[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 99 (Thursday, June 14, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H5186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            OHIO VOTER PURGE

  (Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to decry last week's Supreme 
Court decision in the Ohio voting case, Husted v. A. Philip Randolph 
Institute.
  Mr. Speaker, the ruling appears to willfully misinterpret the plain 
statutory language of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. It 
lays waste to congressional intent and sets a dangerous precedent of 
being permissive of voter suppression across the country.
  The NVRA was enacted with the express purpose of increasing voter 
registration and protecting against voter purges, and it plainly 
prohibits States from removing voters from rolls ``by reason of the 
person's failure to vote.'' Yet this is exactly what the State of Ohio 
is doing. Ohio officials are purging voters if they do not vote in 
three consecutive Federal elections.
  I believe every person should vote in every election, but there may 
be valid reasons why they have not. We should be erring on the side of 
caution.
  Our democracy is built on each person having a voice. Yet the Supreme 
Court has affirmed Ohio's right to silence those voices. Congress must 
now act to correct this injustice and restore the rights the Court has 
so carelessly cast aside.

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