Our elections are becoming a circus. And there are already a few people to blame.
Because House Republicans are suing Democrats for this inconceivable attack on our elections.
House Republicans issued a subpoena this week to the Democratic fundraising platform, ActBlue, seeking more clarity on some questionable transactions and the platform’s donor vetting processes.
In a letter to ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones, House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., called for more details about ActBlue’s policies for verifying donor identities, setting a deadline of Nov. 6, just one day after the general election.
Steil said the subpoena aims to “safeguard our nation’s elections” and address “loopholes in our campaign finance system,” specifically targeting contributions from donors with less rigorous identity verification.
The request, made close to election day, reflects Republican concerns over ActBlue’s security measures for vetting donors, an issue ActBlue has recently addressed with policy updates.
In a statement Thursday, ActBlue acknowledged Steil’s inquiry, adding that they “will respond to address the continued inaccuracies and misrepresentations about our platform, as we have done previously.”
They emphasized, “We rigorously protect donors’ security and maintain strict anti-fraud compliance practices. We have zero tolerance for fraud on our platform.”
Until recently, ActBlue didn’t require online donors to enter their credit card verification value (CVV) when making donations — a point of criticism from Steil and other House Republicans who argue the lack of CVV could open doors to “potentially fraudulent and illicit financial activity” by foreign donors.
“We cannot allow foreign actors to influence our elections through campaign financing. The Committee’s investigation uncovered that foreign actors might be taking advantage of ActBlue’s inadequate security protocols,” Steil said in his letter.
While no direct evidence of such activity has surfaced, ActBlue has since updated its system to require CVV numbers, a change reportedly introduced last year.
The subpoena follows a recent New York Post report indicating that the Treasury Department has flagged “hundreds of records of transactions” on ActBlue’s platform as potentially suspicious, with those records currently under review.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said his office is “working closely with Treasury” to secure the materials “expeditiously.”
Steil and the House Administration Committee continue to push for details from ActBlue regarding recent donation practices and are looking into past transactions.
Steil’s Wednesday letter to ActBlue seeks information on the platform’s donor verification policies and potential security gaps.
In September, Steil introduced legislation to mandate stricter verification processes for political committees and donor platforms like ActBlue.
The proposed law would also ban contributions from prepaid gift cards and enact a bipartisan Federal Election Commission recommendation to prevent individuals from “knowingly aiding or abetting someone” in making a donation under another person’s name.
The legislation passed committee by voice vote but has yet to be scheduled for a full vote on the House floor.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
