Sangamon Sun

 U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) recently explored the issue of ballot harvesting by Democrats at a Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Elections hearing.

Davis questioned Lawyers Democracy Fund board of directors secretary Ashlee Titus on the issue.

“Thanks for mentioning the ballot harvesting report in California about an interesting report that the House administration minority issued last Congress,” Davis said. “California allows ballot harvesting, but only by Democrats as conservatives are being challenged.”

Titus hinted she definitely thinks the system could use tinkering.

“California has this program that allows anybody to harvest ballots,” she said. “A union member could walk up to a colleague's door and they, on their ballot, encourage them to vote in a particular way. Political party operatives could do the same. There's really no requirement that somebody actually sign the outside of that person's ballot, that they tell the voter who they are, who they represent, whether they're being paid.”

Titus adds she thinks the system clearly benefits one party.

“There's no receipt, there's no chain of custody,” she said. “There are literally zero safeguards in the law except that Democrats and union members were freely looking in this activity without being harassed by state law enforcement. When the California Republican Party sought to implement it and in fact went above and beyond the law and the legal requirements, they were harassed by the attorney general's office, as well as district attorneys and elections officials on Twitter. Other candidates for Congress who happened to have a D after their name were not subject to the same harassment.”