Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On Voting Rights In Minority Communities 20240713

Good morning. I thank all of you for being here today good morning, today we are examining our nations history of Voter Suppression. As well as the obstacles that many minority communities continue to face to this day. And in exercising their fundamental right to vote. Tomorrow we will be holding a ceremony to honor our dear friend and colleague and our former chairman, Elijah Cummings. We will be remaining in disappearing room after him and commending everything he stood for. Todays hearing is also part of our effort to honor his legacy. Protecting the right to vote was one of the most important issues. If not the most important issue he fought for during his decades in Public Service. We are holding this hearing in february during black historymonth. It was black americans whose voices were stifled, blocked in silence for centuries and is black americans who are still being disproportionately targeted, even now in shameful efforts to prevent them from registering to vote , purging their names from the voter files and making it harder for them to exercise their rights under the constitution. Last february, chairman cummings a similar hearing, one of the first he called after becoming chairman of this committee. And heexplained his vision for our , i would like to lay a clip from the hearing. I believe that we should be doing everything in our power to make it easier for eligible american citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Not making it harder. We should be making it more convenient, not less. We should be encouraging more people to cast their votes, not fewer. We should be promoting early voting, as the voting. Voting by mail other ways to help citizens pass thereabouts. Not rolling back these very important programs. That is a northstar that everyone in this nation should agree with. On thisdate , 151 years ago , Congress Passed the 15th amendment declaring the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied on account of race. That was the beginning of a long and deadly struggle to ensure that all american citizens can cast their votes. This year is also the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights act of 1965 and the 55th anniversary of blood he someday when hundreds of peaceful civil rights marchers were beaten on the Edmund Pettis bridge in selma alabama. The effortsof civil rights pioneers , some of whom are with us today helped millions of americans exercise their right to. Unfortunately today many states are attacking the right to vote using tactics similar to those of civil rights and ears addled for decades. Last year under chairman cummings leadership and also that of congressman raskin, the committee launched an investigation of allegations in three key states, georgia, texas and kansas. Today we are releasing him of the documents and information we obtain as part of that investigation. For example, in georgia secretary of state brian kemp urged more than half 1 million votes from the rolls and block the registrations of thousands more. All while running for governor area emails obtained by the Committee Show that mister kemp and a top Campaign Aide congratulated each other for confusing the publicabout their illegal voter roll purges. And they also gleefully celebrated as they made it harder for hundreds of thousands of americans to vote. They even used laughing and smiling emojis in a sickening display of duration. We also examine texts which threatened thousands of americans with thrift criminal prosecution from voting illegally only to be forced to reverse course when it was revealed that many if not all were us citizens every right to cast their ballots. Finally, we examined kansas which moved the one and only polling site in the entire city of dodge city kansas outside the city limits without bothering to consult with the local voters. Dodge city has a population of more than 25,000 and they consistpredominantly of minorities. Unfortunately, these are not the only instances of discrimination Voter Suppression area for example, North Carolina has an extremely restrictive voter id law, but the Fourth Circuitstruck down , worried that would target africanamericans with almost surgical precision. These abuses must end and the house of representatives has taken action to stop them. Last year the house passed to landmark bills to protect Voting Rights. Hr one, before the people act would reduce barriers to voting through automatic registration, sameday voting and registration and expanded early voting. Hr 4 would restore and modernize the Voting Rights act, protect against discriminatory voting practices. Unfortunately senator Mitch Mcconnell has refused four months to allow the senate to vote on these bills. Communities across america need to mobilize now to protect the right to votein the upcoming elections. Every american can take action today to make sure there Voter Registration is active, to learn about their options for early or absentee voting and to find their pollingsites. I would like to close where i began and are hearing a year ago, last february. During that hearing chairman cummings told the story about how he sat with his mother on her deathbed and this is what she said to him and i would like to show this moving clip now. On my mothers dying bed, 92 years old, former sharecropper, her last words were not let them take our votes away from us. They had fought, she had fought andseen people armed , beaten, trying to vote. Talk about inalienable rights. Voting is crucial and i dont give a damn how you look at it. There are efforts to stop people from voting. Thats not right. This is not russia. This is the United States of america. Like his mother, chairman cummings has now passed on his spirit is still here with us in this hearing as he urges us with moral clarity to protect and defend the core of our democracy. I want to thank all of you for coming today, i want to thank all our witnesses for being here. I look forward to your historic testimony and i now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member, mister jordan for his opening statements. Iq madam chair and i want to thank you for your kind words about our former chairman and i would echo those sentiments area we all appreciate the work of chairman cummings over the years and his time in congress and his timeout of congress, the great things he was involved in and causes was involved in four, and i would urge all my colleagues to be here tomorrow afternoon when this room will be dedicated to the lake chairman. And were also going to thank you for calling this hearing and thank you for all our witnesses are here today. We like to vote in free and Fair Elections is a bedrock principle of democracy, various constitutional limits the right to vote has been extended to all citizens , regardless of race, color and age requirements, has been roller lord actually to, the most recent expansion took place in 1986 when Congress Passed a law allowing servicemembers to vote while staying overseas. These actions to improve Voting Rights are important but we must remember voting has traditionally been and should remain a state and local responsibility some groups argue voting is too hard, is too complicated, the supplication drive voters away but this study contradicts these claims. According to the study only eight percent of nonvoters that they did not have time to make it to the polls and only five percent said they did not vote because they were nonregistered. Traditionally only percent said they did not quote because it was too complicated and three present said taking the registration process would motivate them to vote read at almost 90 percent of voters surveyed by the knight foundation. Said that voting was easy. A state work to ensure that accessibility is care we should not forgetabout rex to the Election Integrity , we must ensure every eligible citizen vote is counted that votes are not stolen or diluted through voter fraud. Today, the democrats are going to try to paint a picture of massive Voter Suppression. By releasing 13 cherry picked documents from over 1. 3 million pages in their monthlong investigation into the 2018 midterm elections, is 80 documents are a coordinated attempt to suppress minority voters. These minority votes but they do not. These documents Election Officials attempting to ensure honest and secure elections. But its what their job is, thats their responsibility. They show these individual entering only citizens are voting by ensuring eligible voters on the voter role and taking any allegations of cybercrime recently area and one of the most backward allegations, the democrats argued the state of georgia should not have Authority Regarding a potential attack. They argue because georgia did not produce proof of the attack , that the doctor that plane is ridiculous, the Georgia Bureau of investigation is looking into the matter and Cyber Security experts unanimously found was an attempt to reach the voter rolls. The release of the documents is simply a smokescreen to distract from serious issues in our election went voter fraud. The 2018 california falsely registered 23,000 voters including almost 2000 noncitizens read no minor issue, 22,000 votes could have changed the outcome of the 2016 president ial election in michigan, or nevada. In new york there have been 25 convictions for voter fraud related offenses putting registrations and duplicate voting, in maryland there have been preconditions and i can go on and on, voter fraud is an issue that the address therein any discussion about relaxing voter requirements should include how states are going to defend against voter fraud. I hope we can discuss this important aspect here today as well. I would like to thank all eyewitnesses for being here today and we look forward to your testimony. Thank you medicare and i yelled back. I will now recognize mister meadows to see about our dearfriend chairman cummings. Thank you medicare thank you for your leadership. I want to thank all the witnesses are being here and for your testimony that youre about to give. But i want to take just a couple of minutes to talk about my good friendchairman cummings. When you get to see a video of his passion and his willingness to engage. What comes to my mind the most about my good friend Elijah Cummings was to work. Fairness and compassion. Those two words not only were emblematic of friendship that the two of us had there was also a characteristic in a way that he conducted himself as chairman and as Ranking Member and i had the privilege to serve with him in both of those capacities. And hes one that always wanted to make sure that person who didnt have a voice had a voice here in washington dc. So you being here today certainly highlights that area but i want to make sure that we do because the other thing he was always willing to do is to cut the chase. We would have our private offices were just diagonal from one another down the hallway here. And i would go in and being the member with less seniority, i would always go to the member with more seniority, i would go to his office and we would sit down and we would have refract conversations on what legislation could mean, what did mean and the political ramifications. So heres what i would add. In a spirit of being two words or my good friend, effective and efficient, what i would love to hear from all the Witnesses Today are the ways that we can be most effective and efficient with legislation to make sure that every vote is counted and every individual has the opportunity to vote. So many times what we do is we tried to put a big narrative based on real problems, but based on problems that maybe isolated here or there and we tried but big narrative on it. And what i would ask all of you to do is in honoring my good friend Elijah Cummings, give specific examples on what you think we could do from a federal standpoint to help address any issue that is discriminatory or that disenfranchises any people who are here and i thank you medicare for your leadership and i look forward to hearing from our witnesses, i kneeled back. Thank you, today i am honored to turn to harvesting with holly from the district of columbia, congresswoman Eleanor Holmes norton to introduce our witnesses. Congresswoman norton is a civil rights legend in her own right. As a young woman she was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a Civil Rights Organization founded by young student activists including two of our distinguished witnesses diane aTimothy Jenkins. Congresswoman norton fostered civil rights as a student. As head of the new york City Civil Rights Commission and as the first woman to chair the us equal employment opportunitycommission. She has continued to champion these charges, these causes here in the United States and throughout the world as a lawyer, a scholar and since 1991 as our colleague in the us house of representatives, i recognized the distinguished representative from the district. I thank my good friend chairwoman maloney for her very generous words concerning me but i thank her most of all for giving me an opportunity to introduce the Witnesses Today. This is normally the work of the chair of the committee. Two of these witnesses were directly engaged in work to assure that there would be no state obstacles to the right to vote and they must be very proud how that work has in fact benefited millions of americans. They were in the core and the thick of the Civil Rights Movement. My only regret is that our colleague john lewis who though not a member of this committee would certainly be here today if he could. He of course, john of course was chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and i do want to note anumber of our colleagues is in the audience , read chris and also an alumni of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee i first met in mississippi. These witnesses will have only five minutes because of course rules of the committee so i hope particularly the witnesses who can give us perspective on what weve got to do now in renewing the Voting Rights act can talk about their own role so that we have something to compare what were going through today in Voter Suppression with what they experience as student activists because their perspective from that training to invest in our work in combating obstacles we face now in the house in ruling the Voting Rights act. So im pleased to introduce our witnesses, they will be reverend doctor williambarber , the president of repairers of the breach and cochair of the Poor Peoples Campaign. Brian , civil rights leader and one of the Founding Members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Tim jenkins, also my law School Classmates and a Founding Member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, an attorney and an activist and currently serves on the boards of teaching for change the Civil Rights Movement archive. Finally, Marcia Johnson blank off is the codirector of the Voting Rights project for the Lawyers Committee for civil rights. Thank you very much madame chair. Thank you very much and we had hoped that john would be so i now ask unanimous consent to place on the record his statement so he is certainly here with his leadership and in spirit. Thank you and i will begin now by swearing in the witnesses if you will all please riseand raise your right hand. Do you swear to affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Let the record show the witnesses answered in the affirmative. Please be seated. Microphones are sensitive so please pull them to you and speak directly into it and without objection your written statement will be made part of the record and with that Mister Jenkins , you are now recognized provider testimony. Beheading for todays hearing, learning from the past to protect our future. I would add my subtext, of writing todays echoes of past political exclusion. My name is Timothy Jenkins and in 1960, i was as mentioned, one of the Founding Members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee commonly referred to as initial slate. I served as chief lobbyist before the United States was the beatles was desperate surrounding the drafting of the ultimate passage of the civil rights, Voting Rights act of 1965 im here today to advocate needed additional legislative remedies in the face of renewed connivance is to undercut the Historic Success of that earlier legislation area not to mention i am legitimate interpretation of the constitution. While im here as a snake survivor, i did not want to america to forget the world that that interracial interfaith trio of james chaney, Andrew Goodman and michael were who are all members number. Who were murdered in 1964. In philadelphia mississippi. While working as unpaid volunteers seeking to enable black citizens a right to vote. We the surviving members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee find is still our vital duty now just as it was when we were formed in 1960, to never allow america to falter in her commitments for the equal protection of all citizens. We have stayed our lives based on our faith that this country most pull the intentions to strive to form a more perfect union. And establish justice. The loss of cheney, goodman and schwerner is a great reminder of the atrocities that we suffered when we the people were allowed to refer to some rather than all. In the south, our tactics were for extending Voter Registration among minorities and challenging historic acts of Voter Suppression proved to be especially fruitful when a proposed revision offered in our 1963 legislative testimony was enacted in section 5 of the Voting Rights act of 1965. I would think it useful for members of the committee to look at the testimony thatwe submitted in 1964. That gives in some hundred pages more than i can give in the five minutes that i have today. Because in that testimony, enumerates graphically all of the kinds of abuses that we went through to try and get people registered to vote which are now not part of our current dialogue. I heard those of you who have the energy to look at the legislative history and congressional record of that testimony and the invitation that was given to us by an annual sellers, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and our testimony was submitted before the Judiciary Committee. This provision has since in our testimony to the Voting Rights act of 65. Been gutted by the Supreme Courts decision in shelby versus holder. In the year 2013. A ruling based on the false contention that the prevalence of discrimination in thiscountry is outdated. In 1963, when robert moses joined with me and charles sharad, to describe in our testimony the immense and intense obstacles to africanamerican and how we had to mobilize the community to encounter and counteract those abuses. More recently in both georgia and mississippi, through private and public measures of intimidation, African Americans were purged from voting area there is proof that such discrimination and discriminatory procedures are still at large today. As evidenced in georgias recent removal of 100,000 names from the role and rapid closure of polling locations in mississippi. Although the forms have shifted, echoes of the past exclusion still haunts the present. And will persist in plaguing the future if we do not mend the legislative crimes in our system that divide us. If congress believes that voting is a fundamental right of every us citizen , it is now the responsibility of thomas qnx a franchise for all people. This is not a question of the ability of congress, but the willingness to not and enforce laws that will safeguard identities against any exploitations pursued by the radical majorities at the local level. In 1787, when confronted with the question of whether we were going to have a monarchy or whether we were going to have a democracy, Benjamin Franklin responded, it could be a republic if you can keep. Unfortunately, since centuries later in our year 2020, we have yet to demonstrate a republic that is generally representative and exemplified by an unequivocal protection of fundamental rights area prime example is the fact that the crusade against voter fraud is more complicating our legislative initiatives and the facts. The phenomenon that is providing adequate proof of existence still does not exist. According to election experts and members of congress themselves, individuals are more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit in person voter fraud. Both in person voter fraud seems to be the only focus of todays actions that are masquerading as voter protection. News of this lack of statistical evidence to warrant the burgeoning of faith and forcing signature requirements and photo ids, the American People must question the purpose and implication of these laws. Through the authority allowed by Shelby County versus holder, the other approaches in Voter Suppression, racial minority groups, disabled , low income and elderly individuals are being eliminated from our political system at an alarming rate. The frequency of these different actions is something that requires major initiatives. When the constitution was originally adopted, the use of the word we the people was done, but it did not include black women, Indigenous People or those without property as an equally. Thank you. Ms. Johnson blanker, youre recognized for your testimony. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today. I codirect the Voting Rights project of the Voters Committee under law where i oversee project and advocacy portfolio. The county versus holder decision, section 5 of Voting Rights act, we are in danger by the act. The committee is a National Organization at the request of john f. Kennedy in 1963 to mobilize the private bar to address issues of racial discrimination, from the beginning a major part of our work has been combating racial discrimination. The Supreme Court conceded that it still exists, no one doubt that even though at the time it was admonishing this body that the formula should be based on Current Conditions. Well, Current Conditions showing discrimination existed and continues to exist today. Examples of discrimination which impacts which voters are using procedures like exact match not to process Voter Registration application, challenging and removing voters from the roles, cuts to early voting, the restrictive photo id requirements, closure and consolidation of polling places, absentee ballots, violation of law requiring assistance to voters but limited English Proficiency and barriers to the votes to returning citizens upon completion of their sentence. Significantly the department of justice has been largely absent in the face of the voting discrimination. These types of voting since the Shelby County decision, the justice has filed 3 suits against voting changes that discriminate, that would have been precleared under section 5 of the Voting Rights act. By contract, the Lawyers Committee has brought 14 cases involving voting changes. 11 of which were in jurisdictions formerly covered by section 5 of the Voting Rights act. In short, efforts to block access to ballot continue. Findings of discrimination that were present when the Supreme Court decided Shelby County decision, illustrates Current Conditions exist but robust enforcement of all federal laws. The department of Justice Needs to do more. It needs to be more of a partner with organizations like the Lawyers Committee who fight against voting discrimination and it is important that Congress Acts in sure that theres no backsliding after many decades trajectory of passing laws to ensure the promise of our democracy that all eligible citizens have access to the ballots. This has begun with the passage of the for the people act, hr1 and Voting Rights advancement act by this body and this important work must continue to ensure that we dont backslide and all eligible voters have access to the ballot and that their votes will be counted. Thank you. Thank you, ms. Nash, youre recognized for 5 minutes. Chair member maloney, Ranking Member jordan, members of the committee, fellow citizens who are present, i want to begin by acknowledging the work of reverend james bebel, he was my former husband who is now deceased, james and i were partners in the selma right to Vote Movement which was one onef the efforts that lead to passageover Voting Rights act of 1965. Our son douglas devel is here today. The letter from chairman woman maloney inviting me to testify today said the hearing will examine current barriers, americans, especially those in minority communities and exercising the right to vote and lessons from the Civil Rights Movement about how we can overcome these barriers to ensure the 2020 election is free and fair. Black voters and many nonblack voters are in worst place now than we were when the Voting Rights act was passed in 1965. Then we did not have Citizens United. Citizens who cant afford to make Campaign Contributions and those who cannot afford to make large contributions do not have parity with wealthier voters. We need to establish one person, one vote. Progress had been made with the signing of the Voting Rights act of 1965. I believe that Supreme Court justice scalia, kennedy, thomas, alito and roberts who voted to gut the Voting Rights act knew that removing provision that required states to receive federal approval for changes in voting procedures would result in the curtailing of Voting Rights for minorities. I do not believe for one second that they really thought the provision was no longer needed as Justice Roberts wrote. We knew the result would be gerrymandering and voting suppression and those 5 justices knew it also because they are as smart as you and i. So 5 justices of the United States Supreme Court suppressed Voting Rights and undermined democracy deliberately. Sometimes those opposed to desentenced of enslaved africans having equal rights undo progress thats been made and Civil Rights Organizations spend years working to recover progress that was unnecessarily rolled back. Excuse me. They give us a hamster wheel on which to run. James cheney, Andrew Goodman and michael schwerner, jimmy lee and Jackson Viola lee, people were beaten into unconsciousness, people were beaten permanently injured, fired from jobs and families were evicted from their homes in order to obtain the right to vote. I do not appreciate what those 5 justices did. Its not the first time. In 1857 jeff Justice Robert cheney wrote for the majority that the negro had quote no right which the man was bound to respect, end quote. Legislation to restore measures lost when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights act is needed but it is not enough. To stop there would be to hamster wheel. We need legislation to get out of Political Campaign and have government funding of Political Campaigns. We need to abolish the Electoral College. Political parties need to eliminate super delegates, all these exist because some citizens tried to gain advantage and have more power than other citizens. We need paper ballots so that the votes totals can be documented. If we expect Foreign Countries to respect our democracy and not meddle in our elections, we need to stop interfering in their elections, we need to stop with regime change when a country choses a government that the United States administration doesnt like. You read what you spoke, chickens come home to roost, what goes around comes around, proverbs said come about over time because they contain truth and wisdom. How would we like it if another country did not approve of a president we elected and they proceeded to bomb our country and install someone acceptable to them as head of our government . The regime change. You have to practice fairness yourself, not just when you are being treated unfairly. We should all be constantly looking for unfairness and trying to correct it. Some examples of unfairness that i want to cite are, i think that at the beginning of the primary season during the first couple of debates all candidates should be given equal time to speak since television is how most people become familiar with candidates and what they stand for, network should give equal time for candidates at least for a reasonable period at the beginning of the primary season. Networks should not be allowed to usurp the function of voters while attempting to influence elections by some candidates especially early in the process. When i received the invitation to testify before your committee today i decided that if i could make the contribution, even a small one toward stopping slide from country away from democracy and authoritarianism it would be well worth it to travel here today. Forces that want to stem the United States of america into authoritarian government control the presidency, the department of justice, the majority of the senate and the majority of the Supreme Court. Even if he loses the election of november 2020, i can not envision President Trump making a concession speech. Rather i can only believe hes likely to say that the election was unfair and that, in fact, he won. My council is that you should decide now exactly and specifically. Keywords are exactly and specifically. Who will remove him from office should that scenario occur . Dont be caught at the time trying to decides who going to remove him, just like the intelligence apparatus is being reshaped, we should assume that similar efforts are going on in the military. When people in the 1960s were risking our lives to get the right to vote, we really thought that if we got a number of blacks and some right intention nonblacks in political positions the lives of black people as a whole would be improved. What we didnt see coming was that individuals would be elected to office and would consider their positions their personal jobs instead of representing their constituents and that many would be more concerned with being elected for additional terms instead of representing to the best of their ability their constituents. Civil Rights Movement in the southern United States follow mohamed gandhis teachings, being truthful was one of his teachings, when a person or a country has gotten off the path, truth will lead one back to a better direction. One of the principles of nonviolence is that it is a mistake to cooperate with wrong things. Some examples of what i think are mistakes. About a year before president obamas term was over, the senate refused to consider the president s appointment for the Supreme Court. Republicans were allowed to get away with that. Democrats were found the same, no one is above the law yet when persons ignore subpoenas your time is well past, can we tie it up now. One more minute. Okay. When persons ignore subpoenas issued by the house of representatives, they were allowed to be above the law. Violaters should have been treated like most americans are treated if we ignore lawful subpoenas. Marshals should have arrested them and Court Challenges should have been worried about later. When Brett Kavanaughs nomination for the Supreme Court was in question and only a sham investigation took place, he was allowed to become a justice. When witnesses and documents were denied as evidence in the impeachment trial, that was allowed. The government should have been shut down until all of the documents and witnesses you wanted were produced. You should still shut it down until you get the documents and witnesses you want, they were necessary and in order to have a fair trial. I want to remind you that your written testimony will be made part of the permanent record and we are now at almost 10 minutes when your time allotted was 5 minutes chairwoman maloney, with deep respect, before i left chicago i sent a copy of my statement and told the staff how long it would be and told them if i would not be allowed to finish the statement i wouldnt come. Well, thank you for so i really would like please continue with your statement. Thank you. Okay. All right. They were necessary in order to have fair trial, now those documents and witnesses are necessary for voters to have the information we need in order to cast informed votes in november. The house of representatives has more power than youve been willing to use. You can stop funding certain items, be proportional, smaller issues require stringent measures, very important matters require serious responses. What are you putting up with now . Is the senate refusing to act on bills you sent them . Some of those bill designed to protect our elections including the election of november 2020 . You can stop cooperating until you need to have until what you need to have happen happens to persons who are fired or resigned from this administration, please do not go away quietly, speak up, hold the press conference, tell the voters what is happening, we need to know so that we can make informed choices. When youre dealing with people like those in the Current Administration who are willing to be unlawful and who disregard the constitution who will promptly violate oath, you have to be as bold as they, you teach people out to treat you as dr. Phil says. Democracy and the public are being and the republic are being assaulted. The democratic elements in the government, the democratic elements in the government and we citizens had better begin to act accordingly. Our grandchildren are depending on us not to allow the republic to be lost on your watch. I was coordinator of freedom rights to desegregate interstate bus travel in 1961 before they boarded the buses several freedom riders gave me envelopes that they asked me to mail in the event of their death, the Founding Fathers and mothers took up arms against the king. If they had lost the revolutionary war they would have been executed. It took work and sacrifice and courage to establish this republic. Keeping this profound gift, the republic they obtained for us will continue to take work and sacrifice and courage. Like irvin berlin, my prayer for our country is the creator will stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above. God bless the United States of america and all the people of this planet. Thank you. Thank you. And reverend barber. We are sitting in mother of movement and in my tradition we applaud a mother. [applause] for her courage. [applause] chairman maloney may i stand, ada issue . Absolutely. I want to thank you chairwoman and Ranking Member and all of the congresspersons that are here. I have sent in extensive written words to this committee that have been entered into the record. I want to say that even from recent history and the continuing reality of Voter Suppression there are some things we must know and i come from North Carolina where we have seen the worst attacks since june 25th of 2013. What is it that we now know . We know when race is gerrymandering plans can be implemented without clearance, state legislatures in the south and other places will justify and draw racist plans that create super majorities that are as one judge has said unconstitutionally constituted and disenfranchise black, brown, native and poor voters. We know that after these unconstitutional constituted state legislators and congressional delegations are seated, are seated, they will lie about voter fraud as a pretext for passing racist Voter Suppression laws targeted at black, brown and poor voters and we know this experience especially in the south where the south represents 170 of the 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. We call this and the courts have called this surgical racism. For instance, in North Carolina after we had won sameday registration, early voting and registration for 17yearolds, extremists in the state legislator passed omnibus Voter Suppression bill as soon as the shelby decision came down stripping the Voting Rights act of preclearance requirements. One Legislature Said now that the headache has been removed, we can begin and they started rolling back the voter extensions that voters had used in the previous 2 election cycles, it took us 4 years in court over a thousand arrests for ncaap, monday Forward Together and others to turn back what should have never been passed by the state legislature in the first place because as a federal court said and the Supreme Court affirmed, it was surgical and intentional racism. That is why i wish my god friend mr. Meadows from North Carolina because i wanted to ask him to truly be a friend to the friend he climbs in Elijah Cummings and support his vision to deal with Voter Suppression because if you cant support my true friendship is really questionable. Since 2013, Senate Leader mcconnell and Speaker Boehner and ryan worked to Keep Congress from fixing the Voting Rights act. Today is 2,437 days that republicans in congress have refused to fix the Voting Rights act and some democrats have refused to make this a central issue and campaign in politics and push hard enough to expose what is going on. Refused to fix the filibuster, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for one day and we call him a racist. The congress has refused to fix the Voting Rights act for 2,437 days today. We dont know all that russia did but we know what Voter Suppression has done. Let me be clear, the politicians and state houses and congressional delegations who benefit from racist Voter Suppression share a policy agenda when they get in office. They have work as a block to attack antipoverty measures, expand to cast expanding access to health care, they vote against living wages, they block policies that hurt poor white people most since the total of number poor whites is 66 million in raw numbers and 26 million are black people. They fight against earned income tax and lockterm unemployment. This is the great and ugly irony of racist Voter Suppression. The very people who use it to obtain power. Once they get the power, they exercise it in ways that hurt mostly poor white people which dr. King spoke of at the end of Selma Montgomery march, every time theres possibility for poor blacks and poor whites to come together and vote we always have these efforts. Raw black, brown people in percentages are more poor but in raw number more white. It gives us an impoverished democracy. Perpetrating as racist in a suit rather than a sheep. The Poor Peoples Campaign has identified the following necessary investments in democracy and equal protection under the law which we believe are interlink morally and institutionally. Number 1, full restoration and expansion of the Voting Rights act with a formula coverage, hear me democrat, with a formula coverage that ensures coverage and reinstates free clearance at a minimum to the formerly covered states and jurisdictions and end to racist gerrymandering and restricting and we call for Early Registration of 17yearolds, automatic registration at the age of 18, early voting in every state, sameday registration, enactment of election day as a holiday and a verifiable paper record, we demand the right to vote for the currently and formerly incarcerated. We demand that. We also demand at Adequate Funding for polling places to accommodate full participation in the electorate. We demand statehood and Voting Rights and representations for the residents of washington, d. C. We demand the reversal of state laws preempting local governments from passing minimum page increases and the removal of emergency Financial Management position that are unaccountable to the democratic process. We demand that first nation native americans and alaskan native people retain their tribal recognition as nation not races to make claims to their sovereignty and have full access to the ballot. We demand a clear and just immigration system that strengths our democracy through the broad participation of everyone in this country, this includes providing a timely citizenship process that guaranties the right to vote, also requires protecting immigrants abilities to organize for their rights in the workplace and their communities without fear of retribution, detention or deportation. We demand quality and safety of all persons regardless of Sexual Orientation and gender identity and we demand equal treatment and accessible housing, health care, Public Transportation and adequate income and services for people with disabilities, we call for a full televised debate on Voting Rights, on Voting Rights for televised debate on Voting Rights and we declare that Voter Suppression is sin. We do not give Voting Rights to people to puppets and pets, only to citizens who are 18 years old and older so to suppress the vote is to, in fact, suggest that you have entered a guard space and you can determine other peoples reality and to suppress the vote is to suggest that other people do not have the same, the image of god, suppressing the vote is sin and has no place in this in this democracy and on this Ash Wednesday i call on those who have fought against right to vote and have lied about voter fraud and pushed Voter Suppression and have smiled smirkingly at it repent, repent for the bible says war onto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their rights and make women and children their prey. [applause] thank you. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for questions. Ms. Johnson blanco, Voting Rights act put end to many abuses that you all testified to but recently weve seen a renewed effort to suppress votes through voter purges, poll closures and other tactics. Our committee has been investigating many of the abuses, for example, in georgia, the state purged more than 500,000 citizens from the voter rolls before the 2018 elections. In texas the state issued an advisory claiming erroneously that thousand of people had illegally voted and threatened the individuals with criminal prosecutions and in dodge city, kansas, majority latino city local officials moved the only polling place outside the city and gave the wrong address to some new voters, so my question to you, mrs. Johnson blanco, what impact do these tactics have on minority communities . Put on your microphone. Yes chairmanwoman, they keep substantial minority voters from being able to access the ballot. These laws that have been passed, the way they are being implemented have a disproportionate impact on minority voters and our litigation has shown that to be true. When, for example, georgia aggressively rejected absentee ballots it was disproportionately against minority voters. The exact match that georgia implemented that did not allow for Voter Registration was disproportionately implemented against minority voters. So when these laws are passed, what they do is in a sense, in essence keep minority voters from the ballot. And also ms. Johnsonblanco, proponents of voting often claim they are trying to stop, quote, voter fraud, is this a legitimate explanation of these actions . No, it isnt because in essence what they are doing is keeping eligible voters from the ballot. In texas voter id case, for example, a record showed that there were 600,000 registered voters who didnt have to restricted voter id that texas required, so what is isolated instances of voter fraud cannot be used to keep thousands of legitimate voters from the ballot. Thank you and reverend barber, just like the poll taxes and literacy from years ago, today are race neutral on their face but they disproportionately impact black and brown communities, what do you believe is motivating the states that are aggressively pursuing efforts to limit the right to vote . Reverend barber. Sometimes they are sometimes they are, in fact, its on. Sometimes they seem to be on their face but the courts have said its intentional. We were actually told not to try not to prove imintentional racism but we knew it was intentional and we proved it in the court. The demographic shifts are driving this because we know right now that if you register to the 10 of low people were plaque and brown and white in the south particularly and you get 30 of unregistered black voters to vote, you can fundamentally change all of the Southern States and we know the battleground the 170 electoral votes that are in just 11 states in the United States. We also know that in our state we saw a massive increase in voting after we won sameday registration and early voting. The first thing this unconstitution did they went after sameday registration vote. I want this committee to hear this. They did not stop a program to extend the vote from being implemented, they took a program that voters had already used in 2 election cycles that was critical in 2008. They rolled back what citizens had actually used for 2 election cycles because of the fear of coalition of black and brown and white people that can come together when we have access to the ballot. Thank you, my time expired. Im grateful to all of the witnesses for your tireless work, your dedication to protecting the right to vote and i now recognize the gentleman, mr. Heist from georgia for as much time as he needs because many people speak past their time. Thank you, mr. Madame chair, i appreciate that. I will stay within my limits and i thank the witnesses and for this hearing the purpose of which is to make sure that theres no Voter Suppression, learn more about that and also voter fraud. The thing is we want to maintain voter integrity in this country. And i want to speak specifically to some issues in georgia that have come up that are misleading and just wrong and i want to correct the record on some of those things. The fact that it has never been easier to register or to vote in the state of georgia, in fact, this last election all demographic groups had Record Number turnouts, thats because of the efforts that have taken place in georgia to make Voter Registration and voting easier and more accessible to everyone. This last election midterm 2018 had 55 of eligible voters in georgia actually voted. That is record and is in every demographic category. That compared to 2016 or 2014 of 38 and in 2010 it was 40 and now 55 turnout, thats 17 better than the previous midterm election. And im proud that within those statistics that the turnout of minority groups across the board dramatically increased compared to 2014. Africanamerican turnout, for example, increased 32 and a half percent. Hispanic and Asian American in the 90 percent isle percentile increase, not to suppress but get voters of all demographic groups to participate and i know that we went to great links in georgia. In fact, in 2016 we started the automated Voter Registration and we have sent since 2016, georgia doing it, many other states have participated as well. But, again, its never been easier in georgia for people to register, its never been easier in georgia for people to actually vote and yet we hear examples that have come up where i heard mention that some 53,000 georgians were not allowed to register, their applications were placed on hold by the secretary of states office. Thats just wrong in the first place, processing of Voter Registration in the state of georgia is not even handled by the secretary of state. Its handled by the local counties, its on a county level where the Voter Registrations are taken place. If someone in a county had a problem with their Voter Registration, they received a letter from their county not from the secretary of state and in that letter from their county, they were told that their status is pending, they were told why it is pending, they were told what needs to be done to correct the problem and then it may surprise some in this room, they were told in the letter that they could still vote. Yes, they could still vote. They had to show up and they were also told the location, where to go, but all they had to do, they would get a ballot just like everyone else but they had to come with a voter id just like everyone else in the state of georgia has to show up with but they could still vote. Thats reasonable. Every effort in the world was made to let them know what the problem was, how to correct it and where to still go vote and that they were allowed to vote and the allegations here just not true, some other things, comments were made that county and state officials closed more than 200 polling places. Again, thats very misleading. In the first place against state officials cannot close polling locations. That, again, is something thats done on a county level. But secondly our most populated counties and areas in the state of georgia added polling locations and thats been taking place since 2012. And thirdly, there was notable increase of individuals voting early, this is extremely important since 2014 georgia has seen 25 increase in early voting. Its counties that handle the polling and so forth, not, not the state. So theres another allegation that hundreds of Voting Machines were missing, well, the truth is that was because a federal judge ordered those hundreds of Voting Machines held up because of a lawsuit that was taking place by some activists in the three counties involved in that urged the judge to reconsider because it could affect voting, but repeatedly the plaintiffs counsels refused to cooperate. So madame chair, i see ive gone over by 30 seconds, i said i wouldnt do that. I appreciate your your indulgence for a moment with that, but i did want to set some of the record straight as it relates to georgia and with that, i yield back. I thank the gentleman, the gentlemenwoman from the district of colombia ms. Norton for 5 minutes. It was interesting to hear in which georgia has succeeded in ridding the state of some of its practices, we know that it is true because democrats took back the house last year and that would not have happened unless African Americans hadnt insisted on overcoming barriers, barriers like purging and i just want to cite for the gentleman from georgia the extraordinary number of voters in his state, half a million who were purged and most of them were people of color, but my question i also looked at other states to try to have something to compare georgia with and thats why my question goes to purging in ohio which is not under the civil rights Voting Rights act, 460,000, wisconsin 200,000 purged, so first to ms. Johnsonblanco, because we would have im trying to understand what the response to some purging, what purging means that may be legitimate and may occur in northern and Southern States and whether or not we are meeting purging that may be a violation of the Voting Rights act. Would you would you clarify for us what would be legitimate purging and the kinds of purging that when you get half a million voters surely involves some errors or some intent. Congresswoman norton, i think we should say theres a difference between maintenance and voter perjuring. Theres a process, they must first reach out to those voters and ensure that they are no longer residents in their jurisdiction before removing them and 2, federal election cycles have to pass. Some of them encounter delays when it comes to vote . In other words, if you u. S. Stock market futures been purged and you first learn about it, you cast your vote. Its pretty hard you will be delayed, are you going to come back to vote, would you describe that kind of . If the notice has been given then voters are showing up to vote and then finding. This happened in new york, for example, where voters had been removed after they had voted in past elections in violation of the national Voter Registration act. In georgia, if a voter, we had situations where because a voter was challenged and Hancock County they were removed of the rolls in violation of the Voter Registration act, so theres a process for legitimately removing voters who are no longer eligible to vote in jurisdiction, but when that is not done, thats where we see purges and the study by the center for justice has shown that these voter purges are happening disproportionately in formerly covered jurisdictions. That clarification is important because purgers that result in a person having to leave the voting place and come again, it seems to me ought to be allowed under our bill, madame chair, so we do not say in fact, you have to come to the polls 2 or 3 times in order to be able to vote. We are looking for ways to make sure Voting Rights act is relevant to todays practices. Ms. Nash, could i ask you to compare the kind of voting suppression you encountered as a young person and the kind of voting suppression that the witnesses have testified to today . Are there any similarities . Yes, congresswoman turn on your mic. Turn on your mic. Okay. Yes, there are. Both voter curtailment in the jim crow era and now are often based on White Supremacy and discrimination against minorities. Even back then, we were never told directly that we are discriminating against black people. Instead there were literacy tests that said, people who cant pass literacy tests would not be allowed to vote and then went right ahead and registered white people who didnt pass it and the literacy tests were ridiculous. Like youd be told to write the state constitution out from memory and if you left out a co comma or left out a word, you were out. They charged poll taxes when black peoples wages were just virtually starvation wages, and so thats thats a similarity. People are never honest and straight up and truthful. They have these complications and i think we should just make make complicated things simple. I would like to say thank you very much, ms. Nash. Thank you, i recognize the gentleman from texas mr. Roy for 5 minutes. I thank the chair, thank you for holding this hearing. I think all thank the witnesses for taking their time today. As remind today chair cummings the last time we were able to talk to him at lengths, my son was here and we were dealing, our mutual affects for the Baltimore Oriols as we head to spring training and hopefully the orioles will come out this year and have a great season, breakout season in honor of the chairman. But im, you know, the issue that is we are talking about here today are of upmost important. They strike as who we are as american citizens and ensuring that all have access to vote, all have access to take part in our democratic republic. One thing that i would like to just make sure to clarify for the record because i do think its important, i spent a number overseas lawyer for senator john cornyn, during 5, 6, 7, 4, 5, 6 when we were debating the reauthorization of Voting Rights act in 2006 which ultimately led then to shelby holding in 2013. And at the time there was a great deal of debate and discussion and we were at that time i was a council in the subcommittee in the constitution, i think civil rights or Property Rights i think it was what it was called at the time. And what i think is important because i pulled the record as staffers in the room know you do, youre spending hours in the wee morning reading record and looking at the data and and the striking at the core of what the court found in 2013 mean far from being, i think, particularly id say for justice thomas, but far from being a racially motivated decision about Voting Rights, this is a decision about data. It was a data that was being used, 1964, 1968 and 1978 data that was being used to justify section 54b and this was what was found to be problematic by the court. I think rightfully so because you cant justify section 5 preclearance in 2006 based on data from 1968, 1964, 1972. Thats what the court found and i think the correct court was correct about that. In that time we had record and record of anecdotal examples of situations where race might be a problem with respect to voting or might have been obstacles to voting around the country and if you looked through annext anecdotal records and many were not covered by section 5 and anecdotal examples. The point being the formula being used in the 2006 reorganization was flawed and the court rightfully acknowledged that congress got it wrong by driving through a rushed reauthorization that was based on flawed data so what congress should have done was gone through holistically looking through the record in terms of examples of discrimination exist and the obstacles in the poll that is need to be looked at appropriately scattered around the country not just looking at the section 5 preclearance states which were defined by 1964, 1968, 1972 data as the record reflected at the time in 2006 and as the justices found in 2013 in shelby. I think thats an important for us to remember because that was the legal holding. The only other thing that i would note this last weekend my or members of large Baptist Church in downtown austin, texas, we have been going to Different Church of late closer to our home and i was went in there, walked through the door and there was a former colleague of mine in Attorney Generals Office at the state of texas david whitley, david whitleys name is scattered throughout the documents because he was former secretary of state in texas. David whitley was trying to work to figure out what levels of voter fraud exist in texas. Voter fraud exists in texas, its real, the question is the number. The numbers that were released last year which others acknowledged that were wrongly put out prematurely, those numbers were wrong and he acknowledged that. Lost his job for it. I talked to him. This is a man who is walking with daughter and wife, hes a real guy, a nice guy and david, you know, felt bad that that data got released that way. It was wrong, later they found that at least a quarter of those numbers were folks that had been naturalized citizens and ultimately voted. There were thousands of folks that theres indication of real voter fraud and it is a real problem that we are dealing with in texas and particularly because of a very porous voter which we have discussed at length in the committee. I would ask to remember that and these are real human beings trying to deal with real problems as we talk about making sure that real human beings we should all be able to vote, should vote and there should be no obstacles to that and with that i will turn it over to the chair. I thank the gentleman, his time has expired. The gentleman from, mr. Cooper is recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you, madame chair. My impression i was going to yield to a statement to reverend dr. Barber because hes under time pressure, so dr. Barber i would be happy to yield to you if thank you so much and thanks to this committee, madame chair and Ranking Member for allowing me to come. I actually have to get back to Ash Wednesday service but i want to put 3 things to my friend from human brother from georgia, all of your arguments were tried in the courts and they did not work. The fact that you say well, more people voted, that also was argument of segregationist. Because some black people made it through segregation it wasnt really that bad. None of that has ever held up in court, the argument of voter fraud never brought to court because it cant be brought, cant be proven in court. You also said that Voter Suppression is is not the real voter fraud. We had 154 fewer voting places in the black community. In 2014, tom tillis won the senate by only 40,000 votes and study done in North Carolina said that 75,000 votes were suppressed and book give us the ballot says 250,000 votes were suppressed. In wisconsin even though the president claim won by 30,000 votes. We cannot just discontinue to take oath in here and just lie. Its not true. Record numbers of turnout have more to do with people fighting against regression than it has to do with them not being affected by Voter Suppression and then lastly i would say, in North Carolina we had a law already if you lie, you get caught, 5 years felony. There was no voter fraud. The fraud is to claim a voter fraud as a way of not dealing real Voter Suppression and finally, to those who say that that we needed a new form, i dont agree with that theory because the states never quit. They never quit. We have to remember on the record that every state that was under the original Voting Rights act, all they had to do was act right for 10 years, thats all. Stop discriminating for 10 years. Stop suppressing for 10 years, dont pass any bills for 10 years and democrats in the south and republicans couldnt resist it. Couldnt resist it. They could have all been removed but for 10 years and republicans have now exacerbated it because they are actually arguing in court that retrogression is legal because its no longer in place. We heard that in court. Retrogression is legal and one judge, white southerner from South Carolina asked this question, a federal judge from South Carolina who is white, he said, why is it that you all dont want people to vote . And the whole courtroom became quiet because my friends, that is the ultimate question, why are we more interested in retrogression than progression . God bless you. Gentleman yields back to mr. Cooper has remaining time. Thank you, madame chair. Theres no more revered name in National Tennessee than diane nash, mother of the movement, a woman of undaunted courage. I thought all testimony of witnesses were compelling that her sentence and testimony when she said and i quote, black voters and many nonblack voters are in a worst place now than they were when the Voting Rights act was passed in 1965. How sad a statement is that . I think especially young people take progress for granted, progress as eni inevitable, we heard statements how we have gone backwards instead of forward. Dr. Barber mentioned we are 3,400 in delay, he referred to james crow esquire in a suit that retrogression is legal, thats just a fancy word for going backwards. Why is this happening to us today . I do my best to be bipartisan and my friends on the other side of the aisle, this is the only type of red tape, government red tape that they really love, is when it hampers voting. Sadly my state of tennessee has gotten really good at it. We just passed last year and the Committee Looked at georgia, texas and kansas. Tennessee passed last year first bill on america that would make Voter Registration efforts criminal when struck down by local federal judge, now they are amending the bill to only have 50dollar fines per instance even though many of these are minor infractions or incomplete Social Security number which most people are reluctant to hand out to stranger anyway, but thats just like a poll tax in advance and could put many of the Voter Registration organizations out of business which seems to be the ultimate intent. Thats just one way our state of tennessee sadly is going backwards, but the congress of the United States, people forget and i wish mr. Roy were still here but apparently he was staffer for senator cornyn forgot key of voting right acts in 2006, that was 98 to 0, bipartisan unanimity on that and in the house of representatives it was 390 to 33. Tons of our republican friends were enthusiastic and renewing the Voting Rights act only to be undercut by the Supreme Court. So im hopeful we will pass hr1, im hopeful it will get through the senate because, the house already passed it and im hopeful because most people dont realize theres affirmative constitutional right in our constitution for the right to vote. We have many Voting Rights amendments but thats mainly to prevent discrimination which allows states a free reign to re invent james crow. Would it be nice if the 29th amendment absolutely guarantied the people right to vote and we could have reforms that people are talking about and that we sometimes take for granted because its not really written down in our own constitution but if we could all just show some of the courage that dianne nash showed when she was 29 years old, went to jail while pregnant to stand up for her basic rights, thats the sort of courage that folks in Congress Need to show. So thank you, ms. Nash, you are a mother of the movement. Youre an icon, all of you, mr. Jenkins, youre amazing, and we need to learn from your fine example. Thank you, ms. Chair. Thank you for the moving statement. The gentleman from kentucky, mr. Matthews recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you, madame chairwoman. Ms. Johnsonblanco i think you were concerned that photo identifying disenfranchise minorities when they go to vote . In texas photo id litigation it showed and the court found that the photo id law in texas disproportionately discriminated against minority voters. You have the same concern in other states that are trying to pass similar laws . Some studies have a photo i. D. Requirement to exercise your right to keep and bear arms and some states do not have a photo y. Requirement top keep and bear arms. In states without a requirement there are more people with bearing and arms. Are you concerned that the photo i. D. Would affect minorities. I work in Voting Rights. Im not an expert on the Second Amendment and the impact it has on minority voters. What im concerned about is that photo i. D. Laws that keep people from being able to vote in our transportation photo i. D. Litigation we had someone who said i have to choose between my kitchen and voting because she couldnt pay for the underlying document needed for their i. D. Can you see it might have the same effect not asking you to weigh in on the Second Amendment. Could it possibly disenfran chance minorities in the same way it does when voting as you believe it does when voting. Im trying to understand your question. Are you asking me if minorities have less access to guns because of photo i. D. Es to bear arms . Thats correct. I dont know the answer to that question. Okay. Miss nash, you mentioned poll taxes, and how they would disenfranchise the poor and maybe in some cases minorities, i think. Is that correct . Mainly disenfranchise blacks. Okay. And they were poor. So some states require a fee to exercise a persons Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, and some states do not require a fee for a person to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. Washington, dc is a jurisdiction where you have to pay rather hefty fee to keep and bear arms. Do you believe that that requirement, that monetary requirement, could also disproportionately disenfranchise africanamericans from their right to keep and bear arms . I dont know. Id have to take some time to study that issue can you explain why people that know about. Can you explain why it wouldnt . Seems like a pretty straight analogy. No. I really prefer to take time to think about things. I could give yaw spur of the moment answer. Im not sure what that would be. But i think that would be irresponsible of me. Let me ask everybody here one question. Because its some of you have mentioned i wish reverend barber was still here some of you mentioned that there are too many barriers for people who served a sentence in obtaining their right to vote again after theyve served their time. I would like to ask you, miss nash, do you believe a nonviolent felony offender who has served their time should have their right to keep and bear arms restored . Yes. I think every a person has paid their debt to society, that all of their rights should be restored. Miss johnsonblanco, do you believe a person, a nonviolent felony offender who served their time to sheaf he right to keep and bear arms restored . I would need to think but it. Its not something ive looked into, but Second Amendment is a basic constitutional right. It is a basic constitution recalllight and i believe anyone who served their debt to society should have access to all available rights. So that would include the right to keep and bear arms, the right to own and carry a firearm. Potentially, like i said i would need to think more about that. A reason why you wouldnt let them have heir right to bear arms as guaranteed in the constitution if their nonviolent felony offender who served their time. Theres no rope i can think of at the moment, no. I cant think of one either. Mr. Jenkins would you see tort the right of aen in violent felony offender to keep and bear arms. If there are no other considerations that would disqualify them, theres an absolute right for people to have political rights. I do not see that theres an equivalence between that and bearing of arms. I think one of the fundamental things were here to talk about is Voting Rights. We shouldnt deflect shouldnt be a bait and switch to have a discussion but the arms when the issue is Voting Rights. Let in ask newyear the facility you sound very passionate but urn concerned about the ability of [applause] you souped unconcerned about these laws that, i it seems to me, you all would agree disproportionately disenfranchise minorities from exercising a basic constitutional right and i just wrapping up my time has expired dish want to say im glad it looks like we have unanimous agreement here, at least nobody here at least asserts that somebody should be deprived of a constitutional right such as the right to keep and bear arms if, after they have served their sentence let the record show that nobody has died because of their being deprived of a bear guns. What we have is a record mr. General since, thats actualitily false. Thats not false. I have a staffer who worked for me whose husband was shot and front of her the gentlemans time has expired. Madam chairwoman, me a i finnish you indulged the other members. All right. Finish. Okay. What youre saying, mr. Jenkins, is absolutely incorrect. I had a staffer, who worked for me, she watched her husband be gunned down in front of her in a gunfree zone because her firearm, she followed the law and left her firearm in the vehicle. So do not tell me and do not tell her that nobody has ever died because they were deprived of their right to keep and bear arms. Let me tell you this. That the whole business of being able to vote is not enter meshed with the business of bearing arms. Youre taking the time that were trying to deal with a constitutional right to be a citizen and turning into it something else. Use another forum. We dont have many opportunities to get a right to vote. We dont have an opportunity to talk about the whole business of the way in which the constitution has been distorted and dont takes off on some rabbit trail the constitution is not a rabbit trail and you look look disengine ounce when youre trying to pick and choose which constitutional right that im trying to pick and choose the subject matter of this hearing. You understand that this is my time and i am concerned about this issue for minorities because we know it to be true. Youre filibustering on the question that is irrelevant the gentlemans time has expired. I yield back. The gentleman from virginia, mr. Connelly, exres miked for five minutes. I thank the chairwoman. Mr. Jenkins you just saw and experienced the distractions that occurs on the other side of the aisle because they dont want to talk about Voting Rights protection. If we start with the constitution of the United States, the first thing we should be concern about is protecting the sacred franchise of the right of every american to be able to vote. Instead he wants to talk about gun control because he is uncomfortable apparently talking about your right and my right to vote unimpeded. This country has experienced an epidemic of Voter Suppression measures. Since rubbles took over state houses and governors mansions across america. Strict voting i. D. Laws that many people, especially people of color, cannot meet and they know it. Whimsical, capricious purges of voting rolls, million of americans because the misspelled. Capriciously. Denying them the right to vote. Voter blem addition tactics. Robocalls to tell people on the eve of an election their precincts changed. Or warning them theyll be all kinds offed people at the voting plate place to make sure no wince committing voter fraud. Thats intimidation. Mr. Jenkins, would you agree with the proposition that when we talk but at most the Brenan Center says that voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent. Actual voter fraud in the United States is extremely limited. But the fact that almost 40 of americans dont vote, dont vote, even in a president ial election, i dont know, call me silly but a that might be the bigger problem. Not voter fraud. But the fact we dont have universal voter participation. Not even close. Would you agree with that proposition. I do agree with that. Thats not an issue we need to be concerned about because the whole business of voter fraud is itself a fraud, and the fact of the matter is, we have adequate protections on the business of Voting Rights when it comes to the question of fraudulent defenses. What i think we need to make be clear about is that when were trying to describe ways to address the fundamental right to participate in this democracy, we are not confused that with the side issue of something that is irrelevant to the business of being a citizen. I couldnt agree more but if you dont want to talk but Voter Suppression, and voter participation, you got to distract public attention with something else. Theres a video playing right now, chairwoman maloney mentioned a hearing that the late chairman, mr. Cummings, had with mr. Raskin, after the 2012 election. Mr. Cummings and i had a field hearing in my district about this. This is a precinct in Prince William county, the second largest county in virginia, called river oaks. The only minoritymajority precinct and a very large one, and the lines snaked outside for hours because of a breakdown in Voting Machines and there were no replacements. It just so happened this was the only precinct in the whole county where this happened, and this is showing you the lines inside the school but, frankly, it took my intervention to get that to happen. Otherwise, on a cold, cold day, all those people were outside, with children, taking off from work, to go vote. And it may not have been intentional, it probably wasnt. But the fact that there was in backup, the fact it only happened in this precinct, was something quite striking, and mr. Cummings and i had a field hearing to better understand how does this happen . So it may not be deliberate but it is de facto voter discouragement. Fortunately the people in river oaks were not going to be discouraged in 2012. I can remember going up and down the line outside saying, please stay, meese stay, dont and to a person they went, dont you worry. No one is going to take away our right to vote. They were aware or the sacrifices you mentioned, mr. Jenkins, that allowed them to have this right to vote and they werent about to let it slipaway because of a lack of Voting Machines, adequate Voting Machines. So, i just want to say i want to thank all of you for being here. This is a sake credit sacred topics, passion for most of us here and cant allow ourselves to be distracted by other topics. Voter suppression is wrong. Anything that impedes the ability of people to vote or discourages them, direct live or indirectly, subtly or explicitly, is wrong and we have to fight it wherever we face it. Too many people as you bree mind us, mr. Jenkins, sacrificed a lot for that right to be reasserted for us to finally honor the 15th amendment and were going to continue that fight until we prevail and im very proud of the fact that there was a new majority in richmond, the state capital of virginia what he was rolled back Voter Suppression measures. We have made it easier for people to voteaway, taking away the requirement for some kind of excuse, and were going to continue to do that in our state, and i hope it will be a national movement. Thank you, madam chairwoman. [applause] thank you. The gentleman yields back, i now recognize the congressman from wisconsin, mr. Grossman, for five minutes. First aid like to submit into the record, im told the Heritage Foundation has 1,085 examples of voter fraud. One of the witnesses i think said inappropriately its something that doesnt happen. As a downtown payment we have 40 here in wisconsin and theyre running off the other thousand or so. So without objection. Put that wherever we put them. Thank you very much. Second thing, its obvious the reason why we have photo i. D. And i sponsored a bill and i voted for photoer i. D. In wisconsin and thats because we want to avoid fraud. Theres a concern that people are going to say theyre somebody who is on the voter rolls when they arent, and without the photo i. D. , youre not going to be able to know whether its that person or not. I know somebody i havent confirmed it who claims her mother, who is deceased, turned up as having voted in the city of milwaukee. This is why we do this for obvious reasons. I have a couple of general questions. There are many things in society that you have to do that are arguably more important at least on a personal level than voting. Maybe you need prescription drugs that may be to save your life. Some states, welfare benefits. Going on an airplane, you can go on an airplane in a very important trip. All these things you need photo i. D. And i can imagine if you didnt have your i. D. , the inability to take an airplane or take prescription drugs, inability to buy a gun, belfair benefit as, would shake up your life but for some reason we never hear of people complaining about that. I flew out last night, had to show my i. D. Would have been a real mels for me if i didnt have annie but nobody other screams on these other issues. I wonder why the advocates who make such a big deal here and of course as somebody who advocates for photo i. D. , i wonder people want people to vote without it are encouraging cheating. Why on these other tragics like prescription drugs or some public benefits, we are not screening, you shouldnt have a photo i. D. The reason is were intelligent enough to be able to focus on what the issue is at hand. No, no. Were not dealing with the prescription drugs. Were not dealing youre not answering my question the relevant uses of photo i. D. Were deal egg with the right of people to vote, and that is what we ought to address. Dont take us off on some other track, talking about other issues that have nothing to do with voting. Another question. There are many other countries, mexico to our south, just looking on the internet, assuming can trust the internet other countries in which you refer to people of color, mexico, brazil, madagascar, sam zambia, the tip of the iceberg that need photo i. D. Whoa do all these countries feel that photo i. D. Is important. You have despotic countries around the world who want to repress their people by any mexico is a able to use all kinds of techniques. What were trying france, germty not discouragement of other countries get democratic principles. Its our country that has our constitution, its our country that said we the people are supposed to be able the what youre this is what offends me about this. Youre charging people who want photo i. D. Because they want to make sure the people who are voting are who they say they are, youre claiming racism, and the point im trying to make out to you is there are so many countries around the world, including countries no where near as muscle tie racial as our country and they all require photo i. D. I dont think when costa rica or mexico or brazil require photo i. D. I think its out of the reason that i say its they dont want people voting, claiming their somebody who theyre not. That sort of thing. Its very inflammatory to say its for any other reason. Now, do you have any evidence these dozens of other countries around the world that require photo i. D. , i would think its for the same reason im for it. I dont want people cheating. Do you have any evidence theres other reason for all the other countries having photo i. D. They are not democracies that are parallel to ours. They do not have a constitution of the United States like ours. They do not have a system that guarantee. Miss nash, response. You are trying to introduce relevancies pout coast extra reek tacoma mexico, other plays thats have no bearing on. The United States constitution and the way in which people should be guaranteed the right to participate in their government. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. Ill take my five minutes now. I want to thank the whole panel for coming and testifying and giving us your insight and perspectives. You connect us to a noble and honorable moment in american history, and so we thank you for your hard work and the sacrifices you have made. Miss johnsonblanco, mr. Cooper invoked this strange absence of a universal affirmative constitutional right to vote in the u. S. Constitution. We of course have a sequence of ad hoc antidiscrimination amendments exdistract through the blood, sweat and tearses of social moment so the 15th 15th amendment says no race discrimination in voting their 19th voting said no discrimination based on sex in voting. The 23rd amendment gave people in d. C. The right to vote in president ial elects, the 24th 24th amendment says no poll taxes, 26th amendment lowered ages not where do we get what you find in most of the other constitutions in the world which is a universal command of everybody having the right to vote and participate at every level of government. Look at the new south africa constitution, thats why were in the business of fighting to reconstruct Voting Rights act that was dismembered by a five justice conservative major treating the congress of the United States like an Administrative Law try bruinal, like tribunal. My question for you is, is a constitutional amendment the right to vote on the agenda of the Civil Rights Community today . It is something the Civil Rights Community is looking at because were very concerned that a lot of restrictionses that are being imposed are being imposed because theres an affirmative right to vote in the constitution. We do, however, acknowledge that through recognize the right to vote through the Juris Prudence of the Supreme Court and the 15th amendment at least until Shelby County vs. Holder where the Supreme Court started to exercise strict scrutiny of congressional efforts to enforce. The right to vote but i appreciate that and look forward to working with you. Mr. Jenkins and miss nash, both of you invoked your late colleagues and friends, cheney and goodman, others who lost their lives fighting against political White Supremacy in the south, louisa, medgar evers, many. Other people who were gunned down fighting for the right of people to vote, and i wonder, looking at the struggles today against the massive vote ever purges which have included millions of people since 2016, looking at the efforts to individual indicate the right to vote against individual indicate the right of vote against the constant undertoe to shut down voting places and make it more difficult to vote. What do you think about the sacrifice of the people that you worked with back in the Civil Rights Movement . What do you say to their families today . Because i dont know how many people would actually give their lives in this cause and what do you say to their family and friends and what do we owe them, miss nash . I think that people today dont realize how patriotic people two fought for the right to vote were back in the early 60s. Just quickly, id like to mention that people who lived on plantations and had 15, 16 children, would go down to the courthouse to try to register to vote, and someone at the courthouse would call back to the plantation and say your willie or your mary is down here trying to vote, and by the time mary or willie got back to the plantation, they wouldnt have a job and they wouldnt have a place to stay with their huge family, and they kept doing that, and they knew that was going to happen because it had happened so many times before, but they did it for the collective benefit. I would have trouble talking to their descendents today, after those kind of sacrifices were made. I think present day americans owe them to reestablish the democratic right to vote. The right to vote is the basic unit of democracy, and one person, one vote. If we dont have that, we as a republic are in serious trouble. Mr. General mr. Jenkins. The right to vote is the the rope this country claims to be a democracy is because it allows everybody to participate in the way in which the Public Policy of the country is being directed, and people need to understand that right is inherent in them being a human being and being part of the politics and the body politic of the United States. One of the things that worries me most is that some young people, who are so discouraged by the way in which the suppression of the political participation is going on, theyve given up and walked off. I think its fundamental that we recognize, not just the handful of names we know, but many hundreds of names we do not know. Remember that when they went to look for the bodies of goodman, cheney and they found hundreds and how muchs of of skeletons of unnamed peel who died. How many of them were victims of an undemocratic system. I think one thing we have to remember is that fundamentally, we as a country have failed to live up to the ideals we talk about when it comes to practice. Thank you very much. The gentleman from north dakota, mr. Armstrong issue is now recognize for his five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. North dakota is the only state without Voter Registration. Were pretty proud of thatful its very unique. But yet we somehow end up in these conversations opposite in a while. We had a law that was challenged on voter i. D. In 2012. It went through the courts and as recently as three weeks ago there has been a settlement reached between the lawyers representing the native american tribes and the state of north dakota. Now irving dont pretend to know the particular and unique circumstances of every other district but i do know that if you would read the majority staff memo regarding north dakota which states north dakota passed a law that required identification with a current resident residential street address to vote, righter that excluded nate at the americans on reservations who do not have street addresses. The laugh affected opportunities of thousands of native americans in north dakota in an election area in which kevin crane won the race boat that statement is misleading at its most charitable interpretation. What it doesnt say in the prior senate race the democratic candidate won by less than 3,000 votes. It doesnt say that in the 2018 race, that the vote margin was just under 10 of the entire vote total. But probably more importantly what it doesnt take into account at all, either through complete lack of diligence or intentional omission, is that native american turnout was the highest it had ever been in the last 14 years in north dakota. The Turtle Mountains have suppressed our voting numbers from state and federal elects the last four years and the poll are still open. Quote. From Turtle Mountain band of chippewa. The rest sir savings recordert 5,100 votes, the highest number in 14 years, including president ial elects. More than 1400 people voted in sioux county which is win the Standing Rock sioux reservation, an increase of more than 200 voters fromle the 2016 president ial elects. To imply that a Voter Suppression law, which by the way a court found valid, was the reason that our senator won the election is either intentionally not doing the research o what went on in north dakota or intentionally placing things in the record that make it seem more severe than it is, and its not true. We are glad we have reached a settlement. Were glad to be oon state in the country without Voter Registration, even on north dakota and native American Reservations we are proud of the fact we have the easiest access to the ballot 60 any state. So its concerning when i see things about i know specifically about, that i lived through, i was part of, being portrayed in a way that is simply not accurate. And with that it yield back. The gentleman yields back. I now recognize the gentlewoman from michigan, miss three, miss talib, for five minutes. Thank you fog were here. I cant express to you late chairman, congressman Elijah Cummings being effective and efficient. You have mixed sure that happen as the line of questions comes toward you. In the spirit of what mother nash has said is how do we unmix indicate something that should be up complicate something that should be simple and youre reiterating its in the constitution and so forth. The right to vote its guaranteed by the constitution. Congress has clear authority, clear authority, to investigate any sort of any level of government to try to push back on any infringement on the right. So, in spirit of simplifying this as mother nash asked us to do, what do you think these folks, which i will call oppressors what do you think these folks are afraid of . Lets just talking about. Needs to be out in the open. Why so afraid of us, people like us, voting . Mr. Jenkins . I think basically its a reflection on the history of america. Is a pointed out in my remarks, when they talked about we the people of the United States, and then they exclude women, excluded indigenous populations, excluded poor people, they were making a definition of democracy that was only for themselves, and one of the things i think we have to raise, over and over again, is that many of the institutions that were created under that mentality are affecting us in a disadvantaged way today. I mentioned the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a barb on the whole face of democracy in the United States. What it says is that peoples real estate is more important than their lives. Thats right. And its to balance the imbalance the whole system so that people who come from states with a handful of population have the same votes as people who come from states with millions of people. That is a perversion of democracy and i noted that after remarks that were made about the Electoral College, not one question was raised about the Electoral College of defense or criticism of it but thats fundamental and we get to be able to deal with basic issues, not superficial issues. Chasing rabbit is is not what the congress should be doing. Thank you. I wanted what are they afraid of . They dont want us to dismantle the Electoral College, which basically protected land owners, protected that kind of classism that was going on in that form of oppression. In your opinion from that work you have been doing and looking at all this form of oppression and making sure its harder fork folks that look like us to vote . What i would say and what ive seep in my work is that as mr. Jenkins alluded to, our democracy was not founded with the idea that all eligible voter wood have access to the polls. What we are seeing now is that their attempts as the Voting Rights act gives life to the 15th amendment and broadens the those who are allowed to vote, were seeing both the challenge of our democracy not having making the Resources Available to ensure when theres robust turnout, that everyone has access to the ballot, and then were also seeing laws that are being passed that affect certain types of voters, and theres been this argument theres been robust turnout but its robust turnout in spite of we saw the video of the long lines. Thats a lot of burden on voter to have their vote heard. No one should have to wait hours in long lines to have their voice heard. And even if theres robust turnout, they are those individuals voters, the voters that i care about, who are not having the opportunity to vote when they try to engage in the franchise and those are the voters that laws like the voting right acts want to address. Mother nash, i would love to hear about this. Having election day be a national holiday, i think is important conversation. Getting rid of the Electoral College is an important conversation. Talk it about no reason absentees so we depth see long linesis a an important easy. Should be easy to vote as an american citizen. Last words of wisdom to us, really getting back to the simply why are they afraid of . Why dont they want us to vote . Congresswoman talib, i think we have to realize that this country was founded on genocide. Against native americans and then slavery was an extremely fundamental institution in our history. The country has never confronted those facts directly, and officially recognized those as at least mistakes, and done what is possible to do to make restitution. I think that as a result, White Supremacy is still very much with this society. Think we look on the value of lives of europeans and white americans and australians and maybe israelis, as much more valuable than the lives of people who are asia, african, and latin american. We have to confront that directly, i think. I think more particularly common sense ordinary citizens who are white need to confront racist white people. Theres a fantasy on the part of many whites where they think of themselves as scarlet ohara, wealthy White Plantation owners that subjects people of color. The president of the United States recently, while saying he welcomed people from norway, he mentioned immigrants from colored countries at shole countries, and we have to, i think, confront this kind of attitude across the board definitely, and i think that in the south, particularly the Civil Rights Movement, white people were afraid if we get power, wed do them like they had done us, and there was a lot of fear around that. That didnt happen. But there is something to when people know they have mistreated people over a period of tile, then they become afraid of them if they have equal power. Thank you. I think theres a really emotional illness around race in this country. Thank you. The gentlemanwomans time has expired. The chair now recognize mr. Armstrong for a unanimous consent request jude ike like to unanimous request to enter two articles into the record. One from the dicken son press saying voter turnout high in north dakota, november 72018. The second from the Bismarck Tribune that says reservation see record turnout. Without oection, the following report from the brennan sister will be placed in the record. This report addresses claims that the Heritage Foundation document contains, almost 1,100 proven instances of voter fraud are grossly exaggerated, and devoid of context. Without objection, maced into the record. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. Sarbanes, for five minutes. Thank you, very much madam chair and thank you to the panelists today for your powerful testimony. Im sure you know, the first piece of legislation that the Democratic Caucus brought to the floor of the house in 2019 was hr1, for the people act, brewing antibiotic corruption and clean elections bill which address many things including voter access. Subsequent to that, we brought hr4 to restore the roting rights act. That was passed. Last week, i think maybe the week bryan web prior we brought hr51 into this committee, pavingsed out of committee, which provides statehood for the district of columbia and redress this centuries old wrong. We are moving on our side of the aisle and this side of the capitol to try to deal with the issue of voter access. One of the key elements among many that was contained in hr1 many of these are things congressman lewis worked on for years in legislation, Incorporated Incorporated into the broad package was automatic vote ever registration and miss johnsonblanco do you believe that congressional action to require automatic Voter Registration across the country, nationwide, would help americans exercise the right to vote. Yes, i do. Far too often were seeing that there are challenges to access to Voter Registration. The Lawyers Committee convenes the Election Protection coalition and we have hr66 vote hotline and we have calls into the hotline where people are not aware they need to register to vote. So having the opportunity to automatically register to vote would advance participate in our democracy. Two sides of this conversation. Clearly theres this whole issue around the renewed i think renewed connive vans might have been the phrase you used, mr. Jenkins, all of these things to play miss chief with peoples with the franchise in terms of new Voter Suppression techniques, making people jump threw hoops, hiding through processbased rigmarole when we know what the intent is behind it. So having very specific provisions of law that can address Voter Suppression, in other words, address the kind of negative things that are being done out there when it comes to voter access, but at the same time, we want to plus up, reinforce, and establish things that can improve and enhance access, and the franchise in this country. So, automatic Voter Registration is certainly an example that was contained in hr1. The bill also requires sameday Voter Registration, so that eligible voters can register and vote on election day if they are not register erred by that point in time. Can you speak to national sameday Voter Registration and how that might benefit some of the work to actually come bat the voter disenfranchisement . I definitely support all legislation that improves access to Voter Registration. Including sameday Voter Registration. We want to ensure that voters, when they show up to vote, can do so and very often we found because either theyve been wrongly purged or they hadnt werent aware they needed to reregister, they show up and fine they can. So being able to register in realtime will definitely improve access to the ballot. Thank you. If we can change what is now really an Obstacle Course for people getting to at the ballot box and put access on a glide path by offering different opportunities and those include as well increased online Voter Registration, expanding early and absentee voting, requiring that states at least offer the opportunity for voting by mail. We should be exploring every possible opportunity to make it easier for people to register and to vote in this country. Last question, i invite anybody to speak to it if theyd like. Another provision in hr1 would require he reenfranchisement of all persons convicted of a felony upon completion of their prison sentence. Something very important nationwide, restoration of Voting Rights for those who paid their dues and served their time. Could you speak to what you think the impact i invite all of having that provision become part of law . I think its important to appreciate that one of the phenomenon of the American Experience has been the criminalization of race, and the fact that people are often convicted for various things because of their racial orientation. The whole manor in which Law Enforcement has been racialized, has assured more arrests of black people than of white people, and when you have something that piggy backs on that discrepancy by having the franchise tied up with the right to vote you are much. Replying the effect of racism, and i think its important for us to disaggregate the whole question of criminal behavior from the question of racial identity, and until we do that, we will not have a solution of our democratic issues. Outstanding. Thank you very much for your testimony. Yield back. The gentlemanwoman from new york, ms. Ocasiocortez is recognized for five minute. Thank you, monday dam chairwoman and thank you to all the witnesses testifying on such a profoundly important issue. I think one of the largest threats that we face in our country today is the unmitigated assault on on our democracy at and starts with the assault on particularly africanamerican and black voters in our country. Last year, this committee launched investigations into state action that limit the ability of americans to vote, including in the state of georgia. I want to talk about georgia. The georgia secretary of state reportedly burned more than half a million voters purged more than half a million voters, locked out thousands of new registrations and closed polling places all while we was a candidate for governor. The documents that this Committee Received confirmed many of those efforts and, for example, in september 2017, the press reported efforts to challenge Voter Registration, quote, may have violated federal law. In fact mr. Kent, that candidate, responded to this by congratulating his campaign team. Writing, quote, good work. The story is so complex, folks will not make it all the way through it. Miss johnsonblanco. Your organization has been active in georgia. What is your view of the voter roll purges in that state. We have been very active. Georgia keeps us very busy and fighting back against voter discrimination, and to answer your question, that one of the things that georgia did that i think speaks to the impact of the purges are related to, is that with the exact match law that georgia had, it points to how something that the Supreme Court, when it found Voting Rights act constitutional, pointed to the repeated effort at suppression, the exact match law was first a procedure by the secretary of state, and when we won the litigation against that, this Legislature Passed into it law and then we had to bring two more lawsuits to fight against this and then we have a third lawsuit because the exact match law still applies to those who are naturalized citizens. So theyre not only aggressively removing voters from the rolls and preventing voters from getting on the rolls. Im curious. What would you think of a top election officer in the state 60 georgia congratulating his team over the reports . Its im speechless. That is one of the things we confront, where we have those who are when those who are charged with carrying out our voting laws are also running for office, and abuse that. Thats a problem. So its just out in the open. In fact so out in the open that this committees investigation also shows that as georgias secretary of state, mr. Kemp, he worked with the white house and the kansas secretary of state, krzysko include kobach with financial dies and organizational ties to White Supremacy organizations. They served together to produce and promote the president s failed voter fraud commission. Lets talk about this voter fraud the president has allegations theres mass fraud the out. They put together a commission it and was forced to disband because they had so little evidence. Their own commission had to be disbanded. Miss johnsonblanco, what is the connection between the false claims of voter fraud pushed by this administration and its allies and the vetter suppression efforts in georgia and elsewhere you have observed. I think the false narrative of voter fraud is used to pass laws that what happened that keep eligible voters from being able to vote and these laws, disproportionately impact minority voterred. Courts time and time again, in striking down the laws, show that this question impact minority votes and the Fourth Circuit in striking down North Carolinas voteraway law, saying its was targeted with surgical precision at minority voters and the court said it imposes cures for problems that dont exist. If i may, how are all of these efforts that were seeing today any different from what we fought against in the Civil Rights Movement several decades ago. I think were seeing an updated version of what we fought against. One thing that was really striking for me when i was working on the record that did show voter discrimination when the congress reauthorized the Voting Rights act is the focus on the implementation. We had a commission in the National Commission on the Voting Rights act who was a congressman from alabama, who had to take a literacy test. His literacy test was, who is the first president of the United States. That was not the same test that was applied to africanamericans as you heard miss nash say, and we have lauds that are seemingly laws that are seemingly neutral on their face but in their implementation the courts have shown again and again, including the Wisconsin Voter i. D. Law, that they disproportionately impact minority voters. Thank you very much. The lady yields back. Without objection, the statement of our colleague and leader and conscience on these issues, john lewis from the great state overgoes of georgia will be inverted into the rod of the we now recognize the gentle laid from massachusetts, miss presley forks five minutes. Thank you, madam chair and thank you for convening this timely and incredibly important hearing. I had a written statement but to be frank im still seething from some of what occurred in the chamber a moment ago, and i guess its impossible anymore to be disappointed when you are no longer surprised. I serve on this august institution and this committee with colleagues across the aisle who deny science and the climate crisis, who believe that because we have had a black president , we live in a post racial america , who think of being poor is a character flaw, who believe that we still live or we ever did in a meritocracy. Who espouse the redemption of christs love and grace but only believe in Second Chances for a selective few. So i should not be surprised that they think we are being dramatic about Voter Suppression. Forgive them, father, for they know not what they do. I just wanted to say, thank you, to have the honor to serve in congress with your fellow Free Development writer, john lewis, and i wonder if some of the comments that were said here today, my colleagues would if say directly to john lewis. Who they consider to be a national treasure. But i digress. Lets get to the matter at hand here. I just know that im 46 years old. Ive been doing Movement Building work since i was ten years old. My mother was a tenants rights overrer in chicago. Harold washingtons campaign is the first one i work on. I would not be here as the first person of color and black woman to represent massachusetts in the house of representatives 67 that took 230 years, and i know i owe a debt to each of you that i can say that. So i just want to say, thank you. And i apologize and completely disassociate myself from the comments said earlier by my colleague across the aisle. What i want to talk about is mass incarceration. Certainly our mass incarceration crisis exacerbated many challenges we enumerated today and these are levelinged. Millions of individual across the nation have been arbitrarily and permanently stripped of their right to vote due to involvement in the criminal injustice system. These policies disproportionateie impact black and brun communities and one in 13 black americans of voting age are disenfran chinessed on the account of this broken system and continue to theyre if bodies where irtheyre being ware housed counted and included in the census for the suburban communities they are housed. But thats another conversation. We have seen states moving forward reenfranchises individuals who were formerly incarcerated. You talk about the importance of the passage of amendment 4 in florida which would reenfran chines 1 about 4 Million People and now we see the newly resorted rights attacked houston do these compare to the poll taxes that emerged in states during the jim crow era. If think its comparable. The 11th circuit which rules against the fines and fees provision that the legislature imsupposed to those who have the their rights restored on the amendment four noted that the fines and fees law places those returning citizens who can pay at an advantage over those returning citizens who cant by a. So what the new law is saying is that in order for you to have your rights fully restored, you have to be able to pay to have fundamental right that 65 of your fellow citizens said that youve are entitled to. For the purpose of the record, shoot formerly incars rated individuals do to ensure they can exercise their newly restored rights since last year alone, kentucky restored voting right toth 140,000 people and louisiana to roughly 36,000 individuals. So for the record what should they do. Make sure they vote. They register and vote and take advantage of these new laws, these new rights that have been afforded to them. Very good. I also just wanted to ask the question i want to make a opinion. In 2018 in georgia, seven polling locations were suddenly closed by republican lawmakers before the midterm elects. They cite the ada, intend to protection the nations disabled communities as a pretext to disenfran chines minority voters. Had the u. S. Supreme court not gutted the Voting Rights act in 201 the closures would most like live have been blocked by the doj,. But without oversight from the doj, republican lay mostly cloudy issues act nefariously so reject falls choices that purr support access to the polls must be bar at thed between vulnerable and disenfranchised folks and with the balance of the time i urge my colleagues to pick the head up and defend access to the ballot for arch one and i thank each of you freedom rider is. Thank you so much and i now recognize the gentle lady from new mexico, holland for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair, miss nash, mr. General in, miss johnsonblanco and reverend doctor borker who is no longer here. Thank you for your wisdom and truth for being here and for your dedication to fighting this extremely important issue. Over the past decade, many states have decreased peoples access to voting by closing and moving polling places. Last september, a report from the herm conference found that Southern States have closed more than 1,000 polling sites since the Supreme Courts ruling in Shelby County versus holder. Removed preclearance requirements from states that have historically disenfrance chased black voters and you can see on the screen, map this is a map from the Leadership Conference report, and i notice down there, alaska, which is which has a large number of native folks living there, so we have also been disenfranchised. Since that court ruling texas has closed 750 polls, arizona 320, georgia 214. Many of these closed polling sites are in minority neighborhoods. For the Sheriffs Office, just despite the Community Objection and its only after successfully petitioning against that they were able to stop that move to the Sheriffs Office so what were finding is that without section 5 of the Voting Rights act, they have to be extra vigilant to push back against these features and their impacts i think youve already talked a little bit about this but what is the impact of these efforts on communities of color . Communities of color and are now finding that they have to do extra work to fight back against those who wish to suppress their vote and its not a burden that should be on those communities. Jurisdictions, particularly those with a history of discrimination in voting should have to show the impact of laws like, actions like moving polling places before they can beallowed to do so. States have also restricted access to polls through onerous id requirements and by limiting early voting in certain locations. For example, north dakota passed a law in 2018 that required identification with the voters current residential street address in order to vote. A requirement that excluded native American Communities on reservations that often do not have street addresses. Because they dont necessarily need them. Were it not for tribal leaders in those areas and worked extremely hard to enfranchise voters in these native communities, ruth anna buffalo, a native American Woman and her adoptee may not have been elected, thereby defeating the man who penned that oppressive bill. So sometimes democracy still does work in spite of the efforts that people go through to make it not work. Also in 2018, florida tried to prevent public universities from hosting an early voting facility. Early voting at Texas State University in san marcos was limited to three days while most other areas of state had 2 weeks and miss nash, thank you so much for your passionate testimony earlier. Im very grateful to have you here. I wanted to askyou why is early voting so important in protecting peoples rights to vote, especially in communities of color . I am not an expert on whats happening right now with the voting but i understand that there is heavier voting in communities of color during the early voting process. So thats a good thing. Thank you so much. Madamchair, i yielded back my time. Yields back, thank you. The gentleman from missouri, congressman clay is recognized for five minutes. Thank you madam chairand thank you all for being here today. The Brennan Center found 16 million voters were purged between the federal elections of 2014 and 2016. Thats our most, almost 4 million names that were purged from the role then between six and 08. Our post shall be it is notable that the higher purge rates picked up in the parts of the country that have a demonstrated, documented history of discrimination in voting. I, our ancestors knew the value and the power of the ballot box, even if it was a life or death endeavor. Let me talk briefly about my states history, missouri. The day i first got elected to congress in the 2000 general election i was in Court Challenging what was then known as an inactive voter list. Fourth court to keep the polls open an additional three hours that day so that people who were standing in line could still get into vote and of course the First Press Conference the day after our republican us senator called the fbi on me to investigate, and sure enough the results came back that the missouri secretary of state was involved in a violation of the Voting Rights act. So that was the result and then we made them change the whole way they purged voters so that they wouldnt violate peoples Voting Rights. Let me ask you starting with Mister Jenkins, that was the initial occurrence of how we suppress votes in this country and i guess in the 21st century. That was bush gore election. But it was a National Strategy on the part of my friend on the other side of the eye. To suppress communities of colors votes. We know that since 2000, its picked up. So Mister Jenkins, tell me what you think is the best way to combat these initiatives like in georgia, what happened to stacy abrams who they first violated the rights of those people attempting to register the vote and then, then they couldnt get the court fast enough to stop the purging. What are your recommendations of what we should do to combat this egregious behavior . One of the things we need to be mindful of is the connection between economic consequences of any changes in voting law that have the effect of making it more expensive, costly or impossible for people to meet those new requirements. It is important for us to connect the business of requirements for photos and all of these businesses and things that require transportation to remote places, all have racial consequences and there needs to be sophisticated in our opposition to thosethings. And one of the things that i think is critical is to have in our educational system the whole business of Civic Education so people are aware of the connection between voting and their rights. It is alarming to note that in many, many states, the whole business of Civic Education is now been eliminated from the curriculum. So people do not learn when they are in Grammar School and junior high and high school the connection between political exercise and the control of government and the control of their own lives. I think its important for us to have alternatives that come from beyond this governmental sources. One of the places that i have had some impact on is in this thing called teaching for change. Which is been aimed at Public School teachers to get them to understand that they can be a voice in their classroom to have people understand their civic rights. I appreciate yourresponse. The witness may answer, this is a historic hearing on historically important, major issue for all americans. Ms. Ashley, did you want comments . Mister blanco, very briefly my time has run out and my friend from maryland has given me his five minutes yet. Go ahead. I think we need to keep up the drumbeat of whats in hr one. Its fantastic that its past this body. It needs to become law and one of the things unfortunately that we have had to do as a Civil Rights Group in the face of the voter purges is now mount a campaign urging voters to check their Voter Registration for going to the polls and to make sure that there registered. We both had to bring litigation against the inactive and properly placed inactive voter rolls so its a multipronged strategy that we need to engage in. Thank you miss nash, well put. I think the suggestions of miss Johnson Blanco are certainly important and i agree withthose. I would just add , i know that its necessary to counter and to address these issues like fraud in voting and purging and what have you but i would caution against allowing ourselves to be limited by the agendas that the opposition presents. And its a bit as i said earlier they give you a hamster wheel to one out and you know, get you a problem and you can spend years satisfying the problem and saying you need to address those problems but also dont be limited to them. Really look at what needs to be done and address all of them. I am particularly worried about the 20 20 election in november. That its actually, thats one of the rings that is the issue of this particular hearing. And you know, measures that are necessary in order to make that a real election. And a fair one. And with the senate not considering the important bills that this body has passed, i dont want you to let themdo that. If anyones interested, id be happy. To share some of our tactics. To share some of our tactics with the civil rights. I sure would like youto share, thank you and i yelled back. I want to thank all of my colleagues for being here. I believe this is a historically important hearing and im humbled to have so many incredible leaders from the Civil Rights Movement and that includes our friend and colleague Eleanor Holmes norton mother you are a heroine too many, many people in our country. I wanted to share with you that not onlyhave we pass important legislation on Voting Rights , but we passed a bill to create the first and only Womens Museum in the countrydedicated to the contributions, meaningful contributions of women like yourself. To our young girls and boys can learn and be inspired by your work. Im honored to have you here in our room and thank you so much miss johnson. You have, youre making history right now with your Important Court decisions. Youve mentioned many of them today in your testimony. Mister jenkins, your historic and current leadership, im going to put in a bill based on what you said today, being removed from the curriculum of our publicschools, that is wrong. Everyone should study the struggles that we went through to win the right to vote and the Civic Responsibility that we all have two vote and i want to return to what i said in my opening remarks, which we heard again so powerfully on our witnesses. And that is that history is repeating itself. And in more sophisticated complicated and more difficult challenges with the Citizens United decision, and with the Voter Suppression tactics that have been updated for today and that some states still are trying to put new barriers up to voting. And those, the house has passed for critical legislation, i want to point out leader Mitch Mcconnell has not even allowed a debate on these important bills on voter rights. Much less a vote and we as americans need to get ready and ensure that we can protect and exercise our right to vote in 2020. And i want to close and in remembering our dear friend, our Dear Colleague Elijah Cummings and this was the main vision of his mother and of his lifes work area we are continuing with these hearings in his honor. And i am inviting all of our colleagues to come back to this room at 4 00 tomorrow because we are going to be naming the first hearing room after a member of congress in history, and black history month. There is not one room or facility in the capital name for an africanamerican pirates member. We are changing that tomorrow with this family. I hope everyone comes back to share this important event and honor his memory as we do with this hearing today. I am honored to have all of our witnesses, you have all done such an incredible job with yourlifes work and with your testimony today, thank you. And i now recognize the representing minority. You for letting us do all the talking, i feel like going on for about a half hour i know theres so many people back home listening to this hearing and they want to break so we will just let you adjourn. Without objection, all members will have five legislative days within which to submit additional written questions for the witnesses to the chair. Which will be afforded to all of the witnesses for their response. I asked our witnesses to pleaserespond as probably as you can. This hearing is adjourned. [applause] [inaudible]. [inaudible] during this election season the candidates beyond the talking points are only revealed overtime. But since you cant see everywhere, theres the stand at our candidate 2020 programming differs from all other political coverage are one simple reason. Its cspan. We brought you your unfiltered view of government every day is 1979. This year we are bringing you and unfiltered view of the people because its your government this november. In other words your future. So this election season though the, direct and unfiltered. See the biggest picture for yourself and make up your own mind. With cspan campaign 2020, brought to you as a Public Service by your television provider. This evening president from a Campaign Rally at the North Charleston coliseum in South Carolina. Live coverage begins at 7 00 eastern time over on cspan. Secretary of state mike pompeo testified about us policies regarding iran, iraq and the administrations response to the coronavirus. You can watch the House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing tonight at nine eastern here on cspan2. Online cspan. Org or listen with the free radio. The South Carolina primary is saturday to join us