[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 116 (Thursday, July 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S4800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Voting Rights

  Mr. President, on voting rights, the Trump administration has rolled 
back the clock by creating a so-called Presidential Advisory Commission 
on Election Integrity--designed to suppress the vote--under the guise 
of trying to prove the problem of nonexistent voter fraud.
  The Justice Department changed its position and supported the use of 
voter ID laws. It backtracked from its earlier position that such laws 
were intentionally racially discriminatory and designed to suppress 
minority votes. One of the principles of a democratic state is to get 
the maximum participation in elections.
  The Department of Justice has tried to make it easier for States to 
purge voters from their rolls, as well as to make it easier for States 
to make voting changes that could disenfranchise minority voters 
without there being the proper Federal review or oversight.