[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ENSURING A FREE, FAIR,
AND SAFE ELECTION DURING
THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
__________
Serial No. 116-115
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Reform
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available on: govinfo.gov,
oversight.house.gov or
docs.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
41-940 PDF WASHINGTON : 2020
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COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York, Chairwoman
Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of James Comer, Kentucky, Ranking
Columbia Minority Member
Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri Jim Jordan, Ohio
Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Paul A. Gosar, Arizona
Jim Cooper, Tennessee Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Thomas Massie, Kentucky
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Jody B. Hice, Georgia
Jamie Raskin, Maryland Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Harley Rouda, California Gary Palmer, Alabama
Ro Khanna, California Michael Cloud, Texas
Kweisi Mfume, Maryland Bob Gibbs, Ohio
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Clay Higgins, Louisiana
John P. Sarbanes, Maryland Ralph Norman, South Carolina
Peter Welch, Vermont Chip Roy, Texas
Jackie Speier, California Carol D. Miller, West Virginia
Robin L. Kelly, Illinois Mark E. Green, Tennessee
Mark DeSaulnier, California Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota
Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan W. Gregory Steube, Florida
Stacey E. Plaskett, Virgin Islands Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
Jimmy Gomez, California
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York
Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts
Rashida Tlaib, Michigan
Katie Porter, California
David Hickton, Select Subcommittee Staff Director
Russ Annello, Chief Counsel
Senam Okpattah, Clerk
Contact Number: 202-225-5051
Christopher Hixon, Minority Staff Director
------
Select Subcommittee On The Coronavirus Crisis
James E. Clyburn, South Carolina, Chairman
Maxine Waters, California Steve Scalise, Louisiana, Ranking
Carolyn B. Maloney, New York Minority Member
Nydia M. Velazquez, New York Jim Jordan, Ohio
Bill Foster, Illinois Blaine Luetkemeyer, Missouri
Jamie Raskin, Maryland Jackie Walorski, Indiana
Andy Kim, New Jersey Mark E. Green, Tennessee
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on September 9, 2020................................ 1
Witnesses
Kerry Washington, Actress/Activist, Co-Chair of When We All Vote
Oral Statement................................................... 7
Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director, Lawyers'
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Oral Statement................................................... 9
Mimi Marziani, President, Texas Civil Rights Project
Oral Statement................................................... 11
Krutika Kuppali, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division
of Infectious Diseases, Medical University of South Carolina,
Vice Chair of Global Health Committee, Infectious Diseases
Society of America
Oral Statement................................................... 13
Jay Ashcroft, Missouri Secretary of State
Oral Statement................................................... 15
Written opening statements and the written statements of the
witnesses are available on the U.S. House of Representatives
Document Repository at: docs.house.gov.
Index of Documents
----------
Documents entered into the record during this hearing are listed
below and available at: docs.house.gov.
* Committee Staff Report; submitted by Select Subcommittee
Chairman Clyburn.
* Opinion by the North Carolina 4th Circuit; submitted by
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney.
* Article on COVID-19 Transmission by National Academies of
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; submitted by Rep. Bill
Foster.
* Article by Politifact; submitted by Rep. Jamie Raskin.
* Letter of Support from National Disability Rights Network re:
Recommendations Endorsed by the Select Subcommittee; submitted
by Select Subcommittee Chairman Clyburn.
ENSURING A FREE, FAIR,.
AND SAFE ELECTION DURING
THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
----------
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
House of Representatives
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
Committee on Oversight and Reform
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:11 p.m., via
Webex, Hon. James E. Clyburn (chairman of the subcommittee)
presiding.
Present: Representatives Clyburn, Waters, Maloney,
Velazquez, Foster, Raskin, Kim, Scalise, Luetkemeyer, Walorski,
and Green.
Chairman Clyburn. Welcome to today's Select Subcommittee on
the Coronavirus Crisis hearing, entitled ``Ensuring a Fair,
Free, and Safe Election During the Coronavirus Pandemic.''
Let me remind members of a few procedural points.
As a reminder, this hearing is being recorded and live-
streamed. The rules require that members have their video
turned on the entire time in order to be recognized. Staff
should keep their videos off at all times.
Members should remain muted to minimize background noise
and feedback until they are recognized by the chair. Members
will be recognized in order of seniority for five minutes of
questions each. The timer should be visible on your screen when
you're in the grid view under the username ``0-timer.''
Members who want to be recognized may do so in three ways:
You may use the chat function located under the participants
panel to send the request, you may send an email to the
majority staff, or you may unmute yourself to seek recognition.
Members who experience any technical difficulties should
notify committee staff as soon as possible using the chat
function located under the participants panel or by email.
And now I will wait until they tell me the live-stream is
ready.
Good afternoon. The committee will come to order.
Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a
recess of the committee at any time.
I now recognize myself for an opening statement.
This morning, we heard the President, in his own words,
recorded in February, describe the coronavirus as, and I quote,
``deadly stuff,'' end of quote. Yet we also heard a recording
from March in which he admitted, quoting again, ``I wanted to
always play it down. I still feel like playing it down, because
I don't want to create a panic,'' end of quote.
The Trump administration did play down this deadly
pandemic, refusing to level with the American people about the
known danger and refusing to develop and implement a national
plan to stop the spread. As a result, more than 190,000
Americans have died, and the coronavirus is continuing to kill
hundreds and infect tens of thousands every day.
Over the next eight weeks, Americans will be casting their
votes in the midst of this ongoing crisis. Holding a free,
fair, and safe election under these circumstances is a
challenge. But let there be no doubt: If we all do our part,
America is up to the challenge.
In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
issued simple--their guidance to keep people healthy while
casting their votes. The fundamental principle of this public
health guidance is, and I quote, ``reducing the number of
voters who congregate indoors in polling locations at the same
time,'' end of quote.
The CDC guidance includes three key elements. First, CDC
calls for, and I quote, ``alternatives to in-person voting that
includes voting by mail and drop boxes to safely collect
ballots. Second, CDC calls for, quoting again, ``increasing the
number of polling locations available for early voting and
extending their hours of operation.'' Third, CDC recommends
that election administrators, quoting again, ``maintain or
increase the number of polling places available to the public
on election day.''
These simple steps are achievable everywhere in America,
and I am pleased that many state and local officials, both
Democrats and Republicans, have made progress in implementing
them.
Unfortunately, not every jurisdiction is following the
CDC's guidance. The consequences of this refusal are
predictable. We saw what happened in this year's primary
elections in states that reduced the number of polling places
and did not have adequate alternatives to in-person voting.
In Georgia, voters waited up to five hours to cast their
ballots. In Texas, voters endured lines up to seven hours long.
In Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee, 97 percent of polling
places were closed, leading to long lines for the city's
voters. In Florida, 112 polling places across the state were
closed, moved, or consolidated.
These actions left many voters, especially people of color,
unable to exercise their right to vote. We cannot allow the
pandemic to be used as a cover to continue or exacerbate the
ugly history of voter suppression.
In August, the select subcommittee launched an
investigation to determine whether states where primary voters
faced significant barriers to cast their ballots have made
necessary improvements for the general election. Today, we are
issuing a staff report with some troubling findings that must
be corrected.
I ask unanimous consent that this report be entered into
the record.
Without objection, so ordered.
Chairman Clyburn. In Texas, local election officials warned
that voters could be waiting in lines for hours on election day
and reported that not having enough poll workers is their
primary concern about the upcoming election. Given Texas's
refusal to expand absentee voting, it is crucial that Texas
takes steps now to recruit poll workers rather than resorting
to closing polling places and reducing hours.
Georgia is making a puzzling choice not to mail out
absentee ballot applications to all voters for the general
election after successfully doing so for the primary. Georgia's
Secretary of State has claimed that mailing out applications to
all voters will lead to longer lines at the polls, but the
reality is just the opposite: Every voter who casts an absentee
ballot is a voter who will not be in line at the polls.
We need every state to follow the CDC guidelines so that
all voters can cast their vote safely.
The Federal Government also has a crucial role to play. The
HEROES Act, which the House passed nearly four months ago,
includes $3.6 billion to help state and local governments pay
for equipment and staff to safely administer the election.
Republicans should agree to allocate these funds without
further delay.
The Delivering for America Act, which the House passed last
month, requires that election mail be treated as first-class,
restores mail service to previous levels, and provides $25
billion, as unanimously requested by the bipartisan Postal
Service Board of Governors.
Unfortunately, rather than play a constructive role in
preparing for the election, the Trump administration has been
sowing discord, fear, and confusion. President Trump has
claimed that mail-in voting will lead to fraud even though the
evidence shows Americans are more likely to get struck by
lightning than to commit voter fraud by mail. There is good
reason the President has been unable to provide evidence to
support his claim: There is none. Mail-in voting is safe and
secure.
Benjamin Ginsberg, a leading Republican election lawyer,
agrees. In an op-ed in today's Washington Post entitled
``Republicans Don't Have the Evidence to Call Elections
Rigged,'' he writes, ``The truth is that, after decades of
looking for illegal voting, there is no proof of widespread
fraud. At most, there are isolated incidents by both Democrats
and Republicans. Elections are not rigged. Absentee ballots use
the same process as mail-in ballots. Different states use
different labels for the same process,'' end of his quote.
Even while warning against fraud, the President is calling
on his supporters to vote twice, saying voters should, and I
quote here, ``send it in early and then go out and vote,'' end
of quote. I hope all my colleagues today will join me and Mr.
Ginsberg in rejecting that advice and urging Americans to
follow the law and vote only once.
Supporting a free, fair, and safe election should not be a
partisan issue. And I am hopeful that we can use today's
hearing to agree on common sense solutions to protect
Americans' health and their sacred right to vote.
I will now yield to my friend, the distinguished ranking
member, Mr. Scalise, for his opening remarks.
Mr. Scalise. OK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate you
having this hearing.
Thank our witnesses for being here.
I'd first like to start, Mr. Chairman, by sending my
prayers and support to the people of southwest Louisiana,
including Lake Charles, who are still recovering from the
devastation of Hurricane Laura. I personally went and witnessed
this, met with local officials, along with President Trump, two
weeks ago. They have a long way to go, a lot of devastation.
Everybody is standing with them, and we will continue to stand
with those strong, resilient people in southwest Louisiana to
help them as they rebuild their homes and their communities.
So, thank you, and, with that, now let's talk about today's
hearing.
Let me first be clear: Every American who is legally
eligible to vote will have that opportunity on November 3 and
is strongly encouraged to exercise their right to vote as well.
Each state runs their elections, as we know, and it is our
duty to ensure that our elections are run fairly, freely, and
safely. One of the ways we must protect every American's right
to vote is to ensure the integrity of their vote, to make sure
that that integrity is preserved by rooting out voter fraud,
which is well-documented. We must also make sure that every
American who wants to safely vote in person will have that
right.
I urge all Members on a bipartisan basis to convey that
message to the American people. The 2020 elections will be
conducted safely, freely, and fairly, and we urge all those who
are eligible to participate.
Seven months into this COVID-19 pandemic, the American
people have reminded the world about what it means to be an
American. We hold our constitutional rights sacred. A pandemic
will not stand in the way of Americans exercising our First
Amendment rights. Americans still have the right to peacefully
assemble and peacefully protest. Americans must also have the
ability to exercise our religious freedom and the right to
worship as we believe. As with previous pandemics like the
Spanish flu of 1918 or military wars or periods of unrest,
Americans will confidently go to the polls in November.
I've spent a good part of August traveling the country and
talking with voters--Republicans, Democrats, independents,
Libertarians. Americans are ready, and they are motivated to
vote. They deserve to hear from leaders in both parties that
the elections will be held safely and fairly.
Instead of urging losing candidates to refuse to concede,
which unfortunately we've heard recently, as some are
suggesting, or trying to change laws in ways that would drag
out the result for weeks and weeks after election night, we
need to ensure that state laws, which have been debated and
honed over years, are respected and allowed to be implemented
fairly and efficiently.
What people do not want to hear is one political party
attempting to take advantage of a pandemic to try to ram
through their partisan election scheme that has nothing at all
to do with this coronavirus.
Let's listen to the experts, and let's follow the science.
The unanimous opinion of our top public health experts is that
in-person voting can be done safely.
On August 13, when asked if people could go safely to vote
in person during this pandemic, Dr. Fauci said, and I quote,
``I think if carefully done according to the guidelines, there
is no reason that I can see why that would not be the case.
There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to vote in person
or otherwise.''
On August 20, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention Director, Dr. Robert Redfield, announced that the
CDC put our guidance on how to safely vote in person. Dr.
Redfield stated, and I quote, ``I think people can be able to
social distance and wear masks, and, with the recommendations
we have for hygiene, we don't see that there is going to be a
negative impact on your ability to vote from a public health
perspective. I know I am going to vote face-to-face,'' close
quote.
In an interview on August 22, Dr. Deborah Birx said, quote,
``I can tell you, it has been safe for me to go to Starbucks
and pick up my order. So, if you can go into Starbucks in the
middle of Texas and Alabama and Mississippi that have very high
case rates, then I can't say that it would be different waiting
in line in the polls,'' close quote.
A recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice
advises, quote, ``In-person voting can be conducted safely if
jurisdictions take the necessary steps to minimize the risk of
transmission of COVID-19 to voters and election workers,''
close quote.
I hope all of my colleagues will take the opportunity to
highlight CDC's guidance for safe in-person voting. CDC put out
these really good guidelines showing you how to safely do this.
Just like with safely going to school, you can educate people
in person. Some are choosing to do it; some are choosing to
deny those kids that opportunity. And we've talked about that
here in this committee, Mr. Chairman.
Just on that same level, I would urge that we follow the
guidelines for safely voting in person. There are a lot of
options for people to vote. You can request a mail-in ballot.
You can vote early in many states. They have those
opportunities. Or you can go vote in person, as many want to
do. We ought to be promoting those guidelines.
Look at some of the examples CDC put out in these
guidelines right here: Ensure that poll locations are
adequately staffed to cover any sick workers. Provide hand
sanitizer for use at each step in the voting process. Encourage
voters to use masks while in the polling location.
Here's mine. You'll appreciate the colors, Mr. Chairman.
I'll send you an extra if you want. I know you've got one of
your own. Post signs in highly visible locations that promote
everyday protective measures. Remind voters upon arrival to
leave space between themselves and others. Have plans to manage
lines to ensure social distancing.
These are all things that are in those guidelines and more.
If we follow those, you can safely vote in person.
I hope all my colleagues remind voters that, since the
beginning of March, when President Trump declared a national
emergency due to the pandemic, 37 different states plus the
District of Columbia have successfully held statewide primaries
for President or their own state offices.
I've personally voted in two different elections that we've
had in the last few months in the state of Louisiana. I did it
in person. It was a safe experience. I brought my son with me,
as I normally do. We bring our children to vote with us so they
can see this great democratic process that so many generations
have passed on. And there was never a worry. I wore my mask; so
did the poll workers. It was a very smooth process. I would
encourage people to do that as well.
Wisconsin held a very successful election near the height
of the pandemic on April 7. A peer-reviewed study published in
the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health
concluded that in-person voting in Wisconsin's election by more
than 400,000 electors did not produce a detectable surge in
coronavirus cases. We should all be following that science.
We've established procedures for absentee voting, early
voting, and, in some states, voting by mail. America is ready
to go vote. Many states vote by absentee ballot, or they
request mailed ballots. These procedures have been in place for
each state that does it. They all handle it a little bit
differently. But those systems have been worked through years
so that they know how to do it properly, how to do it safely,
how to do efficiently. We should inspire confidence in those
procedures. There is simply no pandemic-related reason to
change the way we vote in 2020.
Given the topic of today's hearing, ``Ensuring a Free,
Fair, and Safe Election During the Corona Pandemic,'' we can
just stop right there. We know how to do it. States are doing
it; we should help them do it. But our Democrat colleagues do
not want to join with us today and send that bipartisan
message. They want to go back to advancing a bill, H.R. 1.
This is something that Democrats have been promoting since
last year, long before this pandemic, that does all kinds of
things to mandate that states change the way that most of them
do business, requiring things that most states don't want to
do, haven't done, because they actually make elections less
safe, they reduce the integrity of elections.
Let's talk about it. They want to mandate ballots be mailed
to all registered voters during this emergency. That, as I
outlined, is dangerous. A review by Judicial Watch in early
2020 found that 378 different counties nationwide have more
registered voters than voting-age citizens--378 counties.
That's millions of ballots that would be out there illegally.
Who knows what would happen with them? But that's a staggering
number: 378 counties nationwide have more registered voters on
their roll than voting-age citizens. And people say there's no
opportunity for voter fraud.
More than 28 million mail-in ballots went missing--went
missing--in the last four elections, according to data
collected from the Election Assistance Commission. That's a
Federal commission that identified more than 28 million ballots
that have just gone missing. Who knows where they end up, if
they end up in a ballot box, as we saw in other states, where
weeks and weeks after the election they were still counting
votes--somehow they just kept mysteriously showing up--until it
changed the outcome of an election.
Do we really want to go to that level where there are
millions of ballots--in this case, 28 million mail-in ballots--
that literally went missing? Those are staggering numbers that
we should all be concerned about as we want to promote fair,
free, and safe elections. That's what we should be focused on.
We don't want a recipe for disaster, where we literally
would be counting ballots weeks and weeks later that would be
showing up from who knows where, as we saw in states. We saw it
in Florida; we saw it in California. In New Jersey, people are
going to go to jail for voter fraud. There are all kinds of
cases that are cited.
In the end, why don't we put our focus on helping those
states conduct fair, efficient, free, and safe elections for
all Americans who are legally eligible to vote?
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, Mr. Chairman,
and I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. I thank the ranking member for yielding
back.
I now would like to introduce our witnesses.
We first welcome Kerry Washington. Her activism spans many
levels, from serving as a co-chair for the nonprofit
organization When We All Vote and producing a documentary
inside look at legal battles for civil rights, to working at
the ground level with voters to encourage them to cast their
ballots.
We are also honored to have Kristen Clarke, president and
executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
Under Law.
We are also grateful to be joined by Mimi Marziani,
president of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
We are also joined by Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, assistant
professor of medicine at the Medical University of South
Carolina. Dr. Kuppalli is vice chair of the Global Health
Committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, where
she was one of the primary authors of IDSA's ``Guidelines for
Healthy in-Person Voting.''
Dr. Kuppalli, I understand you have recently joined the
faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina, so I'm
very pleased to welcome you to Charleston and the Sixth
congressional District.
Finally, I am pleased introduce the Missouri Secretary of
State, Jay Ashcroft.
Welcome, Secretary Ashcroft.
The witnesses will be unmuted so we can swear them in.
Please raise your right hands.
Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to
give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
Let the record show that the witnesses answered in the
affirmative.
Without objection, your written statements will be made
part of the record.
Thank you.
We will now turn to Ms. Washington.
Ms. Washington, you are now recognized.
STATEMENT OF KERRY WASHINGTON, ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST
Ms. Washington. Thank you, Chairman Clyburn, Ranking Member
Scalise, and members of the select subcommittee. I am grateful
to you for taking the time to hear my testimony and the
testimoneys of my fellow witnesses.
I am here not as an artist or entertainer but as an
American and as an advocate who believes deeply in the power of
voting. That's the reason I became a co-chair of When We All
Vote, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to
increasing participation in every election, and it's why I'm
here today.
When I turned 18, my mother and father took me out to
dinner in the Bronx, where I grew up, not just to celebrate my
birthday but to celebrate the fact that I was old enough to
vote. My parents never took their vote for granted. They
believed it is a sacred obligation, and it is.
Not too long ago, an 18-year-old Black woman would not have
been able to vote for many reasons. As you know, the legal age
of voting used to be 21 years old. So, you could get shipped
off to war without having any say in who your Commander in
Chief is. As you know, women were denied their vote. We only
just celebrated our 100th anniversary of women earning that
right. And, of course, it used to be that Black people in this
country could not vote. When our Constitution was written, our
Founding Fathers designated Black Americans to be worth only
three-fifths the value of a human being. Giving us a vote was
out of the question.
But as an 18-year-old Black woman, I voted, and I will
proudly vote this November, because we all share the right and
responsibility to vote in order to shape this democracy and
bring us closer to a more perfect Union. Our ancestors fought
to widen the circle of people who could vote, and now, on our
watch, it is at serious risk of contracting.
As you all know, there are many reasons for this, from
gerrymandering to voter-roll purges. In Georgia, more than
300,000 names were purged from the voter rolls last year alone.
An ACLU study found that over 63 percent of those named, nearly
200,000 American citizens in Georgia, were wrongly purged and,
through no fault of their own, were unable to vote. Some may
call that a mistake, but it is impossible to ignore that there
exists a well-financed, highly strategic effort to
disenfranchise voters. That is what we're up against.
Black people's experiences of voter suppression have always
been the proverbial canaries in the coal mine. If we don't pay
attention to those experiences, if we don't correct them, we
are at risk of losing our democracy for everyone.
And all of that was true before COVID-19. We are now facing
a perfect storm of circumstances that will make it harder than
ever for people to vote.
But in the lead-up to November 3, we have an opportunity to
move forward with new strategies and innovations that make
voting easier and more fair. Many states are already taking
action; we need others to follow their lead. As members of this
select subcommittee, I believe there are three things you can
do to help states meet the challenges they're facing.
First, you can make your voices louder than the voices of
leaders who disparage voting by mail while voting by mail
themselves. You can tell the American people that using these
and other mechanisms to vote is not fraud; it is their right.
Second, you can appropriate more money to states for
election administration so that states can hire poll workers,
run polling sites safely, and buy sorting and counting
machines. The $400 million authorized under the CARES Act was
critical, but the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice
recommended in April that Congress make at least $4 billion
available.
And, finally, many of you have paid tribute to Congressman
John Lewis since his passing. I believe the single best way to
honor Congressman Lewis's legacy is to continue to fight for
the expansion of the Voting Rights Act.
In closing, I'd like to speak directly to American voters.
I know that this is a time of great uncertainty, and you may
wonder how best to make your voice heard at this moment. Voting
is how you make your voice heard in these halls of power. I can
tell you that there are more options than ever to cast your
ballot. It is so important that you vote, that you vote early,
that you encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to vote
early as well. That is how we fight voter suppression--by
exercising our right to vote and voting for representatives who
represent our best interests.
Today, I am here asking our Representatives in Congress to
do everything in their power to make our elections safe and
secure, but we also need to do our part. We cannot sit this one
out. So, please make a plan. Do not wait until November. Your
vote matters. You matter.
Thank you again.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Ms. Washington.
Ms. Clarke, you are now recognized.
STATEMENT OF KRISTEN CLARKE, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW
Ms. Clarke. Chairman Clyburn, Ranking Member Scalise, and
members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
Crisis, my name is Kristen Clarke, 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 on
actions that must be taken to ensure a successful general
election during this pandemic.
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has been
at the forefront of the battle for equal rights since its
founding in 1963 at the request of President Kennedy to enlist
the private bar's leadership and resources in combating racial
discrimination. Simply put, our mission is to ensure equal
justice under the rule of law.
We've been a leader in many of our Nation's most seminal
voting rights battles, and we also lead Election Protection,
the Nation's largest and longest-running nonpartisan voter
protection program, anchored by the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline. Since
March, we have filed close to two dozen lawsuits to protect the
right to vote amid the pandemic.
I'm here to sound the alarm about the dangers we face as a
democracy should we fail to fully confront the barriers that
millions face amid the pandemic. Nearly 200,000 Americans have
lost their lives. A disproportionate number of them are Black,
Latino, and elderly. And the primary season makes painfully
clear that many states are simply not ready for the general
election. States need resources, guidelines, and crucial
reforms to get this right.
In Milwaukee, voters turned out in homemade face masks and
plastic garbage bags. In Georgia, thousands endured painfully
long lines because of poll sites that opened late. In Texas and
Florida, we saw severe poll-worker shortages as vulnerable
older Americans declined to serve.
Bold action by Congress and state officials is needed right
now to pull voters back from the brink of disenfranchisement.
We urge Congress to provide the $3.6 billion in funding
needed to ensure that states have the resources necessary to
conduct this election. Many are in a state of fiscal distress.
The calls for this funding have been bipartisan, and it's
needed to address poll-worker shortages, to ensure PPE at
polling sites, to retain equipment and personnel to process
historic numbers of absentee ballots, and more.
We also need Congress to fund the U.S. Postal Service so
that they can handle the millions of vote-by-mail ballots
expected this season. We have sued the Postal Service over
grave concerns regarding 11th-hour policy changes made under
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's watch.
As we know, ongoing congressional oversight is critical
too. Given inaction at the Justice Department when it comes to
voting rights, we need Congress to set baseline protections for
states. At this stage, all states should be providing no-excuse
absentee voting, at least two weeks of early voting, and
meaningful in-person voting options on election day. But many
officials have failed to adequately respond to the pandemic or
lack the resources to do so.
Sadly, Georgia is the poster child for this dysfunction,
which has led to wide-scale disenfranchisement, especially of
Black voters. Last-minute polling changes, poor staffing, the
use of an out-of-state vendor who made multiple errors in the
handling of absentee ballots, voters who just never received
their absentee ballots have all riddled the Georgia primary. We
called for poll hour extensions, and several counties have sued
to secure an extension in Gwinnett County. We don't need a
repeat of this in November.
Similarly, in Wisconsin, thousands of voters didn't receive
their absentee ballots. And the problems were especially acute
in Milwaukee, where poll sites were reduced from 180 to 5,
leaving voters standing in lines for hours without the ability
to socially distance.
Unfortunately, these challenges are not isolated; they are
widespread and systemic. In response, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention issued commonsense guidance for states
that aligns with the recommendations of the civil rights
community.
We applaud those states have already taken action to
protect the right to vote during this pandemic by eliminating
barriers to voting by mail, putting in place drop boxes that
provide opportunities for returning ballots, extending early
voting days, relaxing deadlines, hiring the next generation of
poll workers, investing in new election infrastructure, and
providing voter education so that voters know their options and
their rights. But some states have not yet implemented those
recommendations, and we urge that they do so immediately.
The right to vote is the bedrock of our democracy. Twelve
days ago, I stood at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the
1963 March on Washington. The tie that binds those who attended
this march and citizens all across our country is a profound
belief in the power of having your voice heard by your elected
officials.
While our Nation confronts a perfect storm resulting from
an unprecedented pandemic, distress resulting from ongoing
police and racial violence, we must ensure that all Americans
have voice at the ballot box this season.
Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Ms. Clarke.
We now turn to Ms. Marziani.
STATEMENT OF MIMI MARZIANI, PRESIDENT, TEXAS CIVIL RIGHTS
PROJECT
Ms. Marziani. Thank you. Good afternoon, Representative
Clyburn, Ranking Member Scalise, and other members of the
subcommittee. It is a great honor to be here with you today.
I also deeply appreciate the good work and public service
of my fellow witnesses. Thanks to all of you as well.
So, I am the president of the Texas Civil Rights Project,
and I have been asked update this subcommittee on the
preparations of the state of Texas for the November election
given the ongoing threat of COVID.
Unfortunately, and as detailed in my written testimony,
state officials are failing to fulfill their obligation to
Texas voters. They're forcing too many Texans to choose between
our safety and our sacred right to vote.
Even worse is that Texas and Texans will not be equally
impacted by these choices. Instead, our Black and LatinX
communities, who are already struggling to beat back higher
rates of COVID infections, will bear the brunt of this
suppression.
So, I want to highlight two key areas where Texas has
bucked guidance from CDC and other experts.
First, Texas has fought tooth and nail against any
expansion of voting by mail. Today, Texas is one of just six
states that has failed to open up remote voting options even
after multiple lawsuits and reprimands from both state and
Federal judges.
Only a lawyer can love the Texas Supreme Court's final
confusing word on this subject. The court told us that every
voter must decide for herself if she is eligible to claim a
disability under existing laws. Lack of immunity to COVID can
be one criteria but not the sole criteria. Election officials
are supposed to take the voter at her word once she checks that
box on her vote-by-mail application affirming that she has a
disability that makes voting in person dangerous to her health.
So, now that the smoke has cleared from these legal
battles, voters and election officials have been left to deal
with the wreckage. Voters have to navigate a confusing standard
and a clunky, decentralized system that was not built for
pandemic-level use.
In addition, multiple legal barriers potentially block
mail-in ballots from being counted in Texas. This includes a
prohibition on drop boxes, which forces voters to primarily
rely on the overwhelmed Postal Service. This includes a
requirement of a certified doctor's note, but only for voters
who get sick within 10 days of election day. And this includes
discriminatory signature matching laws that give local partisan
ballot boards largely unfettered power to deem your signature
invalid and to trash your ballot without even giving you a
chance to object.
County election officials also have to navigate this
complex legal web while preparing for what will still be a
surge of voting by mail. And this is all without any help or
guidance from the state.
Well, that's not quite right. There's one state official
who has been very outspoken about voting by mail. Our attorney
general, Ken Paxton, who also serves as co-chair for the
Lawyers for Trump organization, has repeatedly threatened to
prosecute voters and civil society organizations for running
afoul of these bewildering vote-by-mail rules. This abuse of
power is shockingly inappropriate.
Combined with the Texas Supreme Court's murky ``don't ask,
don't tell'' standard, Paxton's threats will almost certainly
scare away voters with serious health conditions, particularly
voters of color, who have been targeted by his community in the
past.
Just last week, Paxton did, in fact, use the power of his
office to limit mail-in voting. He sued local officials in
Harris County to stop them from sending vote-by-mail
applications to all registered voters in that diverse county,
even though officials also planned to send eligibility guidance
taken straight from that Texas Supreme Court decision.
To be sure, Texas has taken some steps to make in-person
voting safe and accessible, most notably by adding an
additional week of in-person voting, and they should be
commended for doing so. But--this is my second point--the
state's hands-off approach to polling places and poll workers
is not enough.
For instance, state officials have been silent about the
need to increase or, at the very least, maintain the overall
number of available polling places despite CDC recommendations
to do just that. This is particularly troubling given Texas's
dubious track record. Since the Supreme Court's 2013 Shelby
decision, which released Texas from any Federal oversight of
election rule changes, Texas counties have closed at least 750
polling locations. And, sadly but not surprisingly, the places
where Black and LatinX populations are growing faster are just
those places that have experienced the vast majority of these
closures.
And that was all before the COVID pandemic added further
complications to confirming polling locations and recruiting
workers.
So, we've heard from the chairman that fewer polling places
have already contributed to longer wait times for Texas voters.
And those long lines we saw in Texas on Super Tuesday of up to
seven hours in Black and LatinX communities were a danger to
our democracy then, but now, in November, long lines could be
deadly.
My written testimony contains a list of commonsense
measures the state can and should take immediately to mitigate
these concerns. There's just barely time for Texas to step up
during this critical moment in our history, but time is running
short.
Thank you, and I would be happy to answer any questions you
have.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much.
We now turn to Dr. Kuppalli.
Now, Dr. Kuppalli, you're a new constituent of mine. I want
to be sure I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Kuppalli?
Dr. Kuppalli. Yes. Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much. You are now
recognized.
STATEMENT OF KRUTIKA KUPPALLI, M.D., VICE CHAIR, GLOBAL HEALTH
COMMITTEE, INFECTIOUS DISEASES SOCIETY OF AMERICA; AND
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS
DISEASES, MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Dr. Kuppalli. Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman Clyburn, Ranking Member Scalise, and
distinguished members of the select subcommittee, for the
opportunity to testify before you today.
I'm extremely grateful for your interest and commitment
toward helping support the novel coronavirus disease efforts in
the United States as we attempt to contain this deadly disease
and ensure we have a free, fair, and safe election for all
citizens on November 3.
On behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, I
worked closely with the Brennan Center for Justice on joint
``Guidelines to Inform Healthy In-Person Voting,'' which I will
discuss today.
With over 40,000 cases of coronavirus a day across the
United States, we must take bold steps to break chains of
human-to-human transmission to improve the health of our
population and economic recovery of our country. The more we
strengthen our national response to coronavirus now, the less
risk of transmission we will face on election day.
Specifically, I recommend the following options. The
Federal Government should institute a national mandate
requiring the use of masks or face coverings; expand testing
and contact-tracing capacity; increase the supply of personal
protective equipment; address health disparities; and provide
support for individuals in isolation and quarantine, including
sick leave, food, and access to medical care.
In this era of COVID-19, personal health concerns have the
potential to skew voter participation unless we provide viable
alternatives to a single day of in-person voting. Additional
options should be made available, including mail-in voting;
earlier, longer voting; more polling locations; ballot drop
boxes; and/or curbside voting.
For those individuals who will prefer or need to vote in
person, the following recommendations are based on evidence
from science and public health to minimize risks.
First and foremost, a uniform, evidence-based public health
message about what voters should expect at polling sites is
critical. Messaging should emphasize that hand hygiene,
physical distancing, and face masks that cover the nose and
mouth are important in preventing the transmission of
coronavirus.
When establishing and selecting polling locations, election
officials should consider the following. First and foremost,
polling locations should have face masks and hand sanitizer
available to everybody. To avoid overcrowding, the number of
polling locations should be increased. Polling locations should
be relocated from nursing homes and senior-living facilities to
protect older adults who are at greater risk for coronavirus.
Polling locations should be relocated to large, well-ventilated
areas that can accommodate the necessary physical-distancing
measures between individuals, voting booths, and poll workers.
There should be plans to minimize lines, and there should be
unidirectional flow into and out of the polling location with a
limited number of entrances and exits.
Prior to opening a polling site, it should be cleaned with
an EPA-approved disinfectant. Special attention should be given
to high-touch surfaces, such as voting booth surfaces, and
cleaned at least once every four hours. There should be
plexiglass barriers between poll workers and voters. And people
should be given disinfectant wipes so they can sanitize the
voting booth surfaces. Where possible, voters should be
provided with disposable pens, pencils, or other devices to
mark their ballots. And all polling locations should have
adequate supplies to support healthy hygiene.
There are actions individual voters should take as well to
minimize the risk of COVID transmission while voting. If a
person is unable to vote by mail, they should check with local
elections officials for alternative voting options in their
area. Voters should verify their registration, polling
location, and special requirements prior to presenting to the
sites. They should fill out a sample ballot prior to election
day to make in-person voting time efficient. They should use
hand sanitizer in each step of the voting process. And they
should arrive to the polling location alone, early, and be
prepared to wait. However, they should try to vote during an
off-peak time, such as the midmorning.
We know that despite our best attempts there will be sick
individuals who present on election day. For these people,
alternative voting options should be provided to minimize the
exposure of voters and poll workers to coronavirus. This should
be a designated polling site or curbside voting. And we should
also consider having onsite testing available for sick
individuals who want it.
Crucial for the success of election day is the recruitment
of poll workers. Wide-scale campaigns to recruit poll workers
should be scaled up, and jurisdictions should recruit extra
poll workers, especially from lower-risk populations. All poll
workers should be provided and trained in how to appropriately
don, doff, and use PPE. And individuals concerned about their
personal risk of coronavirus as a poll worker should consult
their healthcare provider.
After election day, there should be expanded testing for
voters and poll workers to identify outbreaks associated with
voter locations.
The current pandemic is an unprecedented event in our
lifetime. A free, fair, and safe election can be achieved with
bipartisan support for more resources and an evidence-based
approach to the voting process. We encourage local elections
officials to work closely with public health and infectious
diseases experts to proactively develop an election plan.
No one should have to choose between the right to vote or
to be healthy. We have the evidence, knowledge, and science to
keep our public safe, and we must use it, because one new
infection is one too many.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify, and I look
forward to answering your questions.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Dr. Kuppalli.
Finally, we will hear from Secretary Ashcroft.
Secretary Ashcroft, you are now recognized.
STATEMENT OF JAY ASHCROFT, MISSOURI SECRETARY OF STATE
Mr. Ashcroft. Thank you, Chairman Clyburn, Ranking Member
Scalise, and distinguished members of this subcommittee, for
the opportunity to virtually join you today for this important
discussion regarding coronavirus and its effect on the November
2020 general election.
I'd also like to thank the other witnesses. And though I
didn't think to put it in my comments when I was trying to
hurriedly do them last night as I was traveling, I want to
especially thank the staff for the work they must have done.
I'm sure that, both on the minority and the majority side,
there were staffers that worked over their vacation time to do
this over this weekend and set this up, and I really appreciate
their hard work.
I'd also like to thank Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, who
is my Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.
My name is Jay Ashcroft. It my privilege and honor to serve
as Missouri's 40th Secretary of State. As Secretary of State, I
am the designated chief election officer for the state.
In 2020, Missouri election officials have already held
three successful elections since COVID-19 became a concern: the
Presidential preference primary in March, local municipal
elections that were postponed from April to June, and the
August primary election.
Missouri's elections are administered by our 116 local
election authorities, who are elected or appointed and make all
logistical decisions in their election jurisdiction. This
includes the number of polling places needed, the number of
poll workers, how many face shields, face masks, tables,
chairs, or bottles of hand sanitizer are needed.
My office assists whenever possible. In fact, during two
weeks in May, I drove more than 5,000 miles and visited every
one of Missouri's election officials to distribute more than
17,000 face masks, 17,000 face shields, 40,000 distancing
strips, and more than 500 gallons of hand sanitizer.
By all accounts, our local election officials have done a
wonderful job sanitizing polling places and voting areas,
promoting physical distancing, and looking for creative
solutions to improve the flow of traffic through polling
places.
Other states may have had difficulties with having adequate
polling places, but that has not been a problem in Missouri.
Some of our election officials have actually increased the
number of polling places, and others have moved to larger
facilities to provide for better flow of foot traffic and
provide adequate space for physical distancing.
Missouri election authorities have promoted curbside
voting, and some have even tested the logistics of drive-
through voting. People could vote from their car. I have been
impressed with their forethought and their commitment to
ensuring the health of voters and poll workers alike.
Voting in person is safe.
I've paid particular attention to stories related to the
Wisconsin Presidential primary held on April 7, during which
Milwaukee election officials reduced the number of polling
places from 180 down to 5. One study appearing in the Journal
of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology examined the rate of
COVID transmission in the days following that election. In
fact, the data showed a decrease in COVID infections in the two
weeks following the election. And I'm not saying that voting is
a prophylactic for COVID, but that's what the data showed: that
there was no increase.
In addition to delivering health and safety equipment
directly to election officials across the state, in 2018 I
proposed amending state law to reduce the reliance of Missouri
voters on the U.S. Postal Service. I asked lawmakers to allow
voters to allow an email of their absentee-ballot request
instead of having to mail it in. And I asked them to move the
deadline to request an absentee ballot earlier by one week to
reduce the likelihood that Postal Service issues would affect a
person's right to vote. Thankfully, those changes were passed
and signed into law.
That said, I have very sincere concerns about promoting the
use of mail-in ballots. It's not a perfect system. What we see
in Missouri and nationally is, in every election, at least 2 to
3 percent of ballots received by mail are rejected. Perhaps the
voter completed the ballot envelope incorrectly or the voter's
signature didn't match. Maybe the ballot scanner didn't
properly read the ballot. For every 50 mail-in ballots cast by
voters, at least 1 of them, statistically, doesn't count. For
every 50 of those voters, 1 of them is disenfranchised. I will
continue to encourage people to vote in person. It's safe, and
it guarantees that your vote will count.
Elections matter. Votes matter. Each one that is cast
should be counted. In nearly every election, there is an
instance in which a candidate won by only a few votes. We have
seen this in Missouri, notably in Kansas City in 2010 in a race
for state legislature. We've seen blatant absentee-ballot fraud
in St. Louis in 2016, so much so that a judge ordered a second
election, which changed the outcome of the election.
I can't speak for any state other than my own, but in
Missouri we have proven three times in 2020 that, with
precautions in place and cooperation from voters, we can have
successful, safe, in-person voting on election day. I encourage
voters in Missouri and elsewhere to protect the integrity of
America's elections and make their voices heard on election
day.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you
today.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Secretary Ashcroft.
And thanks to all of our witnesses here today.
We are now going to move into a period of questions and
answers. Each member is going to be recognized for five minutes
to ask questions and receive answers. And we will begin by me
yielding myself five minutes.
Now, many voters are expressing tremendous fear. I hear
from them every day, and I'm sure many of you do as well. Some
states do better with masking and social distancing than
others. We know about the fear and the discouragement that a
lot of people received during the primary season when they
found out at the last minute that their polling places had been
closed. And, of course, a lot of suppression tactics are being
used. In fact, I think it was the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals in a North Carolina case that said that they performed
``with almost surgical precision'' in carrying out their
suppression.
Now, Ms. Washington, you have spoken directly with voters
in communities of color to encourage them to vote. What
concerns are you hearing from voters? And what is your message
today to voters who are wondering how they can vote safely?
Ms. Washington. Thank you, Chairman Clyburn.
Yes, I have spent time in Michigan and Virginia and in
quite a few places in our country, and I think in this
environment what voters want to know is what opportunities they
will have to vote and whether their votes will be counted.
Of course, it varies from state to state, as we've all
talked about, but, no matter where you live, voters should have
safe options to vote and be educated on what those options are.
I would say to voters today that I am doing my part by
being here speaking with the committee; the committee, you're
doing your part by listening and hopefully taking action; and
so, voters need to do our part as well. Voters need to check
registration status, find out what the deadlines are in their
particular states, figure out whether early voting is an
option, and then make a plan to vote.
And, if I may add, a really helpful way to do all of that
is visiting vote.org. It is a nonpartisan website that tells
voters everything they need to know about how to vote.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Ms. Washington.
I noticed you mentioned Michigan and Virginia, but, if my
memory serves, I think your roots are in Beaufort County, South
Carolina.
Ms. Washington. Yes, sir. That's correct.
Chairman Clyburn. You're welcome to come and help there as
well. In fact, your uncle was my debate coach at South Carolina
State. So, I think you can do us a whole lot of favors by
coming back to your roots and help encourage voters here in
South Carolina as well.
Let me ask, though, of Ms. Clarke, what should state and
local officials be doing now to ensure that voters are not
disenfranchised in November?
Ms. Clarke. We need to not repeat the mistakes from the
primary season, and we should take lessons that we learned from
the primary season to ensure a successful general election in
November.
In short, we want to ensure that we're providing three
avenues to the ballot for voters this season:
One, we want streamlined, accessible vote-by-mail. We want
postage-paid envelopes to voters. I applaud those states that
are making this process easy by automatically mailing absentee
ballots to registered voters.
In addition to streamlining the absentee-ballot process, we
want at least two weeks of expanded in-person, early voting. We
know that for many voters in our country, particularly for
Black voters and voters of color, the experience of voting in
person is deeply important. So, having expansive early voting
opportunities is critical.
And if we get all that right, then we'll ease the burdens
that election officials face on election day itself. We want an
election day where voters are not subject to long lines. We
want to ensure that they're able to socially distance. We want
to ensure that they know where to vote, given many of the last-
minute polling-place changes this season.
If I can, Congressman, I'm sharing an image from Atlanta
during the primary season. This was a long line outside of Park
Tavern in Atlanta on June 9. These are voters who waited for
hours to cast their ballots. We don't want a repeat of that
this season, which really--it encourages us to get it right by,
again, providing expansive early voting opportunities and
getting vote-by-mail right.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you for that.
Secretary Ashcroft, I noticed you mentioned that the
legislature responded very positively to your suggestions about
how we might enhance early and absentee voting. Did you all use
any of the money--well, I think $400 million of CARES--to help
support that?
Mr. Ashcroft. We took about half of the money that we
received with the latest CARES Act money to go directly with
grants to local election authorities to use however they
thought was best to help with their election, with making sure
that they had PPE, plexiglass shields, more poll workers, to
increase poll-worker pay so we wouldn't have to reduce polling
places.
And then we've held back about half of it to pay for the
cost of the increased use of absentee and mail ballots so that
our local election authorities don't have to bear that burden,
so that we can bear that for them, because we expect more
people to utilize non-in-person voting, sir.
Chairman Clyburn. So, you would say that you all were able
to carry out these new procedures at no cost to the state?
Mr. Ashcroft. Sir, there is some cost to the state. There
is a match of 20 percent on the CARES funding. But we have not
seen it as being an insurmountable burden to us. Missouri
doesn't need more Federal funding. And if we were to get more
Federal funding now, we wouldn't be able to use it well,
because we don't have enough time to implement any sort of
changes that would do that.
What the Congress could do, if they wanted, is maybe make a
commitment to backstop if there are overages of costs for
states that we don't foresee now after the election, sir.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much.
My time has expired.
Mr. Ranking Member, you are now recognized for five
minutes.
Mr. Scalise. OK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I first want to start by thanking all of the poll
workers. You know, every time I go to the polls, we all, as we
vote, we get to know our poll workers. They're usually our
neighbors. And they come in early, and whether you're a 6
o'clock-in-the-morning-until-8 o'clock-p.m. state, whatever the
hours are, they work those long hours to help us carry out this
great democracy that our country enjoys.
And there's been--for years, we've seen a shortage coming.
I know our Secretary of State has talked about this in
Louisiana, maybe other states too, where it seems like some of
the poll workers that are getting older, there aren't as many
younger people coming in. So, maybe we can also encourage
people to become poll workers, because that is something we've
had an issue with for years now.
But I want to thank those poll workers who have done this
year-in and year-out and will be doing this again in November
and make sure we give them all the safety protocols that they
need.
I want to start with Ms. Washington, because I don't know
if she knows it or not, but she and I actually are linked
together in history. We both had roles in the movie ``Ray,''
which was filmed in Louisiana.
Ms. Washington. That's right.
Mr. Scalise. I think her role might have been a little more
prominent than mine. We're both listed in the credits. But
congratulations. Jamie Foxx, I got to work with him for a few
days. He won the Academy Award and did a great job, and so did
you.
So, thank you for coming to Louisiana and being a part of
making that movie and for the work that you do to encourage
people to vote. I think it's important. However people are
going to vote, we all should be encouraging people to exercise
the right to vote.
And, in each state, they give you multiple options, and
those options are there for important reasons. They're debated
heavily in state legislatures, and then they're worked so that
a Secretary of State can actually carry that out properly.
So, I think we need to do everything we can to encourage
people. There's never been more opportunities to go legally
vote and exercise your right to carry out this franchise that
our country is built upon.
So, thank you for the work that you're doing there, Ms.
Washington.
Ms. Washington. Thank you. And thank you for your acting
expertise.
Mr. Scalise. You've done a little better than me there in
that regard.
I want to ask Mr. Ashcroft, I know you've been Secretary of
State there in Missouri, carrying out the job that all
Secretaries of State do so well. Kyle Ardoin, the Louisiana
Secretary of State, I've had a great working relationship with
him, and as he has needed things through the years, but
especially through COVID, we've worked as well too. And I'm
sure you work with Blaine Luetkemeyer and other members of your
delegation.
In terms of the things that you need to carry out a safe
election in this environment--I would imagine you've had
experiences with primaries during these last few months--what
are the things you've seen that work really well?
And you've been the head of the Secretary of States
Association, I think, on the Republican side, so you hear
stories from other members too. What are you hearing from
Secretaries of State, things that they need to do to make sure
that we can have that in-person opportunity just as well as the
other early voting options that there are for people?
Mr. Ashcroft. You know, as an engineer, it's just a
logistical exercise. How do you get people to a location, their
votes to a location, give them time to mark them, and then
securely count them?
We follow the guidelines of the CDC to give people space,
to have extra poll workers, to have large polling places, to
remind people to keep their distance. We've reached out to
manufacturers as to how to disinfect their equipment, and we've
used one-time pens and that sort of thing.
It's common sense.
Mr. Scalise. Yes.
Mr. Ashcroft. It's everything your mama told you.
Mr. Scalise. Good. All those CDC guidelines that we talked
about earlier, these guidelines from CDC that they've put out,
I think some of the things you just mentioned.
And now I want to bring you to the other point that is a
big concern of a lot of people, and that is the integrity of
the vote. Because as any of us vote, as we encourage everybody
who is legally eligible to vote, if somebody does cast a ballot
illegally, it undermines the integrity of our vote.
Mr. Ashcroft. Yes.
Mr. Scalise. And I think that's the other part of this that
we can't just ignore. I know some people try to minimize it or
say it doesn't happen. We know it happens. I mean, there are
cases. New York, just last year, people bribed nonresidents to
falsely register and vote. In Pennsylvania, you had an
individual who was picking people up and convinced them to fill
out applications for deceased people. In Maryland, a noncitizen
was found guilty of voting in multiple--10 different Federal
elections. On and on we see these kind of stories.
So, rooting out voter fraud is important. Making sure that
we at the Federal level don't force states to do anything that
would undermine the integrity of their elections is important
as well. We talked about, in my opening statement, the 28
million ballots that have gone missing.
In Los Angeles County, there was just a court order
recently where they were forced to remove 1-1/2 million people
who were on their rolls illegally--not legally--illegally. They
wouldn't remove them. The court made them remove them. Because
if you've got that opportunity for fraud, it happens.
What have you seen, especially with other Secretaries
you've talked to?
Mr. Ashcroft. We see vote fraud occur from people paying
people to register, paying people to vote, to people changing
absentee ballots in midstream.
We had a state house race where we had to have a new
election four years ago in the city of St. Louis, where a judge
looked at all the evidence of fraud and allegations that people
had voted when they said they hadn't, overturned that election,
and the election was totally different when it was done
correctly, and a different individual won.
Mr. Scalise. Well, thank you for that.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much.
The chair now recognizes Ms. Waters for five minutes.
Ms. Waters. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm so
pleased that you're holding this hearing today. It is so
important that we put as much time and effort into encouraging
people to vote and encouraging them to have options.
So, in June, the CDC issued guidance for preventing the
spread of COVID-19 during elections. The CDC recommended that
state and local election officials, quote, ``offer alternative
voting methods that minimize direct contact and reduce crowd
size at polling locations,'' quote/unquote.
Voting by mail is the safest option for avoiding the
substantial health risks associated with in-person voting
during this pandemic. Several jurisdictions are already
prepared to accommodate widespread voting by mail. For example,
this fall, my home state of California will mail every
registered voter a ballot.
Based on lessons learned from expanded mail-in voting
during the March primary, California has implemented a
statewide tool to allow voters to track their mailed ballot and
receive notifications about its status, including whether there
are any issues that need to be resolved. Additionally,
California counties will have more time to process mail-in
ballots and ensure an accurate count.
So, I'm so pleased that my friend Ms. Kerry Washington is
here today. Ms. Washington, a resident of California, has
always given her time and her effort whenever she's been called
on, not just now, encouraging people to vote and talking about
the alternatives and insisting on people having alternatives.
Whenever we have called on her in our communities to assist us
in any way, she has been so generous.
And I want to thank you, Kerry, for being here today. It's
so good to see you.
Ms. Washington. Thank you. You as well.
Ms. Waters. Now, many states, like California, have
sensibly decided to expand voting by mail during the pandemic.
Some states have implemented policies that deny millions of
voters the opportunity to vote by mail and thereby protect
themselves and their families from exposure to coronavirus.
So, I want to move to Ms. Marziani.
Can you describe some of these policies in your home state
of Texas that limit mail-in voting and the effect that these
policies will have on voter equality of the states to safely
exercise the right to vote during this pandemic?
Ms. Marziani. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Congresswoman.
So, as I noted in my oral testimony and my written
testimony, there has been a multi-month battle in Texas around
voting by mail and who is eligible.
Going into COVID, Texas was one of the very few states that
required an excuse to vote absentee by mail. Then, of that
small subset, most other states expanded the eligibility
requirements. Texas, as I said, fought us and other
organizations in court and refused to do so. And so, today, we
are left with a really murky standard for voters to try to
administer themselves.
Then on top of that, as I said, we have the really
inappropriate situation of our Attorney General threatening
prosecution of voters for running afoul of unclear, complicated
rules.
And on top of that, you have the state pretending as if we
are not going to see an increase in vote-by-mail. We saw a 100
percent increase in some counties in our primary runoff
elections in July in voting by mail, but the state has not
issued any best practices to the counties, has not--we have a
patchwork of vendors, for instance, in different counties. Some
counties are, as I understand, using their own printers, for
instance, to try to process these things.
What it means is we are about to layer on top of, you know,
some bad law to start with--I mean, I actually agree with the
Honorable Secretary Ashcroft in saying that, yes, there are a
lot of holes in vote-by-mail that already existed. And we
failed to fix those holes, we layered on top a new confusing
standard, and then we layered on top of that a surge in vote-
by-mail that we know is coming but we haven't done anything to
deal with it, and it creates----
Ms. Waters. Thank you.
Ms. Marziani [continuing]. A bad scenario. Yes.
Ms. Waters. Thank you so very much.
I want to remind us that President Trump has repeatedly
tried to undermine public confidence in mail-in voting by,
among other actions, falsely claiming it will lead to
widespread fraud and abuse. This is, to put it mildly,
nonsense. According to an analysis by MIT, over the past 20
years there have been only 204 cases of absentee ballot voter
fraud, out of 250 million votes cast by mail.
Ms. Clarke, are you aware of any evidence to support the
President's claims of widespread voter fraud with mail-in
voting?
Ms. Clarke. Thank you, Congresswoman.
It is notable that President Trump himself just recently
voted absentee in the state of Florida. His wife has voted
absentee. Ivanka and Jared Kushner have voted absentee.
Attorney General Bill Barr has voted absentee.
And absentee voting dates back to the 19th century in our
country, when we allowed people during wartime the opportunity
to cast their vote by mail.
I've seen similar studies that----
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Ms. Clarke.
Ms. Clarke [continuing]. It's 143 ballots over 20 years.
You know, that amounts to .00006 percent of fraud.
We should not be disenfranchising millions of Americans,
given our country's long track record of success that dates
back to the 19th century in allowing Americans to have their
voice heard by voting by mail.
Ms. Waters. Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. OK. Thank you very much.
The gentlelady's time has expired.
The chair now recognizes for five minutes Mr. Luetkemeyer.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And welcome to my good friend, Secretary of State Ashcroft.
Great to see you.
Today's hearing topic is very interesting and, quite
frankly, very telling. Right after the Select Subcommittee on
the Coronavirus was formed, the Republican members asked the
chairman to hold a hearing on the origin of the virus, which of
course is China, and the actions that allowed the virus to
spread to the rest of the world. However, we were told the
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus somehow lacks a mandate
to review the origin of the virus.
Fast-forward a couple months, and a subcommittee that is so
strictly limited that it lacks even the ability to discuss
where the virus came from now has jurisdiction over elections.
If there ever was a question as to whether this committee is
100 percent politically focused, today's hearing is making that
crystal-clear.
This is not about election security, but about my
colleagues on the other side's attempt to spread fear and sow
doubt in the results of this year's elections before a single
vote has been cast. It's about spreading misinformation,
conspiracy theories, and manufactured crises ranging from the
supposed sabotage of the Postal Service to the dangers of in-
person voting--dangers that apparently don't exist at violent
protests or high-end hair salons.
On a positive note, I am pleased again to welcome Secretary
Ashcroft from my home state and discuss the success he is
experiencing with voter participation and election integrity.
Under his leadership, Missouri has strengthened voter ID laws
while experiencing record voter turnout. More Missourians are
voting, and they're doing it safely and in person.
Secretary Ashcroft, you mentioned in your testimony that in
the March 2020 Presidential primary Missouri saw a 16 percent
increase in voter participation, the highest amount the state
has ever had with an incumbent President on the ticket. Was
this due to an expansion of mail-in ballots?
Mr. Ashcroft. No, it was not. It was participation of
individuals feeling safe to vote in person.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Many of the members of this committee say,
if you increase election security, you suppress voters. Of
course, that's not the case in Missouri. Will you discuss what
the 2016 voter ID law did for voter participation?
Mr. Ashcroft. Yes. In 2016, the people of the state passed
a constitutional amendment to allow a photo ID to be required
for voters.
Since that law has been passed in Missouri, we provide free
photo IDs to individuals that need them, along with the
underlying document, and we no longer have people being turned
away when they vote because they can't prove their identity.
Every election, we have at least a handful of people that
would've been turned away under the old law, but now they're
allowed to vote, and their vote counts.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. One of the things that--mail-in ballots,
it seems that there's an increase in the number of folks that
participate that way. Do you believe that this will cause a
delay in the election results?
Mr. Ashcroft. It is entirely possible. We are doing
everything that we can to stop that delay from occurring, but
they have to--they take more time to count. We could be waiting
days.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. And what kind of actions are you taking or
things that you are thinking about to be able to minimize that
delay?
Mr. Ashcroft. We are working to make sure that we have more
two-person teams, a Republican and a Democrat, to go through
those ballots that are mailed in. And we're having those teams
start at the limit, five days before the election, to start
going through them. But, depending on what we see, we may have
results delayed.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Do you believe, as the top election
authority in our state--and, as Ranking Member Scalise
mentioned a minute ago, you were the chairman of the Secretary
of States organization--do you believe that, by the delaying of
election results, that people would lose faith in the integrity
of our voting process?
Mr. Ashcroft. Yes, I do. And when they do that, they're
less likely to participate. So, when we scare people
needlessly, we cause voter disenfranchisement,
Mr. Luetkemeyer. You know, one of the things, though--a
while ago, there was a--I think you mentioned that there were--
that 2 to 3 percent of the mail-in votes are rejected. That
would seem to make a pretty good case for voting in person, if
there's a problem with the process, somehow, somewhere,
something goes wrong in it.
Mr. Ashcroft. We see that nationwide. The best way to make
sure your vote counts is to vote in person. Not only do you
have to worry about notarization or signature or sending it to
the right place or the post office, but if there's a problem
with your ballot, with in-person voting, you may correct it.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. You know, one of the concerns I have--a
while ago, Ranking Member Scalise also made a comment, there're
378 counties that have more registered voters than they have
citizens.
As the chairman of that secretary group, what was the--is
there a program in place? Are there concerns? What action, if
any, was taken by your group to try and find a way to minimize
that situation?
Mr. Ashcroft. I know that individual Secretaries of State,
at least in my party, have been working to make sure that the
voter rolls are clean so that the experience on election day is
as fast and easy for voters as possible.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Well, one last comment here. I know that--
or, I guess, a question. You know, with regards to fraud and
mail-in ballots, I guess, in Georgia, I guess it was, they had
about 1,000 people that had a problem with, you know, voter
fraud--voted twice on the mail-in. Is that correct? Is that
information you had as well?
Mr. Ashcroft. There is always a concern with that. We had
an election overturned four years ago, where the candidate that
supposedly lost lost by three percent, the judge looked at all
the fraud in the absentee ballots, they held a new election,
and the previous loser won with 75 percent of the vote.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. You know, one of the comments that was
made by the chair a moment ago, it's more likely to be struck
by lightning than have mail-in fraud. I'm not sure that's quite
right unless we have a lot of folks getting struck by lightning
in the state of Missouri and across the country.
Mr. Ashcroft. Maybe a lot of people get hit by lightning in
South Carolina. I don't know.
Mr. Luetkemeyer. With that, I yield back. Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. Well, I'm not going to argue with
science. I'm just quoting the science on that. I understand my
Republican friends sometimes have a problem with that.
The chair now recognizes Mrs. Maloney for five minutes.
Mrs. Maloney?
Mrs. Maloney. OK. Can you hear me now?
Chairman Clyburn. OK.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
This year, we should be talking not just about Election Day
but about Election Month, since millions of Americans are
expected to vote early.
Many states have expanded early voting, but there is much
more to do. Eight states still do not offer in-person, early
voting. Only half of the states allow early voting on the
weekend, while others offer fewer than two weeks of early
voting or limited voting hours.
With the pandemic still killing hundreds of Americans each
day, CDC guidelines say election officials should, and I quote,
``consider increasing the number of polling locations available
for early voting and extending the hours of operation,'' end
quote.
Dr. Kuppalli, why is it so important for states to follow
public health guidance and expand early voting?
Dr. Kuppalli. Thank you for that question.
It is really important for states to follow public health
guidance and to have early voting. We want to limit the number
of crowds on election day. So, by expanding early voting, this
will allow people to vote at different times, and that will
limit the number of lines on election day, wait times.
We know that, with coronavirus, the duration and intensity
of your exposure increases your risk of getting the disease.
So, that is why we want to increase the number of people who
have the availability to alternative methods of voting.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you.
Early voting could reduce lines on election day, helping
ensure that everyone has an opportunity to cast their ballot.
Mr. Chairman, I seek unanimous consent to enter into the
record an opinion by the Fourth Circuit that reducing early
voting days in North Carolina would lead to, quote, ``longer
lines, increased wait times, understaffed sites, and other
problems.''
Chairman Clyburn. Without objection.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you. Thank you.
I now would like to give a very special welcome to Ms.
Kerry Washington. I know that she's from the great state of
South Carolina, the great state of California, but she's also
from the great city and state of New York.
And we are so proud of all your efforts to expand voter
rights and participation.
Why, Ms. Washington, are long lines on election day a
problem? And what are you doing to help encourage voters to
make sure that they cast their ballots?
Ms. Washington. So, I know--thank you so much for the
question, Chairwoman Maloney. I went to high school in your
district.
I know that seeing those long lines can be so exciting. It
can be really thrilling to see so many people participate in
our democracy. But the fact is that long lines can be
challenging, particularly during a pandemic, because a person's
ability to make their choice, to make their voice heard should
not depend on their ability to wait in line.
Some Americans are differently abled. Some can't risk
getting sick. Some have children who are learning from home and
they're unable to leave. Some will have to give up a shift at
their job in order to stand in line, meaning that they wouldn't
be able to put food on the table that evening.
So, it's really important to support early and absentee
voting. Americans need options, especially in this moment of
uncertainty. The 2020 election is not going--it should not stop
for COVID-19, and it will not. So, we need to make sure that
voters have plenty of options to safely and effectively cast
their ballots.
With regard to the quote about lightning, I just want to
point out that that was referenced from the nonpartisan Brennan
Center for Justice. That was also referenced--that source, the
Brennan Center, was referenced earlier by Ranking Member
Scalise. So, it's a trusted source, that information about
lightning and the low incidence of fraud in voting by mail.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you so much.
In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott extended the early voting
period by nearly a week, yet other states, including Florida,
have refused to expand early voting.
Ms. Clarke, are states doing enough to carry out CDC's
recommendation to expand early voting time periods and hours?
If not, what more should they be doing?
Ms. Clarke. States are not doing enough. This pandemic has
upended life in every respect. It's upended how we work, how we
go to school, and it's upended our elections. And we need
officials to do more.
I want to talk about Congressman Scalise's good state of
Louisiana, where African Americans have been particularly hard-
hit by the pandemic. They make up about 32 percent of the
population but 50 percent of deaths. And while there are about
13 days for early voting during the primary season, that number
will actually now be reduced by almost half, just seven, for
the general election, subjecting people to greater risk. No
voter should have to choose between their health and exercising
their right to vote.
In the good state of Missouri, right now, Webster
University is actively recruiting notaries, because there are
certain voters who have to have their absentee ballots
notarized in order for those ballots to count.
In the good state of Tennessee, my organization, the
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, is suing because
the state literally criminalizes people for the act of
distributing absentee-ballot applications.
There is so much more that states can do across the board
to lift the unnecessary, restrictive, discriminatory, and
unconstitutional barriers to the franchise that people face
amid the current pandemic.
Chairman Clyburn. Mrs. Maloney, your time has expired.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman, for calling this important hearing.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you.
The chair now recognizes Mrs. Walorski for five minutes.
Mrs. Walorski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thanks to our witnesses for being with us today. Very
grateful.
The hardworking Hoosiers that I represent want us to be
doing real work, like holding China accountable for concealing
the severity of the coronavirus or investigating their efforts
to hack the heroes that are working on vaccines. Instead, we're
here at another partisan hearing. For that, I'm extremely
disappointed.
Of course, every American wants a free and fair election.
Every American that's eligible to vote should be able to vote
and have their ballot counted, and that ballot should be
absolutely accurate. But this notion that we need a Federal
universal mail-in voting mandate is simply not based on
science. It's another attempt to use the coronavirus crisis to
receive another partisan end.
Drs. Fauci, Birx, and Redfield have all publicly stated
that voting in person can be done safely. Not only that, we've
actually seen it done safely several times.
In April, Republicans in Wisconsin insisted on allowing in-
person voting in the state's primaries. Democrats called it a
moral atrocity. You know what happened? Despite the hyperbole
and the doom-and-gloom predictions, numerous studies by the
CDC, Stanford University, and others showed no surge in cases
or deaths attributable to in-person voting in Wisconsin.
Over the course of this pandemic, millions of Americans
have voted in person in all of our states' primaries with no
surge in cases or deaths, proving over and over again that
voting in person can be done safely. And that is the science.
If the science says in-person voting can be done safely,
then the last thing we need is for the Federal Government to
come along and mandate universal mail-in voting. This is an
irresponsible scare tactic.
Democrats have cheered as thousands of people took to the
streets in protest, and yet those very same Democrats are
telling everyone it's too dangerous to vote in person. You
can't have it both ways.
The fact is that Dr. Fauci said in-person voting carries
the same risk as a trip to a grocery store. And I'm thinking,
if we're talking about--if it's safe to protest, if it's safe
to go to the grocery store, it's safe to go to Starbucks, it's
safe to vote in person.
I'm glad that in my home state of Indiana we have followed
science, rejecting the mail-in voting and, instead, allowing
early in-person voting for 28 days before the election in order
to reduce lines and exposure. This is the Hoosier common sense
that we need, and I am grateful that our Secretary of State,
Connie Lawson, has stood by that to maintain our safe
elections.
Secretary Ashcroft, as the only witness here today that
actually has to run an election, are you and your election
officials in your state aware of the CDC guidelines which
outline procedures to ensure safety when voting in person this
November? And are all of your polling places able to operate
under those guidelines?
Mr. Ashcroft. Yes, we are aware of those. We disseminate
those to our local election authorities. We give them what they
need to meet them.
And I just have to say, anyone that believes that every
vote matters, if you are telling people to vote by mail, you're
not believing that every vote matters. Because votes will be
lost by that. If you believe every vote matters, you should
make sure your constituents know to go vote safely in person so
their vote will count.
Mrs. Walorski. Well, and, Secretary, again, you're the only
one on this panel today that's running an election. So, can you
talk about the problems that ensue when you have the media and
you have Democrats out there telling people that if they go
vote in person it's going to kill them? Just from the
experience that you've had and in that false scenario that
they're purporting, what kind of problems does that have for
you when you're running an election in your state?
Mr. Ashcroft. Well, the first thing is, as an election
authority, I want to only put out true information to my voters
so that they can make their own decision as to what they want
to do, because it's their vote. And it is disingenuous and
wrong for people to say that they want to protect the right to
vote when they're lying to people about how their vote will be
taken care of.
It is safe to vote in person. If you vote by mail, you have
to worry about the post office, you have to worry about whether
or not you filled out that ballot correctly, you have to worry
about whether, if it had to be notarized, if it was notarized
correctly, if your signature matched, if you accidentally voted
twice for one line instead of for one person. You don't have to
worry about that in person. You get a second chance. When you
vote in person, it's safe, you can run your vote through the
scanner, your vote has been cast, and your vote matters.
Mrs. Walorski. I appreciate it.
And, Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time. Thank you.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much.
The chair now recognizes Mr. Foster for five minutes.
Mr. Foster. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and to our witnesses,
especially those who've highlighted the fact that voter
suppression is a problem that is orders-of-magnitude larger
than any concerns over potentially fraudulent voting, either by
mail or in person.
As many of you know, my father was a civil rights lawyer
who wrote much of the enforcement language behind the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. And it is great to see that the struggle
for voter enfranchisement, which should be the battle of every
generation, is being taken up today.
But I'm also a scientist. And it is a scientific fact that
it will always be safer to vote by mail from home than to vote
in person. And the vast majority of Americans believe that that
decision about where to vote should be a personal choice that
should be available to all citizens.
Now, Mr. Chairman, reports from the National Academies of
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have raised concerns about
the risk of the spread of the coronavirus through the air, as
well as recognized that the relative contributions, for
example, of droplet sizes in COVID-19 transmission remains
unknown.
So, Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the
record a Science magazine article entitled, quote, ``You may be
able to spread coronavirus by just breathing, new report
finds.'' Per committee rules, this has been distributed in
advance to all members.
Mr. Chairman, I requested putting this into the record?
Chairman Clyburn. Without objection.
Mr. Foster. Thank you.
Now, the degree of increased risk from voting face-to-face
depends on the level of community transmission, which, of
course, depends on having competent national leadership, but it
also depends on implementing the best practices at polling
locations.
So, Dr. Kuppalli, you've taken a leadership role in the
Infectious Diseases Society of America to issue joint
guidelines on healthy in-person voting. So, what is your
reaction to the apparently real risk of purely airborne
transmission of COVID-19? And what does that mean for keeping
voters and poll workers absolutely safe at voting centers?
Dr. Kuppalli. Thank you, Representative Foster, for that
question.
So, as you alluded to, you know, we're still in the early
days of this pandemic. We are still learning a lot about the
transmission dynamics of this disease, and so there's still a
lot of debate in the scientific community about droplet versus
airborne and whether or not that is the route of transmission.
In terms of keeping people safe, we know that the best way
to keep people safe is to decrease the rate of community
transmission in the time leading up to the election and on
election day. The lower the rates of community transmission
are, the safer that people will be.
And that will be by taking up things like good hand
hygiene, universal face masking. We had a report come out from
the Institute of Health Medicine that showed that, if people
were to take up wearing face masks, that would decrease the
rates of transmission by about 85 percent. And then taking up
physical distancing. Those types of things are things that we
need to do, and we need to get a national plan for in advance
of the election.
Mr. Foster. Yes. So, no matter what guidelines you follow,
the probability will never be absolutely zero. This is, I
think, just a fact. And, you know, life has risk, and that's
real. As was mentioned previously, going to the grocery store
has risks.
But it's also important that people understand that their
personal situation's very different. Someone can be young and
healthy and yet have frequent contact with an elderly person
who is very subject to this. That person, it seems to me, has a
very real risk of, if they are forced to vote in person because
of the rules of the state in question, them getting the virus
and spreading it to someone that, because of their family
situation, they're connected to.
Is that pretty much, you know, a correct, unavoidable fact,
given what we know about the transmission of this virus?
Dr. Kuppalli. Yes, it is. Also, you know, we have to
remember that people can spread this virus asymptomatically. We
know that up to 40 percent of people can have asymptomatic
infection when their virus level is the highest, and people
feel completely fine during that time. So, everything you said
is correct.
Mr. Foster. Yes.
It's also true that we must ensure that cities and states
have the resources they need to carry out, you know, the basic
steps to protect the health of voters and election workers.
And, you know, Congress provided a significant down payment on
election funds as part of the CARES Act.
Ms. Clarke, isn't it true that every single state requested
funding under this provision, that they thought there was an
unmet need here?
Ms. Clarke. Every single state requested funding, and
funding so that they could do things like enhance vote-by-mail,
deal with ballot printing and ballot postage, provide drop
boxes, provide staffing to help handle the high volume of mail.
And I actually testified at a recent hearing with an
official from St. Louis, Rick Stream, who said that expenses
are up in his jurisdiction and sales taxes are down, and that
money might very well be put to use.
So, we strongly urge Congress to provide that $3.6 billion
so that no state can point to the lack of resources as a reason
for disenfranchising voters this season.
Mr. Foster. Thank you.
And, Chairman Clyburn, I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you for yielding back.
The chair now recognizes Dr. Green for five minutes.
Mr. Green. Thank you, Chairman and Ranking Member and to
our witnesses.
I, too, am concerned about the topic of election security
and safety. In addition to the usual threats, including cyber
hacking, foreign interference, voter fraud, the coronavirus
pandemic poses a unique challenge. However, top public
officials, health officials, say we can conduct in-person
voting safely and securely, as Wisconsin and Florida have
already demonstrated.
As was mentioned earlier, Dr. Birx has said, and I quote,
``I can tell you, it has been safe for me to go to Starbucks
and pick up my order. So, if you can go into Starbucks in the
middle of Texas and Alabama and Mississippi that have very high
case rates, then I can't say that it would be different waiting
in line in the polls,'' end quote.
A recent report from the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for
Justice advises, quote, ``In-person voting can be conducted
safely if jurisdictions take the necessary steps to minimize
the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to voters and election
workers.''
Look, if you can buy groceries, you can vote in person. If
you can buy groceries online for at-home delivery because of a
medical condition, you can ask for an absentee ballot.
The efforts to conflate absentee voting, where a person
requests a ballot and a blanket--and compare that to a blanket
mail-out of ballots to every registered voter, those are
absolutely wrong. You can't conflate the two. There is a
massive security difference between them. I urge my Democrat
colleagues to stop fear-mongering and look at the facts.
In-person voting is not only safe, it's also the most
secure way to vote. Vote-by-mail opens up our elections to all
kinds of vulnerabilities. In the Golden State, the Election
Integrity Project California has said that Governor Newsom's
vote-by-mail executive order will lead to 458,000 ballots going
to Californians who have moved or are dead. This is a recipe
for disaster, for fraud.
Now, to Democrats who say voter fraud does not exist, I
encourage you to visit the Heritage Foundation's website, which
has a data base documenting 1,285 proven cases of voter fraud.
Not only does voter fraud exist, but it can affect election
outcomes. We just witnessed this in 2018 in North Carolina, in
which the State Board of Elections unanimously ordered a new
election in the Ninth congressional District after a political
operative abused the process of harvesting ballots.
In 2017, the former mayor of Eatonville, Florida, was
convicted for coercing voters to cast absentee ballots for
him--a ballot-harvesting scheme that won him the election.
Or take Ohio, a swing state that is often a nail-biter.
From 2013 to 2017, 56 elections in Ohio resulted in a tied
vote, and 86 were decided by a single vote. And last year
alone, the Ohio Secretary of State referred 18 cases of
duplicate voting to prosecutors for voting twice in the 2018
elections.
Voter fraud is real, and it can sway elections. This
shouldn't be a partisan issue. But, sadly, instead of
strengthening election security, Democrats support initiatives
like mail-in voting. Experience has shown that mail-in ballots
have massive vulnerabilities and can be easily altered, stolen,
or forged.
House Democrats care more about winning the election than
they do about election integrity. They want to centralize our
elections under the all-powerful hand of the Federal
Government, H.R. 1, and implement these flawed initiatives.
This would make America's elections even more vulnerable to
foreign interference and cyber hacking.
In contrast to blue states like California, who play fast
and loose with their elections, I'm proud of Tennessee and the
steps our state has taken to protect the vote of every
Tennesseean. We've implemented commonsense election-security
measures, such as voter ID, proof of residence for first-time
voters, and requirements that voters be registered in advance
of election day. Tennessee has also announced a $1,000 reward
to individuals who report voter fraud. It won't be tolerated in
Tennessee.
This effort to force California's clearly flawed system on
Tennessee will not be tolerated either. Nowhere in the
Constitution does it grant this body the right to tell
Tennessee how to run our elections. If California wants to
allow ballot harvesting and permit illegals to vote in their
state elections, that's their business. But don't you dare try
to tell Tennessee what we should do.
I urge my Democrat colleagues to stop playing political
games, to stop sowing distrust in America's institutions, and
to stop trying to use the Federal Government to hijack state
and local elections.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield.
Chairman Clyburn. Next is Mr. Raskin.
I will remind you, Dr. Green, I know the history of
Tennessee when it comes to voting, and of South Carolina.
Mr. Green. Yes, Mr. Chairman, if I could, since you
mentioned that, that was when Democrats ran the state of
Tennessee. That hasn't happened since the Republicans took
over. Thank you for bringing that up.
Chairman Clyburn. I'll have you know that I know very well
the history of Tennessee under Democrats and Republicans, and
the history of South Carolina. And, of course, I'd like to also
tell you that all those people who left the Democratic Party
because of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, that's why they left.
Just to remind you. And they all became Republicans.
Mr. Raskin?
Mr. Raskin. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Before my five minutes of questioning, I have a unanimous
consent request, if that's OK. Can I do it before my
questioning?
Chairman Clyburn. Yes, you can do it now.
Mr. Raskin. OK. I'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter
into the record a PolitiFact article dated June 9, 2020, which
we've circulated to the committee. It has the title ``The
misleading claim that millions of absentee ballots end up
missing or in landfills.''
This article makes clear that our colleagues' oft-repeated
claim that 28 million mail-in ballots went missing is
``misleading,'' quote, ``a mischaracterization,'' quote, and,
quote, ``mostly false.'' In fact, the vast majority of, these
ballots were mailed to voters but were simply never filled out
and returned. As the article states, ``It's more accurate to
refer to them as uncast or unreturned. There is no evidence
these ballots led to fraud.''
And I'd like to submit that for the record.
Chairman Clyburn. Without objection.
Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for calling
this hearing and thank you, especially, for the way you began
it.
It's amazing to me that the President, who knew that COVID-
19 was, quote, ``deadly stuff'' but deliberately suppressed the
truth about it and said it was like the common cold and would
just magically disappear because he didn't want to, quote,
``create a panic,'' is now, 6 million cases later, 190,000 dead
Americans later, trying to create a mass panic about the
election and electoral fraud, when he is actively promoting
election fraud and voter fraud, egging on his supporters to go
to the polls and to illegally vote twice. And he's done this on
numerous occasions.
It's equally amazing to me that the President and his
sycophants continue to try to deflect responsibility from the
President of the United States for this unprecedented
healthcare catastrophe and debacle by pointing at China, when
it was President Trump who on 37 different occasions defended
the Chinese Government, defended President Xi, defended the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. And I've
submitted all of those documents to this committee.
So, Mr. Chairman, all I can say is, I'm with the minority
members of this committee: Let's have a hearing about it. If
they want to further disgrace and humiliate this President, who
has brought America to its knees, by all means, let them do it.
But this is the President who was defending the Chinese
Government from the very beginning.
Now, Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that our colleagues are
also chasing a mirage. They keep talking about how we're
demanding universal mail-in balloting. All of the states have
already settled on their system. We live in a system of
federalism. The states already have their laws out there.
Let's not confuse the public. Let's try to help the states
to deliver in these atrocious circumstances brought to us by
the President of the United States and his supporters.
So, Georgia told the committee that it needs 20,000 poll
workers but a state program has so far only identified 5,000.
Wisconsin needs 30,000 poll workers but doesn't think that it
can make that and is provisionally planning to get help from
the National Guard.
I want to ask Ms. Clarke, what is being done and what can
be done to get poll workers, especially young poll workers, to
the polls at a time when we know the vast majority of poll
workers are over the age of 60 and I think a quarter of them
are over the age of 70? What can be done to help the states
concretely?
Ms. Clarke. It's time to recruit that next generation of
poll workers. We've seen, this season, so many vulnerable older
poll workers who've played their part but who've had to bow out
because they are incredibly vulnerable under the pandemic.
There are civic and nonprofit organizations that are
working night and day to help recruit poll workers. But,
frankly, if Congress did its part and allocated that $3.6
billion to states, states could enhance the amount of money
that they pay to poll workers and better encourage people to
serve.
There are efforts to encourage students to serve this
season. But, frankly, we need Congress to do its part. Put the
money in the hands of states so that they can do their work and
run their elections appropriately.
Mr. Raskin. Well, I appreciate that. The House majority
took the position that we needed $4 billion for the states. The
GOP opposed that. We ended up with only 10 percent of that
figure, $400 million.
We've continued to argue for $3.6 billion in the HEROES
Act, but, again, the minority party continues to drag their
feet, because they don't want to see full funding of the
election so that everybody can go out and cast a vote and get
their vote counted.
Ms. Washington, I'd like to turn to you. What are you doing
to try to encourage young people to fill the role of poll
workers as many of the older poll workers are advised not to go
to the polls? We know that older people are disproportionately
vulnerable to this lethal disease.
Ms. Washington. Thank you so much for the question. It's
such a vital issue that requires addressing.
I believe last week was National Poll Worker Recruitment
Day. I was part of a really strong social media campaign,
working with Power to the Polls, where we were able to garner
hundreds, hundreds, hundreds of thousands of volunteers.
So, we are really, really committed to the idea of having
more people work at the polls, young people. And I think it's
exciting not only because younger people have a different risk
level when it comes to the coronavirus, but, also, we know that
when people volunteer or, in many cases, get paid to work at
the polls--so that's extra incentive that people need to know
about, that you can be paid to work at the polls--that when
people get involved as poll workers, their investment in their
democracy increases. They feel the excitement and power.
Mr. Raskin. Thank you.
And then, Ms. Clarke, I want to ask you finally, a lot of
our overseas uniformed people in the military, their votes are
counted late because they come in from overseas. And yet, it
seems like the next rush within the Trump push is to say only
the ballots count that are cast on election day, at the same
time that they are trying to prevent the counting of ballots
that are cast early.
What is the importance of making sure that we understand
that election day is basically halftime and that in democracy
we count every ballot that is cast, including from our military
people overseas, who I know the President considers ``suckers''
and ``losers''?
Ms. Clarke. Yes. I mean, elections in our country are hotly
contested and are coming down to narrow margins, and it's
critical that we count every vote, no matter whether it's cast
by mail or cast during early voting or cast on election day.
Making sure that every American's voice is counted is critical.
In Virginia, we recently had an election that was so close
that it was decided by a coin toss.
Mr. Raskin. I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much.
The chair now recognizes Ms. Velazquez for five minutes.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member,
for this timely and important hearing.
And I just want to excuse myself because, as chair of the
Small Business Committee, I just finished my congressional
hearing. So, I'm glad that I was able to get back to be able to
ask some questions to the witnesses on this important issue.
Ms. Clarke, did polling-place closures during the 2020
primaries have a disproportionate impact on minority voters?
Ms. Clarke. Thank you, Congresswoman. They absolutely did.
And I want to share an image from Louisville, Kentucky.
Jefferson County, Kentucky, has one of the largest populations
in the state, one of the largest Black populations in
particular, and there was one polling site serving this entire
county that is home to Louisville. And at 6 p.m. when the polls
closed, people were literally racing from their jobs and
banging on the doors of this Expo Center in order to ensure
that their voice could be heard.
It is really critical that we ensure that communities of
color, in particular, are adequately served by appropriate
numbers of polling sites.
I'll share one additional image, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
On April 7, 2020, outside of Marshall High School, you have
largely Black voters in garbage bags waiting in rain to vote
because the city reduced the number of polling sites from 180
to 5.
This has become a widespread form of voter suppression in
our country. And, particularly during the pandemic, we need to
make sure that voters of color are adequately served by
appropriate numbers of polling sites.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you.
Dr. Kuppalli, how can the closure of polls impact health
risks for voters during the pandemic? And what should states do
to reduce this risk?
Dr. Kuppalli. Yes. Thank you for that question.
So, the closure of polls is a problem. As Ms. Clarke
shared, when we have less polls, we have longer lines, and by
having longer lines and people waiting longer, that increases
their risk of being exposed to coronavirus. And, obviously, we
don't want that to happen. We don't want people to have to be
at risk for developing coronavirus, getting coronavirus.
So, that is why in the guidelines we released with the
Brennan Center we recommended, actually, increasing the number
of polling locations. That way, people have shorter lines and,
thus, shorter waits, so thereby decreasing the risk of being in
contact with coronavirus.
Ms. Velazquez. And given ongoing challenges in recruiting
poll workers during the pandemic, some voters are still likely
to face long lines.
Ms. Washington, what advice would you give to voters who
want to make sure they cast their ballot safely but may face
long lines in the primary this year?
Ms. Washington. Thank you so much for the question,
Congresswoman.
I know that many millions of Americans will vote in person
on November 3 and many of them will be forced to wait in line.
And to those Americans, I guess I would say: I've been there.
I've stood in lines myself. And it's worth it. Because we have
to remember that when you stand in a long line to vote, you
have a chance to elect someone who can make it easier for you
to vote the next time around.
So, make a plan. Wear your mask. Pack your lunch and
perhaps your dinner. Bring a pair of comfortable shoes. Bring
some water and stay in line.
But I would also call on Federal and state governments to
do everything in their power to expand voting access. And there
are three actions that they can take: first, make voting by
mail and absentee voting available to every voter without
requiring an excuse or a witness; second, expand early voting,
both in-person and absentee; third, make voting on election day
easier by extending the hours that polling locations are open
and following the CDC guidelines to keep those places safe.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you very much.
I yield back. My time has expired, basically. Thank you so
much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you very much, Ms. Velazquez.
The chair now recognizes Mr. Kim for five minutes.
Mr. Kim. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you pulling
this together.
Dr. Kuppalli, I wanted to start with you. As a medical
professional, are you or other medical professionals in our
country able to predict the magnitude of the virus or where
exactly it will be, the outbreaks that would be in our country
on November 3? Are you able to predict that at this time?
Dr. Kuppalli. So, thank you for that question. I am going
to cushion that with the fact that I am not a modeler. I'm an
infectious disease doctor. So, I personally cannot tell you
where our outbreak will be at that time.
I can tell you that we are very concerned that, with over
40,000 confirmed infections a day, that things are not going in
the right direction right now. We are also concerned with what
we call a twindemic, with us heading into the fall, with both
coronavirus and influenza, and also with the increased number
of coronavirus cases that we're seeing in college communities
now, where, as we start sending students home, that could also
lead to an increased number of cases in other communities.
So, you know, no, I can't predict it, but there are a lot
of things that are very concerning right now.
Mr. Kim. I share a lot of your concerns. And I've talked to
a lot of other experts, and they've said the same thing that
you did, which is, you know, no one in this country is going to
be able to perfectly predict this, and there are a lot of
variables out there like some of the ones you mentioned.
We also know that this virus can spread very quickly, and
it can be literally just days or weeks in which an outbreak
comes together.
So, for me, what keeps me up at night is exactly what you
said, this concern about a second wave later on this year. I
know you've studied this in terms of the history in our country
and how we've gone through this before. And, you know, being
from New Jersey, worrying about us hitting some type of level
of spread that we in New Jersey had back in March and April,
having that type of concern in late October or November. So, I
pray that that doesn't happen, but that's something that's very
much on my mind.
So, I'd ask you, do you believe it's possible for parts of
our country to suffer from serious outbreaks in late October
into November that could potentially limit the ability for
people to be able to vote in person safely?
Dr. Kuppalli. That is a really good question. I think that
there is definitely the possibility that we could have a
serious outbreak later on in this fall. I think that, again,
what we've talked about before is, the safest way to vote is
going to be voting by mail. That's the best way to prevent
transmission of coronavirus. And then implementing all these
other ways of voting also helps limit the transmission of
coronavirus.
That being said, we have to make sure that we have in-
person voting. And the way to have safe in-person voting is by
making sure we have hand sanitizer available, making sure we
have everybody wear a face mask. We have shown that wearing
face masks decreases the transmission of the virus. And also,
making sure we have physical distancing. Those three things
alone, by making sure we implement those measures and have good
disinfection and sanitation measures of polling locations will
make a huge impact.
But making sure we can get the community transmission rates
down to being as low as possible in advance of the election by
taking the things that I recommended in my written statement
will be imperative to making sure we have a safe and healthy
election.
Mr. Kim. Yes. Thank you, Doctor, for that.
Ms. Clarke, I wanted to turn to you. Building off of what
we just heard, you know, I'm very concerned about, you know,
these issues and the spike that could happen later on this
year. And I wanted see if you would agree with the assessment
that it'd be prudent policy to take these contingencies across
this country and ensure that any outbreak that does happen
later on this year doesn't disenfranchise people and force them
to risk their health to go and vote. And, in particular, I
wanted to ask you about drop boxes for ballots and where that
fits into the broader effort that we've been talking about
today.
Ms. Clarke. As a civil rights lawyer fighting to protect
the rights of vulnerable communities every day, there are two
things that I know are true: one, that this pandemic is having
a harsher impact on Black people, on Latino people, and other
vulnerable communities; and, two, that voter suppression is
alive and well.
So, for both of those reasons, it is really critical that
we work in every corner of our country to ensure that all
communities have access to the ballot, and not just on election
day but both during early voting and streamlined absentee vote-
by-mail as well.
So----
Mr. Kim. Just one last thing, because my time is up here.
Just a yes or a no: Is there any merit to the concerns about
fraud when it comes to drop boxes and ballots?
Ms. Clarke. No, absolutely not. Drop boxes are used in many
communities across our country. They are safe. They are
secured. They are monitored by officials and provide another
safe way for voters to submit and deposit their absentee
ballots in communities across our country.
Mr. Kim. Great. Thank you so much.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. Thank you, Mr. Kim.
And thanks to all of you for your questions.
The chair now recognizes Ranking Member Scalise for any
closing comments he would like to make.
Mr. Scalise. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And, again, want to thank our witnesses for participating
in this hearing.
Mr. Chairman, there were a lot of things that were brought
up during the hearing that we had today that I think first
should be addressed on some of these. I know a few members on
your side referenced a series of comments made by somebody
who's peddling a book right now out of context, talking about
the President, as we seem to hear in this politically charged
environment, unfortunately, where they're going after the
President on anything and everything, whether it's valid or
not.
So, as we're talking about whether or not the President
downplayed anything relating to coronavirus, Dr. Fauci was just
interviewed--while we were having this hearing, Dr. Fauci was
interviewed. The reporter asked him, ``So, did you get a sense
that he was''--the President--``or wasn't downplaying this?''
This is Dr. Fauci from just about an hour ago: Quote, ``No.
No, I didn't. I didn't get any sense that he was distorting
anything. In my discussions with him, they were always
straightforward about the concerns that we had. We related that
to him. When he would go out, I'd hear him discussing the same
sort of things. He led off and say, we just got through with
the briefing with the group from the task force, and we would
talk about it.''
These suggestions that people throw out, anonymous sources
that turn out to be debunked, I wish we wouldn't peddle in
those kind of conspiracy theories. But I understand this is a
hyper-charged environment, and I think it's important to point
out the facts. We should be sticking to the facts.
This President's record, by the way, on the military is so
much stronger than Presidents we've seen recently, especially
the previous administration. This President led the charge to
rebuild our Nation's military, give troops a pay raise, give
them the support they need. They were dying in training
accidents. Our men and women in uniform were dying in training
accidents by a five-to-one margin more than they were dying in
combat under the previous administration. This President has
had their back on so many of those fronts.
Now let's talk about voting. It seems that some still want
to peddle this myth that the post office can't handle the
volume, that there was some kind of issue with the post office,
that more money is needed for states.
First of all, let's go to post office. We know now, they
pointed out in multiple hearings--no one has disputed it--they
have more than enough money to not only get through the rest of
this year but even to the middle of next year, if they don't
get another dime from Congress. They have enough money to carry
out a fair and safe election.
There are some states--and this has been pointed out, and I
wish this hearing would--but there are some states who have
been able to go identify where they require too late of a time
to submit the mail-in ballots. For example, some states, one or
two days before the election, they can let you mail a ballot
in, which means, days or maybe weeks after, ballots are still
coming in.
We saw this in California, by the way, with harvesting,
where, more than three weeks after the election, three weeks
after the election, there were races that were being
overturned, that one person was winning the night of the
election by six points, and then a week later it's closer, and
a week later ballots still keep showing up mysteriously. Three-
plus weeks later, the ballots are still showing up, and then
the election results change, and then, surprisingly, no more
ballots show up after that.
I don't think the American people want to see a case where
we have to wait weeks and weeks to get the result from some
states. Let's let the states take care of their elections in a
proper way, give them the tools they need.
By the way, in the CARES Act, Mr. Chairman, we gave states
billions of dollars that they still have. There is probably
over $75 billion of the $150 billion we gave states that is
still available to those states. Not one state has run out of
that money.
That money, by the way, Mr. Chairman, can be used to make
sure that, under COVID, as we have additional needs to safely
allow people to vote in person--if they need sanitizer, if they
need masks, all of those things are covered under the money we
already appropriated.
Some people keep throwing billions of dollars around, as if
this is monopoly money. We don't need to send them more money.
There is money sitting in every state's coffers right now that
can eligibly be used to safely run elections if there are
additional things that they need. If they run out of money,
then that's a conversation we can have, but not one state has
run out of the billions, $150 billion, that we sent them. So, I
think that's important to point out as well.
As we heard from a number of our witnesses, we also heard
from different studies, talked about different studies that are
out there that talk about the problems if we were to, for
example, mandate--and I agree with so many of the witnesses
that Americans have more options than they've ever had before
to legally vote. We need to fight to make sure that that's
maintained. And if there are problems, let's go and address
them in those particular states.
But if you want to go vote in person, that option is there.
Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, all these doctors have said you can safely
do it. And that's your choice, like I've exercised and so many
other people have exercised just in these last few months.
If you want to mail in a ballot, you can request a mail-in
ballot. Each state has their own procedures. Again, they debate
these within the states, and the states run those elections,
and the states know what they need to do to ensure that people
can legally vote in those states.
If we were to have a one-size-fits-all mandate, for
example, that every person that's on a voting roll is mailed a
ballot, we know, any state will tell you, whatever the
percentage is, there are millions of people that will be mailed
ballots that aren't legally on the rolls, for various reasons.
Some might be nefarious. Some other people move. People move
all the time. People die. That's why you need to clean up your
rolls on a regular basis.
Los Angeles County, again, was cited. Over a million and a
half people who were legally on their rolls in one county, and
they wouldn't remove them until a judge finally forced them to
clean up their rolls. Twenty-eight million--you've heard those
numbers--of ballots that just disappeared. Where they are, who
knows. But, again, is this the kind of environment we want?
Now, what we should be doing is working with the states to
make sure they have the tools they need. We sent them over $100
billion. They still have money available to run safe and fair
elections in person. Many of them expanded opportunities for
voting in other ways as well. But this idea that the Federal
Government should make states run a California-type system,
when, again, weeks and weeks after the election in California,
results were changing, that's not something I think instills
confidence among voters.
It's not only important that we ensure the franchise of the
vote but also the confidence that, when you cast that vote,
that nobody else is going to be able to go and nullify your
vote with an illegal vote or that you are going to have to wait
weeks and weeks to get the result.
This is America. We love participating in democracy. We
promote democracy. But we also believe in this peaceful
transition of power. And that means we respect the results that
we get, not denying the results of an election. Getting the
results of the election on election night, and then continuing
to move our country forward.
So, with that, I hope we'll be able to work together on
those challenges and address these other false issues that have
come up to identify them as well.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Clyburn. I thank the ranking member for his
closing statement and for yielding back the time.
Let me close by thanking all of our panelists for their
remarks here today. It was very instructive to hear Ms. Clarke
and Ms. Marziani, both voting rights advocates, and Dr.
Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician, agree on the same
basic steps that should be taken to prepare for the November
election.
Indeed, as Ms. Washington has testified, voters are simply
asking for voting options in order to cast their ballot freely,
safely, and fairly.
This testimony was consistent with the CDC's science-based
guidelines urging more early voting, more polling places, and
more options for voters to vote by mail or by drop box , or as
we've done here in South Carolina, established satellite voting
places during the month of October. These recommendations are
sensible and would minimize the risk of the coronavirus for
voters.
I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter
the select subcommittee has received in support of these
recommendations from the National Disability Rights Network.
These measures are especially important to ensuring that
Americans with disabilities are able to safely cast their
votes.
Hearing no objections, so ordered.
Chairman Clyburn. With election day less than eight weeks
away and early voting beginning much sooner, state and local
officials must act now to ensure that these recommendations are
effectively implemented. They must expand mail-in voting, drop
boxes, and in-person voting, while recruiting poll workers in
order to maintain or increase the number of polling places on
election day.
Given the virus's more harmful impact on seniors, younger
Americans must be recruited to serve as poll workers in greater
numbers than ever before. I urge every American who can serve
as a poll worker this year to do so. Your democracy needs you.
We know that there is still work to do to prevent a repeat
of the long lines that forced many voters to wait five, six, or
even seven hours. In fact, I recall a gentleman down in Texas
who said it took him seven hours to cast his vote, but he
stayed there to cast a vote. I recall seeing people bang on
windows in Kentucky, getting there one minute after the time
because they had to work, and being locked out of the voting.
I will say to my colleagues, that's not what I call fair.
That's not what I call supporting this democracy. We ought to
all agree that that is just wrong, and we must do better.
I remember, as some may do, I remember when Beaufort County
was majority-African-American and nobody of color was holding
any elective office in the whole county. John Lewis, our late
colleague, beaten within minutes of death trying to register
people to vote. At a time when Alabama was almost 40 percent
African American, less than two percent of African Americans
were registered to vote.
That's not fair, but that is what we've inherited. So, much
of that came rushing back in after the Supreme Court decision
in Shelby v. Holder.
We all know that there's a problem in many communities,
many states, counties, with people being allowed the unfettered
access to the vote. And I kind of resent, anybody telling me
that a local state will resist the Federal Government telling
them how to run the elections. When I saw the Federal
Government denying my parents, both college graduates, denying
them the vote because they didn't know how many bubbles were in
a bar of soap. That's the kind of state law that we have
inherited.
So,, I want us to hopefully think about this democracy we
are trying to preserve. Are we in pursuit of a more perfect
Union, or are we backtracking on that pursuit? Our democracy
depends on all of us.
With that, and 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
forwarded to the witnesses for their response.
I would ask our witnesses to please respond as promptly as
you're able to.
Chairman Clyburn. This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:31 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]