The words “consent of the governed” as enshrined in the Declaration of Independence are central to our founding, but unfamiliar to many Americans, un-taught by American educators, and ignored by a large swath of elected officials.
That governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed “ is where our voting rights were born, and where our founding as a Constitutional Republic (not a democracy!) first emerges.
Not just unknown or ignored, the power inherent in these words is often left unexplored.
The essence of this phrase is about voting. It is how American citizens give—or withhold—their consent; the governed’s path to permit governing.
But it is not just about voting; “consent” demands active citizens participation in the electoral process.
An avid student of 17th Century English political philosopher John Locke, the Declaration’s author, Thomas Jefferson, shared Locke’s ideal that a government can only achieve legitimacy through citizen consent. The notion goes back even further in time, as the first recorded mention of “consent of the governed” was by a Franciscan Friar in the 13th century.
Today’s election integrity movement, which started in earnest after the frustrating befuddlement of the November 2020 elections, has taken on full and dedicated protection of “consent.” And it has done so exactly as the Declaration presents it – through both casting ballots and protecting ballots.
Election integrity leaders are often asked, “what are the most pressing concerns you have about elections?” The short answer might be, “how long do you have?,” but three vulnerabilities stand out as existential threats to election security, procedure and confidence.
These are the accuracy of voter rolls and voter registration procedures, corrupting foreign and domestic interference in elections, and the intrinsic hazards of voting by mail.
Every election office must stay abreast of voters who move or pass away, have duplicate registrations in multiple jurisdictions, register with a college ID when they are not a legal resident of the state, or are noncitizens banned from registering to vote or casting a ballot.
Without accurate voter rolls there is no accurate vote count, and every state’s voter rolls are on a sliding scale of inaccurate. The cohort of eligible voters in a specific jurisdiction changes daily, and lack of list maintenance by state and local officials is a contributing factor to the mess.
A few decades ago, it appears that the left had a meeting and decided that the most efficient way to manipulate elections into achieving their preferred partisan result was to control the process.
Disruptive progressives have a list of “reforms” they push to corrupt and manipulate elections, such as alternate voting schemes like Ranked Choice Voting, Star, and Approval voting. They oppose common sense measures such as voter ID and documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote as included in the 2025 Congressional SAVE Act currently awaiting Senate action.
By embedding operatives and money in election offices (such as through "Zuckbucks"), leftwing billionaires are attempting to insert bias in election administration. Thankfully, 29 states have banned or restricted such influence.
Although donations from foreign nationals are not permitted to individual candidates and PACs, European leftwing billionaires and even hostile nations circumvent laws by funding anti-election integrity state ballot initiatives.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money group financed by progressive Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, donated at least $23 million to sway ballot initiatives in the last few years, according to Americans for Public Trust. Sixteen Thirty spent $5 million in Alaska in 2024 to keep the left’s confusing Ranked Choice Voting scheme in place, and another $22 million in Ohio against its election integrity measures. It also funded pro-abortion activity in Montana, Nevada, Arizona and Florida in an effort to turn out as many liberal voters as possible.
And the FBI has alleged disturbing foreign interference by the Chinese and Iranian governments in our elections. Jefferson’s “consent” certainly did not include foreign adversaries.
The United States Postal Service is the country’s largest precinct – with absolutely no poll observers or election oversight. It loses things regularly (including money) and nothing seems to arrive on time. And yet, most states allow their citizens to send our country’s most valuable civic currency – our ballots – through the mail.
Eight states have “universal mail ballots” where ballots are sent to every “voter” whether they asked for one or not, and regardless of whether they have moved, or are deceased.
Twenty-nine states verify mail ballots by signature matching, a subjective and exhaustive process performed by fallible humans and often without bi-partisan observation. Twenty allow “fixes.” Only 10 states require signature witnesses.
What could possibly go wrong?
We have outlined the problems but also offer the solution – citizens engaged in the election integrity movement. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we have had the power all along.
Through EIN, its nationwide network of election integrity advocates, and state and national organizational partners, citizen patriots have defended lawful procedures, pressured lawmakers toward pro-election integrity legislation, and educated and engaged fellow Americans on system vulnerabilities.
The success of our Republic hinges on elections—and those elections rely on a vigilant, involved electorate.
This Independence Day, Americans must renew their commitment to protect our national consent—from our neighborhoods, church halls, social media accounts and kitchen tables.
Get in there. Don’t let the governed or any political blob dilute the power of your consent.
Kerri Toloczko is Executive Vice President of Election Integrity Network, a 501 c3 organization that is the home of the U.S. Citizens Elections Bill of Rights and found at www.ElectionIntegrityNetwork.org.