American Conservative Union President Matt Schlapp engaged in a fiery debate Monday over voter identification laws with fellow Fox News contributor Chris Hahn.
In an appearance on Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus,” Schlapp and Hahn discussed the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the 2022 midterm elections with guest host Martha MacCallum. But the conversation quickly devolved into a shouting match over whether there was a need to verify a voter’s identity. (RELATED: Poll: Two-Thirds Of Republicans Believe Voter Fraud Helped Biden Win)
“Well look, it’s a redistricting year, and Republicans will do everything they can to gerrymander the seats they need,” Hahn began. “They won’t win because of ideas. They won’t win because they’ve done anything good. They won’t win because they’re going to be running on Trump’s failed record. They’re going to win because of partisan gerrymandering, and that’s it.”
MacCallum jumped in and said there was a “fair amount” of policy discussion at CPAC and that 2022 will be “a battle over policy … a battle over ideas.”
“This question of gerrymandering is what majorities of both parties do to try to optimize the number of House seats. It’s what is written into the Constitution,” Schlapp responded. “The real question when it comes to all of this is H.R. 1, which is going through Congress, and that would actually undermine all these state election rules. It would nationalize our election process … It’ll be our worst Democratic nightmare. No voter registration, no signature verification. We should not go there as a country.”
“More suppression is all you want,” Hahn retorted.
“I want everyone to vote,” Schlapp replied.
“All Matt wants, and all conservatives want, is fewer people to vote. Because when a lot of people vote, Republicans with no policies do not win. So H.R. 1 needs to pass. So does the John Lewis Voting Rights Act … If the Senate needs to get rid of the filibuster to do it, they should,” Hahn said.
MacCallum then explained that the issue over voter verification “is probably the most important issue in the 2022 elections.” She told Hahn it “should be important to both parties,” that a person can prove they are eligible to vote.
“It’s not a real issue,” Hahn said, interrupting MacCallum. “There’s been study after study after study after study. Nobody is faking it to vote. That’s something conservatives say when they whine to lose.”
MacCallum then questioned Hahn on why he should even be concerned if what he said is true. But before Hahn could respond, Schlapp cited a case of voter fraud committed by a Republican and said “it can’t just be voter fraud when a Republican does it.”
Hahn tried to cut off the fellow guest, but Schlapp raised his voice. “Let me finish!” he said, before arguing that both sides should come together and “do everything possible to minimize” instances of illegal voting.
“It stands to reason that if you don’t believe there’s any issue, then you should be able to have voter verification across the board so that both sides can agree that there aren’t any problems happening,” MacCallum concluded.
