Whether its a grandmother who cant register to vote because she cant find her birth certificate, College Students prevented from registering to vote in the place where they go to school, or even malfunctioning Voting Machines that lead to long lines and voters who need to get back to work. So they have to give up and leave the line. Certainly, we have seen that over and over again. 2016 was the first president ial election in half a century where the full Voting Rights act was not in effect. Since the Supreme Courts 2013 Shelby County decision striking down a key section in the Voting Rights act, we have seen a lot of action on the state and local level. And while some states and local communities have improved access to voting, others have restricted it. Often by targeting poor people and minority communities. We have seen numerous Voter Suppression laws passed. A number of which have been struck down by the courts for being discriminatory. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on North Carolinas strict voter i. D. Law. Which was struck down as we know, last year by the fourth u. S. Circuit court of appeals. In its decision, the Fourth Circuit said the law would target africanamericans with almost surgical precision. But we cant just count on the courts doing the right thing. Thats why Senate Democrats continue to call for a proactive, legislative agenda to increase the opportunity for people to exercise their right to vote. In our country. Our members have introduced legislation on election security, expanding Voter Registration, creating more opportunities for voters to cast their ballots. Chief among our proposals is the Voting Rights advancement act, sponsored by my colleague, senator leahy. Co sponsored by nearly the entire Senate Democratic caucus. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration continues to promote the unfounded narrative of widespread voter fraud with its socalled Election Integrity commission. And its attempts to acquire a vast amount of personal information on american voters. Protecting Voting Rights should be bipartisan. I think all of us feel that way. It should be a nobrainer. It should be bipartisan. And thats why im very disappointed the republicans in congress have refused to hold any hearings on updating the Voting Rights act and on the state of Voting Rights in america. And thats why were here doing our own hearing. Senate democrats will continue to do all we can to protect the right to vote for tens of millions of americans, and to find ways to eliminate restrictions on voting. I look forward to hearing from our terrific expert Witnesses Today. I know its going to be a very productive discussion. All of my colleagues care deeply about this, and our leaders in their states. And all of you are true leaders in the fight to protect and strengthen the right to vote in our democracy. Were honored to have you taking the time to be with us today. Now id like to turn to my colleague from minnesota, senator amy klobuchar, who is the Ranking Member on Senate Rules Committee to say a few words. Thank you, very much, senator stab know. Thank you for your advocacy. Unfortunately, the rules committee hasnt had any hearings this year. So im glad that you are willing to have this discussion about what is happening with voting. We have seen, as senator stab no noted and the court has said succinctly efforts to discriminate with surgical precision. Threehour lines in arizona. 100 miles to the nearest polling station in nevada and utah. Photo i. D. Requirements in wisconsin, where we now know it can really be hard to get an i. D. In the first place. This isnt just going on in one state. This is a systematic effort across our country. And what does the administration do . They make things worse by establishing the socalled commission on Election Integrity. This is not about integrity when you look at what theyre doing. And, in fact, can make things worse by trying to gather information that Many Republican secretary of states have spoken out against in a location, in one location we try to avoid. Decentralized Voting Systems. I dont think that was an accident, either. They are just simply making people concerned approximate voting, and we have heard in some states like colorado that people actually took away their own registrations, because they didnt want to have their data shared. Solutions . Well, sameday registration. I know that minnesota had the highest voter turnout. I know that the honorable natalie tenent knows this. But we had the highest voter turnout last year of any state, and consistently are in the top one or two. Thats because we have sameday registration. I have a bill to do that nationally with senator tester and others. And then also, automatic registration. A bill im introducing last week that would require automatic voting registration state by state for eligible voters when they turn 18. These are not radical proposals. These are proposals that we should all support, whether were democrats, republicans or independents, because our democracy is founded on one simple principle. That citizens get to participate. And we should be making it easier to participate. And not harder. Thank you. Thank you very much. Weve also asked senator jean shaheen to make some opening statements. There was a hearing in New Hampshire last week. Both senator shaheen and senator maggi hassen, i know, were a part of this. And we would like very much to get an update, senator shaheen. Well, thank you, senator stab now. And thank you for convening this hearing. Actually, we had hoped to be a part of that, but, in fact, they refused to allow us to have our testimony read as part of the commission. You know, the fact is, the Trump Administrations president ial Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, thats sort of orwellian. The Pence Commission, is what i call it, held a hearing in New Hampshire last week and it did exactly the opposite. It further misled americans and granite staters about the integrity of our electoral process. And i think as many here would agree, that president trumps baseless assertions about Illegal Immigrants and illegal voting in the 2016 election really has zero evidence to support them. The vice chair of that commission did a column in breitbart where he made allegations about our election in New Hampshire in 2016, the election of senator hassan, and hillary clinton, who won the New Hampshire electoral vote. And said that we allowed outofstaters to vote. He clearly did not understand our election laws, and he was corrected by both the secretary of state of New Hampshire and maine. What we have seen is that the real objective of this commission is to lay the ground work for Voter Suppression laws. And we saw that at the hearing last week in New Hampshire. The people testifying before that panel recommended things like thumb prints on vote i. D. S, criminal background checks before people would be allowed to register to vote. And i think one of the important points to point out to people is that americans lose trust in their elections when politicians question the validity of those elections without evidence. And, you know, we had a hearing earlier today in the Foreign Relations committee, and jon huntsman, who has been nominated to be ambassador to russia, was it was on his nomination. And we talked about the russian interference in our elections in 2016. And he said something that i think is really important. Speaks to what happens when elected officials undermine our process. He said and i thought this was so important to repeat for me, as a former governor, youre tasked with the integrity of your election system. Sometimes you have nothing more important than the integrity of your election process at the localist of levels. And to work to undercut or subvert or sow seeds of doubt is the highest level of injury that can be laid on a local election system. So i thought governor huntsman said that very well. And it points to the fact that we cannot overstate the dangers that lie in spreading this kind of misinformation. The Pence Commission and its motives are not to investigate voter fraud. Theyre to intimidate voters, particularly students, minority voters, lowincome voters, to sway them from participating in our electoral process. So thank you to all the witnesses who are here today for helping us to shed light on what the real intent of this administration is. Thank you very much, senator shaheen. I know that senator wyden was going to be with i think he will be at some point. He wants to speak to his bill vote by mail act, as well. And we certainly look forward to that. But were going to turn now to very, very important guests that are with us. Sherry lynn ivel is the president of the naacp Legal Defense fund. The naacp Legal Defense fund through its litigation and advocacy has worked tirelessly to expand democracy and eliminate racial disparities. Welcome. Benita gupta is the president of the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights. Promotes and protects civil and human rights of all people in the United States. Ms. Gupta was the former head of the Civil Rights Division at the department of justice. Reverend doctor wendell anthony, my great friend from detroit, who heads the who is president of the Detroit Branch of the naacp. Are we still the largest chapter . I believe we are, yes. And i know we have the largest annual dinner, of which you are all welcome to attend over at any given time 12 to 14,000 people at a sitdown dinner. And the food is always hot. I still have not figured this out. As we do this. But its a powerful dinner. Powerful dinner. And reverend anthony is a respected civil rights leader in detroit and southeastern michigan and in our country. And he has seen firsthand the effects of what voter en franchisement can do. We have pleased to have you with us as president and general counsel of the mexican and American DefenseLegal Education fund. Through your litigation and advocacy work, he has been working to secure access to the voting booths for all citizens. And last but not least, natalie tenent. Natalie is a former West Virginia secretary of state, and manager of state advocacy on the Brennen Centers Voting Rights and elections project. During her tenure as secretary, she emerged as a leader on election modernization. So as you can tell, we have a terrific panel, and well start with ms. Eiffel. Thank you. Thank you [ inaudible ] there we go. Thank you chairwoman stab now, for convening this meeting and to share my views and to all of the senators who thought it was important to be here for this discussion. In my brief statement, id like to provide context for our discussion today, and to explain why the current moment demands urgent congressional action to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights act, but also to address the issues that we heard in the introduction from senator stab i now. The threat to a core and central piece of our democracy. And that is the right to vote. The ability to participate in the political process. The organization i lead, the naacp Legal Defense fund, has been on the front lines for the in the fight for equal Voting Rights since its founding in 1940, one of our earliest successes was challenging the allwhite democratic primary in texas in 1944, smith versus all right. And since that time, we have continued until today working on this urgent issue that we regard as central to the full citizenship of africanamericans. After the violent acts of domestic terror in charlottesville, americans have started a National Conversation about White Supremacy. I dont think ive heard the word White Supremacy as much in my life as ive heard it over the last month. And i think thats a good thing. That conversation is long overdue. Its been somewhat encouraging. Political leaders of both parties have roundly rebuked White Supremacy as a repugnant force that must be eradicated from american life. Last week, Congress Approved a measure condemning White Supremacists and calling on the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute hate groups who ferment racial violence. Those responses are appropriate and welcome but incomplete. We cannot have a full conversation about White Supremacy in this country without also talking about the right to vote. And we cannot fully defeat White Supremacy unless Congress Acts to ensure that statesponsored discrimination is not a barrier between voters of color and the polls. The truth is that intimidation and disenfranchisement of black voters has always been central to american White Supremacy for decades. States and local jurisdictions suppressed votes with taxes, literacy tests and needlessly confusing registration requirements. Today they use strict voter i. D. Laws. Proof of citizenship requirements and racial gerrymandering. Its the same discrimination in different forms. A federal court in texas recognized as much when it found that the states voter i. D. Law constitutes a constitutional poll tax. And that decision is just one of many. Since 2014, there have been at least ten federal Court Decisions finding that states or local governments intentionally discriminated against africanamericans and other voters of color when enacting legislation. This is a watershed moment in this country. That means legislatures and county councils convening and passing laws for the purpose of dis disfranchising american voters. I submitted the full list. It includes cases from texas, louisiana, wisconsin, North Carolina, including the Fourth Circuits decision that was referred to earlier. We add to this, of course, the president s socalled Election Integrity commission thats already been discussed. Its the subject of seven lawsuits. And we add to it also the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who has pulled back on the prosecution of proven intentional discrimination in voting. We are witnessing a kind of perfect storm of Voter Suppression in which perhaps for the first time the federal government through this Election Integrity commission and the attorney general are also openly hostile to Voting Rights and is actively supporting Voter Suppression. The federal courts are taking their time deciding these cases and the states, of course, doing what the Reconstruction Congress knew they would do when they used the language in the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, no state shall or states are prohibited from. The framers of those amendments not only put limits on state conduct that would undermine full citizenship of africanamericans, they included enforcement clauses in each of the civil war amendments, entrusting you, congress, with the authority to enforce the rights that were to give full citizenship to africanamericans. In 1965, a Bipartisan Congress responded with a Voting Rights act which for nearly 50 years was the most effective civil rights statute in our nations history. But now we need so much more. We need the Voting Rights act to be restored. We need the array of legislation that many of you have sponsored that will expand voting. We need your oversight of the department of justice. We need you to look closely at the Election Integrity commission and the appropriations for that commissions work. And we need you to speak regularly, loudly, clearly, about the importance of the right to vote for every american. Thank you. Thank you very much, ms. Gupta. Welcome. Great, thank you so much, cha