Board of directors and president of the naacp Mississippi State conference. , come from my part of the world. Welcome. Mr. Johnson good morning, chairmanon, chairman nadler, Ranking Member johnson, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify. For background i have spent more than two decades in mississippi, which has been front and center in the fight for Voting Rights. Allow me to get to the point. Our democracy is in crisis. There is a frontal assault on the right of people of color to fully participate. We are six years, two months, 16 days into the Shelby County ruling. This was the worst attack on participatory democracy in modern history. The ink wasnt even dry before the floodgates opened. Chief Justice Roberts was dead wrong when he said in Shelby County that our country has changed. Just take a look around. It most certainly has not. Voter suppression depregs has become rampant instead of asking where is it occurring, we should ask where is it not . And congress has the constitutional duty to act. My testimony lays out the problems we face around the country. Id like to make five points here. First, the assault on democracy is conducted by states and local jurisdictions. Much attention is focused on statewide efforts to suppress the vote, but it can happen in every community. Secondly, todays disenfrance chiesment takes many forms. It is adaptive and pervasive. These are just a few stringent voter i. D. Requirements like North Carolinas which we successfully challenged and which a court found targeted africanamericans with surgical precision. Purges of voter rolls like we are seeing in ohio right now. Massive closures of voting places in communities of color. Shortened voting periods, and elimination of sunday voting. Measures make it criminal for groups who register voters like the ones we recently had to challenge intown tfpblet thirdly, there is no defense. Voter suppression is often done in the name of combating voter fraud. Lets be clear, this is not a real problem. Reports of voter fraud is about as common as reports of alien abduction. Even trump had to disband his Voting Commission because fraud does not exist. Fourthly, while voting discrimination was well documented in states subject to preclearance under the Voting Rights act, it has spread like a cancer to other states never subject to coverage. The tragic fact is that no community is immune. Everyone, everywhere must remain vigilant. Finally, we cannot address this alone. My testimony entered into the record discusses the vast efforts of our Legal Department n conjunction with our state and other legal organizations on the ground to combat Voter Suppression. Heres the situation, Shelby County eliminated the preclearance requirement, and Trumps Justice Department is missing in action on any voting right enforcements. Our branches and members are asked to do what used to be the job of the federal government, protect the right to vote. To be clear, we are fighting back when ever and wherever we k this is not sustainable. Congress must step up to combat this nations epidemic. Congress must pass Voting Rights advancement act, make no mistake, congress has simple evidence to restore the Voting Rights act to its full strength. Given the daily experiences of our community with Voter Suppression, and the lead up to and on election day, no one can deny the strong record that supports immediate passage. Congress must also pass for the people act. Voting must be simplified, access to ballots must be expanded this. Bill would make it easier to cast a vote and make sure that vote is counted. Finally, Congress Must pass securing american federal election act. The safe act would help our elections secure and free from foreign intervention. Interference that disproportionately targeted africanamericans. Robert mueller warned this committee about russian interference in our election. He said, they are doing it as we sit here. We must defend our democracy, period. This year the naacp celebrated our 110th anniversary. We have never waivered from demanding an inclusive secure democracy. It is now time for congress to make protecting the franchise the highest priority. In mississippi, what i experienced over the last 20 years, is what im watching across this country. If we do not stand up to protect democracy and make it work today, who will, and how can we ever have a true Representative Government . Thank you for allowing me to testify. I welcome any questions. Mr. Cohen thank you, mr. Johnson. Parenthetically ill mention in memphis the location that houses the Election Commission downtown was dedicated yesterday as the James Meredith building. In honor of his integrating ole miss and fighting for Voting Rights. Mr. Dale ho is director of the Voting Rights at the American Civil Liberties union. He is up advises the litigation and advocation work nationwide. He curm has active cases in dozens of states around the country. Has testified on election issues before this congress and state legislatures. Hes also an adjunct political professor of law, received his j. D. From Yale Law School an under graduate from princeton. Mr. Ho, you are recognized for that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks finets. Thank you. Mr. How chairman commowen, chairman nadlerks Ranking Member johnson, and members of the subcommittee thank you very much for the opportunity to testify today. Im director of the aclu Voting Rights project. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg famously warned the supreme striking down a striking down part of the Voting Rights act was like, quote, throwing away yourle umbrella in a rainstorm. Sure enough after the decision a downpour came with a wave of scrim another voting laws. The aclu has been on the frontlines. We have opened more than 60 new Voting Rights investigations and cases since the decision. Some of our recent and ongoing cases include department of commerce, the state of new york, a case i argued before the Supreme Court earlier this year, successfully challenging the add madam speakers attempt to add a Citizenship Question to the 2020 census. Naacp v. Mccrorry along with the naa cr6789 p and others we successfully challenged the sweeping North Carolina bill that sought tea limb nate means of participation used by more than one million voters in the 2012 president ial leaks. And Grover V Barton working with the brennan sent earn others we are challenging a florida law that denies the right of vote to returning citizens with passed felony convictions based solely on their inability to pay outstanding cost, fines, fees, and restitution. My fm today will focus on Current Conditions. And in particular on recent litigation under section 2 of the Voting Rights act. As detailed in my written statement, i think four points stand out. First, recent litigation under section 2 of the vra demonstrates the need for the Voting Rights advancement act. While the Current Administration has not filed a single case under the v. R. A. , private litigants have won more than two dozen section 2 cases since shell bye county was decided. That volume illustrates the continuing problem of Racial Discrimination in voting today. Second, despite those successes, we currently lack the tools necessary to stop discriminatory changes to voting laws before they came to an election. Discriminatory laws we have ultimately succeeded in blocking have remained in effect for months or even years while litigation has proceeded. Time in which elections have been held, and government officials were elected. The North Carolina case you have heard so much about today is ill luss aive. The law we challenged eliminated one week of early voting in which 900,000 people are voted in 2012. Same day registration, which nearly 100,000 voters are used in 2012, and preregistration which 50,000 voters are used before that election. The law also banned the use of many forms of government issued photo i. D. For voting purposes. Including student i. D. Cards, municipal employee i. D. Cards, and public assistance i. D. s. As chairman cohen and mr. Johnson voted noted, the court found this targeted africanamerican voters, with almost surgical precision and found tun constitutional. But that case took 5. 9 million, including expert fees and attorney time, and 34 months to litigate. In the interim, the 2014 general election took place and 190 federal and State Government officials were elected under what was later determined to be an unconstitutional regime. That laws been struck down, but that election cannot be rerun. There is no way now to compensate the voters of North Carolina or our democracy itself for that gross injustice. Thats just one example. My written testimony details 10 section 2 case that is the aclu has litigated since Shelby County which we obtained favorite outcomes for our clients only after a dozen elections were held and 350 federal, state, and local officials were elected under discriminatory laws. The v. R. A. A. Would address this problem in two ways w a new preclearance provision based on a rolling formula accounting for recent Voting Rights violations, and clarified standard for preliminary injunctions in section 2 cases. Both would help prevent discriminatory laws from taking effect before an eex. Third, overall the bulk of section 2 litigation has at the local level where changes to vogt laws are more difficult to monitor and highlights the need for the v. R. A. s transparency and notice requirements. Fourth and finally, a handful of states of formerly covered states under the section 5 preclearance regime account for more than half of successful section 2 cases since Shelby County was decided. Which indicates diverting discrimination remains concentrated in certain areas and particularly strong protections are justified in those places. Congress has a duty to take strong action to fulfill the promise of the reconstruction amendments. That all americans should be free to participate in our democracy on equal terms free from Racial Discrimination. Thank you. I look forward to answering any questions you have today. Chairman cohen thank you, mr. Ho. Our next witness is Jay Christian adams. President and general counsel of Public InterestLegal Foundation from 2005 to 2010. He worked in the voting section at the United States department of justice. Prior to his time at the Justice Department he served as general counsel of the South Carolina to the South Carolina secretary of state. Law degree from the university of South Carolina school of law. Mr. Adams, you are recognized for five minutes. Mr. Adam thank you very much chairman nadlerks chairman cohen, Ranking Member johnson. President and general counsely Legal Foundation were dedicated to preserving Election Integrity and the constitutional decentralization of power so states may administer their own elections. Ill im presenting evidence today of two voter disenfranchisement i have about working on. The first was decided by the ninth circuit in july. I represented retired air force general major davis. He served on guam and decided to live there on retirement. Guam is governed by the federal organic act of 1950. The organic act bans Racial Discrimination voting and explicitly incorporates the protections of the 15th amendment. Nevertheless, the legislature of guam passed an election law confining the right to vote in a status pleb bye site to a prefer racial group, socalled native inhabitants. In other words, guam imposed voter qualifications based on blood ancestry, much like the oklahoma grandfather clause struck down by the Supreme Court over a century ago. Now, congress has required guam to adhere to civil rights obligations in the 15th amendment and other federal statutes. But ironically guam also received over 300,000 in federal funds from the department of the interior to conduct education campaigns about this very same racially discriminatory voting process. That is Something Congress can fix. When dave davis sought to register to vote at the government office, his Registration Form was marked void by Election Officials. The form is in my written record, statement. Even in the gym crow south of the early 1960s, southern registrars were not brazen enough to deny the right to vote explicitly on having the wrong racial blood. We filed suit in federal court way back in 2011 and the case is still continuing because guam has been zealots in defending the racially discriminatory laws. It is so blatant that the unDistrict Court in guam granted him Summary Judgment in 2015. It despied this raise brazen Racial Discrimination, not sangle Civil Rights Organization took the case. Not a single Civil Rights Organization offered to help mr. Davis. Despite the long inventory of voting cases we know about, not even a single Civil Rights Organization filed an amicus in this case. Some voting cases such as challenges to South Carolina voter i. D. The same groups managed to duplicate or triply kate each other despite the fact that not a Single Person was disenfranchised by the South Carolina voter i. D. Law. Why is this important . It is important that reauthorization of the Voting Rights act, if it occurs, is not done in a way that affects partisan interests. Because all too often civil Rights Enforcement is also about partisan interests. To add insult to injury, mr. Davis could not even get the United States department of justice to help him in 2011. His pleas were ignored by the civil rights division. No case was filed on his behalf. No amicus was filed to help him. No nothing. Even after the ninth Circuit Court of appeals in 2005 rule that he had a ripe case, the Justice Department failed to act. Oddly, rightness was cited by chief in the voting inspection in an internal Inspector General report as to why the d. O. J. Did not help mr. Davis. Finally on november, 2017, the Justice Department did what it should have done six years earlier and appeared in court seeking to strike down the racially discriminatory voting law. Congress can do something. For one, stop public funding of racially discriminatory election Public Information campaigns. Congress has exclusive power in the territories and can stop this. The second example, which i will briefly mention, involves the commonwealth of virginia canceling citizen registrations. In other words, citizens are having their Voter Registrations canceled in virginia. We found this out when we began to infire about records regarding noncitizens. We found the commonwealth is routinely canceling citizens. In sum, there are Things Congress can do. First of all reexam the interplay between motor voter d. M. V. Laws and Election Officials. The d. M. V. Part of motor voter is hidden from the public because congress hid it. Secondly, congress has shielded state Motor Vehicle departments and that shield should go away. Third, congress should strengthen obligations for Election Officials to be transparent. We are currently suing the state of pennsylvania, North Carolina