[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 14 (Tuesday, February 24, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E205-E206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           VOTER ELIGIBILITY CONFIRMATION SYSTEM IS A THREAT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 1998

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with grave concern 
regarding legislative initiatives to restrict voter registration and 
turnout. The so-called ``Voter Eligibility Confirmation System'' in 
effect threatens voting rights of the American constituency.
  As introduced, this legislation would establish a federal program for 
state and local elected officials to ``confirm'' the citizenship of 
registered voters and voter registration applicants. The proposal would 
allow elected officials to submit the names of voter registration 
applicants and registered voters to the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service and the Social Security Administration for citizenship 
confirmation through a computerized system.
  With all due respect to my colleague, this is bad policy! The data on 
which this system is based is inaccurate. The fact is that an American 
citizen can have a social security number and stand the possibility of 
not being confirmed as a citizen by the Social Security Administration. 
Thousands of U.S. citizens were naturalized before the agency began 
keeping computer records at all. As a result, our fellow Americans will 
be targeted to have their voting rights undermined by the use of such a 
system.
  Women and minorities in our Nation have historically been singled out 
and questioned based on their surnames or appearance. Although this 
American struggle has made many progressions, this act of 
discrimination should not and must not be tolerated by our 
distinguished House.
  Under current federal and state laws, both voter registration fraud 
and voter fraud are crimes. The notion that massive citizenship 
verification procedures are needed does not align with the facts. The 
data received from the House Oversight Committee hearing in 1995 
revealed that the real problem of voter fraud had to do with the abuses 
of State absentee ballot laws, not by Latinos or Asian Americans.
  Let's get real. This bill attempts to set measures that not only 
overturns the Privacy Act projections, but recreates a system that 
affects the minorities in our America.
  As the Honorable Jimmy Carter so eloquently stated in his 1981 
farewell address, ``America did not invent human rights. In a very real 
sense . . . human rights invented America.''
  As we move into the new millennium, let us continue to build bridges 
in our Nation. We need to address the facts of this proposed 
legislation and not be distracted by the rhetoric.
  All Americans should have the inalienable right to vote and that 
right must not be determined based on whether an elected official 
decides that one of our fellow Americans is ``ethnic-looking'' versus 
``American-looking.''

[[Page E206]]

  In closing, I will leave with the powerful statement of the Reverend 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to 
justice everywhere.''

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