Ordered. Were here today to examine the state of Voting Rights and Election Administration in america. The right to vote is sacred. As members of congress, we take our responsibility to protect access to the ballot very seriously. This subcommittee and our committee as a whole is charged with overseeing the administration of federal elections. This country has a long history of failing to ensure equal and unencumbered access to the ballot for all her citizens. While states and localities have a significant role in carrying out elections, congress cannot abdicate its critical responsibility to ensure every eligible american can access the ballot box, cast a ballot free from discrimination and suppression, and has a steadfast faith in our democratic process that their ballot will be counted as cast. Since the beginning of the 116th congress, this subcommittee has been Holding Field hearings across the country, convening forums to hear from voting and election advocates, experts, community leaders, lit gators, and voters about the state of Voting Rights and Election Administration in their communities. We have been listening closely and collecting testimony and evidence regarding the wide range of methods of Voter Suppression and discrimination being deployed across the nation. Throughout our hearings in brownsville, texas, atlanta, georgia, Standing Rock sioux reservation, north dakota, hal fax, North Carolina, cleveland, ohio, ft. Lauderdale, florida, birmingham, alabama, and phoenix, arizona, the subcommittee has heard testimony on barriers new and old. We have heard testimony about how polling place closures, consolidations, and movements cause confusion for voters and lead to long lines and wait times that are unacceptable for the integrity of our democracy. How restrictions and cut backs to early voting disenfranchises voters, especially those with limited Transportation Options or inflexible work hours. Strict voter i. D. Requirements that can be overly burdensome on the poor and minority voters and create a modern day poll tax. Discriminatory voter purge practices can disproportionately impact otherwise eligible minority voters. Denying the right to vote to nearly 6 million formerly incarcerated individuals fundamentally undermines our democracy and continues to deny citizens their constitutional right. How native American Communities have faced more than 200 years of discrimination, disenfranchisement and Voter Suppression, which continues to this day and is exacerbated when tribes are not consulted when states and the federal government craft voting laws. The lack of adequate access to properly translated materials and language assistance at the polls disenfranchises protected voters, and how litigation under section two of the Voting Rights act remains a critical tool for protecting the franchise but is not an adequate remedy to enforce such a fundamental right. Todays hearing will expand upon these issues providing us with a National Scope and stories from states the subcommittee has yet to visit. We will hear from experts, advocates, litigators and lead who are have worked for years to ensure every american can exercise his or her right to vote. Your testimony will help guide us as this Committee Seeks to understand what needs to be done to safeguard our elections and guarantee access to the ballot box. Nearly six years after the Supreme Court decided Shelby County v. Holder, were doing this work because discrimination still exists. It is our duty as elected members of congress to uphold and defend the constitution and protect the rights of the voter. Chief Justice Roberts himself said voting discrimination still exists. No one doubts that. It is Critical Congress continuously examine the state of voting in america and build a true contemporaneous record of ongoing discrimination and barriers to voting. That is why were here today. America is great because of her ability to repair her faults. It is time for us to set the right example as a democracy and encourage people to vote rather than continuing to erect barriers that seek to suppress the vote and the voices of our communities. There is much work to be done. I will now yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Davis, of illinois for your opening statement. Thank you, madam chair. The committee on House Administration has the extremely important task to conduct oversight of federal elections. Throughout the committees existence, republicans and democrats have worked across the aisle to create significant election policy that widely impacted this nation, including legislation to eliminate the poll tax, legislation to create easier access to members of the military and their families when voting overseas, and the help america vote act of 2002, a landmark piece of legislation that took substantial steps to remedy the problem seen during the 2000 president ial election. The subcommittee on elections was created for the primary purpose to be an extension of House Administration to enhance the committees oversight capabilities of federal elections. Chairwoman fudge has been leading our subcommittee with the intention to investigate Voting Rights issues in order to create a new formula that will reauthorize section five of the Voting Rights act. Ive been proud to travel to a few of the stops that this election subcommittee has participated in throughout the nation, and its been an educational experience each and every time and a great opportunity for, i think, everyone to see how we here on this side of the dais can Work Together to get things done. So thank you, madam chair for your willingness to talk about these issues, not just here in washington, d. C. The Voting Rights act enacted in 1965 for the purpose of removing racialbased restrictions on voting has historically been a bipartisan effort. This legislation was most recently authorized under a republican president and republican congress. In 2013, the Supreme Court determined section four to be unconstitutional in Shelby County v. Holder. While the court did not weigh in on whether there still is an extraordinary problem, the Supreme Court did hold that what made sense at one time may have lost its relevance. They noted that nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically. Vra primarily remains under jurisdiction of the house Judiciary Committee, but the House Administration committee has an obligation to review how elections are administers and recognize if any issues should elevate from a state to a federal level, which is what we all hope to do here today. This subcommittee, as i said, has held seven field hearings and one listening session across the country in an effort to reveal widespread voter discrimination. Though the subcommittee has yet to find a single citizen who wanted to vote but wasnt able to, we still have a duty to the American People to protect and defend everyones right to vote. As ive said many times since coming into my role as a Ranking Member of the House Admin Committee and the lone member of the election subcommittee on our side of the aisle, the greatest threat to our election system is partisanship in the administering of elections. If theres clear evidence 06 intentional, widespread voter diskr discrimination, congress should take steps to remedy that in a bipartisan manner. We must commit to diligently review the facts and numbers carefully, as well as hear from all relevant stakeholders. We should take time to examine the Voter Registration trends and the voter turnout trends. Its essential that Congress Make wellinformed decisions and understand our role in assisting states while not overpowering them. Voting is a fundamental right for every single american citizen and protecting that right is a responsibility that i and everyone i serve with on my side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle take very seriously. Today im here to listen and learn more from our witnesses about Voting Rights and Election Administration. I look forward to hearing from all of you who have agreed to share their testimony with all of us this morning, and thank you, madam chair. I yield back. Thank you. I thank my Ranking Member friend for participating and understanding our goal as a congress is to get to the truth. So i appreciate that. I thank you. Now i will introduce our panel, but as i prepare to do that, let me just give you some housekeeping. Each of you will be recognized for five minutes. I will remind our witnesses that their entire written statements will be made part of the record and that the record will remain open for at least five days for additional materials to be submitted. The lighting system, which you have in front of you l tell you how much time you have remaining. You will have five minutes. Yellow means you have one minute left. Red means please wrap up your statement. Our first panel, we will hear from kristen clark, welcome. President and executive director of the committee for civil rights under law. They seek to promote fair housing and community development, economic justice, Voting Rights, equal educational opportunity, criminal justice, Judicial Diversity and more. Ms. Clark previously served as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the new York State AttorneyGenerals Office and has spent several years at the naacp Legal Defense and Educational Fund and worked as the u. S. Department of justice in the civil rights division. Welcome. Dell hall is the director of the aclus Voting Rights project and supervises the aclus Voting Rights litigation anded a vo can i si work nationwide. He has active cases in over a dozen states throughout the country and is also an adjunct professor of law at nyu school of law. Prior to joining the aclu, he was assistant counsel at the naacp Legal Defense fund and associate at freid, frank, harris, shriver, and jacobson, llp, and a judicial law clerk. Thank you, sir. Welcome. Duel ross serves as senior counsel at the naacp Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In that capacity, mr. Ross uses litigation, public education, and other Advocacy Strategies to ensure that black people have equal access to the political process and to educational opportunities. Among his ongoing cases, mr. Ross is lead counsel in greater birmingham ministries versus merrill, an ongoing Voting Rights act lawsuit that challenges alabamas racially discriminatory voter i. D. Law. He was a member of the trial team that has coauthored the ap appellate to the texas unconstitutional voe t unconstitutional photo i. D. Law. He is also an adjunct professor at the university of Pennsylvania Law School where he teaches a course on the Voting Rights act. Welcome, all. We have been joined by the chair of the committee, the whole committee. Would you like to make well, thank you very much. This committee is charged with overseeing the administration of federal elections, and in recognition of that responsibility, we established the subcommittee on elections. This subcommittee has been led by really its outstanding chairwoman, marsha fudge. Theyve held eight hearings throughout the country, giving voice to many not generally heard in washington, d. C. Too Many Americans view themselves as shut out of our representative system, and others cant participate because of Election Administration procedures that fail to consider how americans live and work in the 21st century. Some of these barriers to participation make it harder for certain populations, including communities of color and other underrepresented groups to vote. This is especially the case after the Supreme Court got core provisions of the Voting Rights act in Shelby County versus holder. We know now that foreign agents, specifically the russians, attempted to interfere in american elections in 2016. As we discussed yesterday in the full committee hearing, no single group has been targeted more with disinformation than africanamericans. That is a Voter Suppression tactic. So we do know that for years the house has failed to adequately protect the right to vote. The house allowed discriminatory, suppressive laws to be enacted throughout the country. Laws so discriminatory they targeted africanamericans, and this is from a court case, with surgical precision. The work of the subcommittee on elections is critical to achieving the principle that every american has the right to vote, the right free from discrimination, and from administrative barriers so cumbersome that they actually suppress the vote. We know its time for congress to act to ensure equal access to the ballot for every american. I look forward to the testimony today, and once again, i just want to thank the chairwoman and the others on the election subcommittee who worked so very hard to gather information throughout the United States for their outstanding work that serves our country so well. With that, i yield back. Thank you, and thank you for your support. We could not have made these field hearings work without you. So we appreciate it. Ms. Clark, you are now recognized for five minutes. Chairwoman fudge, Ranking Member davis, and members of the subcommittee on elections, my name is kristen clark, and i serve as the president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on issues that are consequential to the fate of american democracy. The Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law has been at the forefront of our nations battle for equal rights since it was created in 1963 at the request of president kennedy to enlist the private bar in the fight to combat Racial Discrimination. Our work to safeguard Voting Rights and to fight Voter Suppression has been central to this mission. The Lawyers Committee has been a leader in many of the core Voting Rights cases over the last several decades and stands at the forefront of current efforts to ensure that our laws safeguard, not restrict, access to the franchise. The Lawyers Committee also leads election protection, the nations largest and longest running nonpartisan Voter Protection program. In Shelby County v. Holder, chief Justice Roberts noted things have changed dramatically since passage of the Voting Rights act, and, quote, blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare, end quote. Our experience and the record shows this proclamation was not true in 2013 and remains untrue today. Modern day Voter Suppression efforts are proliferating. Moreover, the shelby decision opened the floodgates to discrimination and Voter Suppression. No doubt our nation is currently in a period of retrenchment concerning access to the franchise. Since shelby, the Lawyers Committee has been involved in 41 cases related to discriminatory voting practices or policies that have had an adverse effect on the rights of africanamericans and other minority voters. These instances are summarized in my written testimony. 24 of these actions were filed since january 20th of 2017. Sadly, doj has filed no such cases during this time frame. While weve achieved substantial success in about threequarters of these 24 cases, this is just the tip of the iceberg of potential Voting Rights violations that could be challenged by doj, where there actively enforcing the law in a restored section five. Without the prof lactic protections of section five and given that parts of our country are becoming more racially diverse, weve seen