Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wants to strip a voting rights bill of a key provision that expands access to voting by mail — the very same voting method her state exclusively uses in conducting its elections.

Boebert filed an amendment to HR 1, the "For the People Act of 2021," that would expand access to the ballot in federal elections.

The provision Boebert wants stricken states: "If an individual in a State is eligible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the State may not impose any additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote in such election by absentee ballot by mail."

Colorado has been voting entirely by mail since 2013. Boebert — who has not raised any doubts about the legitimacy of her own victory in 2020 — was elected in 2020 entirely by absentee ballots.

But throughout her campaign, Boebert spread Donald Trump's lies that voting by mail was prone to fraud and has been pushing for restrictions to voting by mail.

"The 'For The Swamp' Act, HR 1, will make permanent law out of the mail-in ballots that we saw turn the 2020 election into an absolute mess," Boebert tweeted on Feb. 18. "The new norm will be waiting days & weeks for elections to be called — and even then who can be sure of the results given mail-in fraud."

Repeated investigations into the 2020 election have demonstrated that it was not marred by fraud.

Even William Barr, who served as Trump's attorney general, said as much.

Boebert's was one of the loudest voices pushing Trump's baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, helping to incite the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who sought to block President Joe Biden's win from being certified.

On the day of the insurrection, Boebert tweeted, "Today is 1776" — a comment that's been widely criticized as having incited the mob.

Now Boebert is using lies about voter fraud to make it harder to vote.

Her amendment is one of a number from Republicans seeking to water down HR 1's intended goal of expanding access to the ballot.

The amendments will almost certainly not be added to the bill in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

The bill is slated to come up for a vote in early March and is expected to pass in the House.

However, it's unlikely HR 1 will make it to Biden's desk under current rules, with Senate Republicans likely to block it using the filibuster.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.