[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 118 (Friday, August 3, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1423-E1424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONGRESS MUST CALL FOR A NATIONAL MONTH OF VOTER REGISTRATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 2, 2012

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, recent events have highlighted ongoing 
efforts to suppress the voting rights of American citizens. State 
representatives and political leaders in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, 
and Florida have made public admissions that their particular state 
laws were designed to put a dent in the democratic process.
  In order to confront this assault on the right to vote, we are 
introducing a resolution, expressing the sense of Congress that the 
month of September be dedicated to ensuring that every eligible citizen 
is registered to vote in the United States, calling for a National 
Month of Voter Registration.
  This resolution will call for a nation-wide focus to challenge voting 
age citizens around the country to register to vote and confirm the 
status of their voter registration.
  The National Month of Voter Registration will encourage citizens to 
take action and mobilize voter education efforts and voter registration 
efforts across the country. Since the 2010 elections, misguided efforts 
in many states have led to the enactment of laws that could turn the 
clock back to pre-2008 levels of voter registration and voter turn-out. 
With no response, thousands of Americans may be subjected to state 
actions that are not in compliance with our federal voting standards 
and that harm the franchise.
  This national focus will challenge civil rights groups, third party 
voter registration groups, and voting eligible citizens to take action 
to conduct the following:
  Register to vote. With voter registration deadlines approaching, many 
citizens may face significant barriers if they wait until the final 
hours to register to vote.
  Verify voting status. Every voting eligible citizen will be 
encouraged to verify their voting status by confirming their presence 
on the voter rolls, and confirming that their address and personal 
identifying information in hand matches what the state or local board 
of elections has on file. Many voters believe that their voting status 
and information is current, however, citizens in Tennessee and Florida 
have already found that voter purging is real and can impact the right 
to vote without a voter being aware.
  Confirm polling place. Every voting eligible citizen will be 
encouraged to verify voting location before Election Day. Voters may 
find that their poling location has changed from prior elections.
  Mr. Speaker, I have not seen such an assault on the right to vote 
since the civil rights movement. As I look back on where we have come 
from in this country, it seems to me that some of these state voting 
changes mirror the negative trends of Jim Crow in their effect to scale 
back voting rights.
  For instance, last week, the Brennan Center released another report 
showing how new voter ID laws could impose serious financial burdens on 
eligible voters. If the right to vote is available to every American 
citizen, then why are states making it harder to exercise that right?
  I. addition, a second Judge in Wisconsin has deemed Wisconsin's 
strict voter ID law unconstitutional under the state's constitution. 
Litigants in the law suit found that the law created unnecessary 
hardships for minority voters who are less likely to possess a valid 
ID. On the other side of the argument, the state of Wisconsin argued 
that the law was going to help prevent voter fraud.
  Some state lawmakers have raised the issue of voter fraud to justify 
strict voter ID requirements and other strict voting changes. However, 
they won't tell you that during the George W. Bush Administration's 
five year probe of voter fraud from 2002-2007, that Administration came 
up with scant evidence of widespread voter fraud.
  In addition, they won't tell you the amount of voter fraud cases that 
have come out of states that have strict voter ID, because there are 
none. There were no cases of fraud in state of Indiana when the Supreme 
Court ruled on Indiana's voter ID law in Crawford v. Marion, and states 
like Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas have publicly stated that there 
are no current cases of voter fraud being pursued in their states. Mr. 
Speaker, our voting rights are being threatened by the non-existent 
issue of voter fraud.
  Therefore, if states are going to present their worst laws to impact 
the franchise, then the American people have to rise up and combat 
these laws with better practices.
  During the National Month of Voter Registration, we encourage every 
American citizen to take back their right to vote. We will work with 
citizens to ensure that they register to vote, confirm their voting 
information is correct on the voting rolls, and verify that they know 
where to go to vote on Election Day.

[[Page E1424]]

  It is a troubling thought that in 2012, the Congress has to rise up 
and introduce this bill to protect voting rights. Even though 
Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement are technically in 
America's past, the current threat against voting rights is just as 
real as in those days. We are proud to stand with the American people 
to protect the exercise of their voice in our democracy.

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