Vote.gov will make it easier for eligible users to register to vote or confirm their registration status. Agencies across the federal government will link to Vote.gov to encourage Americans to participate in the electoral process.”
The same press release in September 2021 talked about the strategic plans being prepared by agencies.
“The Executive Order called for each agency to submit to Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice a strategic plan outlining the ways that the agency can promote nonpartisan voter registration and voter participation,” it says. “These strategic plans are just the beginning of each agency’s commitments. In the weeks and months to come, agencies will further build out their capacity to get relevant information out to the public, help eligible voters better understand their opportunities for engagement, and facilitate participation in the electoral process.”
On Oct. 6, 2021, Justin Vail, special assistant to the president for democracy and civic participation on the Domestic Policy Council, emailed officials across numerous federal agencies.
“Thank you all once again for your efforts on strategic planning for EO 14019, Promoting Access to Voting—we enjoyed reviewing your submissions and were excited to share some of the anticipated agency actions with the public,” Vail wrote.
“We look forward to working with you to refine and implement the plans,” the Biden aide added. “To that end, we will host our next interagency meeting on Wednesday, October 20 at 1-2PM ET to discuss next steps. In the meantime, we will be reaching out to each agency to schedule one on one conversations, so please be on the lookout for those invitations.”
John Yuda, who works in information technology management for the General Services Administration, wrote an email to Suzanne Chapman of the Office of Management and Budget on May 19, 2021. OMB is based at the White House.
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“The Vote.gov executive team is preparing to respond to the recent Executive Order: Promoting Access to Voting (Sec. 5. Modemizi.ng Vote.gov). We’d like to conduct interviews with stakeholders to document progress and validate expectations for vote.gov going forward,” Yuda wrote in the email to Chapman. “We would appreciate your input as we continue to create our strategic plan.”
Chapman’s response: “Sounds great. I’m looking forward to it.”
