[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 180 (Tuesday, December 13, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       REGARDING PRESIDENTIAL VOTE RECOUNTS IN THE SEVERAL STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 13, 2016

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the House 
Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee; Ranking 
Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland 
Security, and Investigations, and the Congressional Voting Rights 
Caucus, I rise today to address efforts that may be taken in various 
states to recount votes cast for candidates for the office of President 
of the United States in the recent election.
  The linchpin of representative democracies such as the United States 
is public confidence in the political system, regime, and community.
  That confidence in turn rests upon the extent to which the public has 
faith that the system employed to select its leaders accurately 
reflects its preferences.
  At bottom, this means that all citizens casting a vote have a 
fundamental right and reasonable expectation that the votes cast count 
and are counted.
  We know from experience that it not uncommon that occasionally vote 
counts reported in an initial canvass may later prove to be inaccurate 
because sometimes votes are overlooked or inaccurately credited to the 
wrong candidate.
  Vote recounts have long been recognized as an essential safeguard to 
correct errors of this type.
  Recounts have occurred at the local, state, and, as we saw in 2000, 
presidential level.
  It should be noted also that the November 8, 2016 election is the 
first presidential election held since the Supreme Court issued the 
notorious decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which neutered the 
preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act and adversely affected 
the ability of hundreds of thousands of persons to cast a ballot and 
have their vote counted.
  Also, as is the case this year, where the results in the Electoral 
College and of the popular vote diverge by the largest and most 
astounding margin in American history, it is particularly fitting and 
appropriate to ensure that any uncertainty over the accuracy of the 
vote determining any state's electoral votes be resolved as fairly and 
expeditiously as possible.

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