FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 5, 2021
Contact: Prudence Robertson, probertson@sbalist.org (240) 672-2828
Americans Want Secure Elections, but H.R. 4 Would Let Left-Wing Politicians and Unelected Bureaucrats in D.C. Stop States From Making it Easy to Vote and Hard to Cheat—for Political Gain
Washington, D.C. – Tomorrow, National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative and former VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will provide expert testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary as Democrats continue their attempted takeover of state elections. Mr. Cuccinelli also previously served as Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
WHO:
Hon. Ken Cuccinelli, II
WHAT:
Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing
WHEN:
Wednesday, October 6 @ 2:00 PM
WHERE:
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room G50
ETI Chairman Cuccinelli will issue the following statement as part of his testimony to the Judiciary Committee:
“Through H.R. 4, Democrats would like to impose a federal preclearance requirement nationwide – suggesting access to voting is actually worse today than it was in 1965, a patently ridiculous position … The federal takeover via nationwide preclearance is clearly intended to position the extreme partisans in the Voting Section of the Department of Justice to block voting integrity efforts. In fact, it is these very efforts that have been histrionically referred to by members of the Senate and even the president of the United States as so-called ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’
“H.R. 4 is nothing but a power grab by congressional Democrats aimed at taking election powers away from the states. The takeover of all election reforms and redistricting by federal bureaucrats with a radical agenda under the guise of voter protection would set America back. H.R. 4 should be rejected in favor of using the current Voting Rights Act – Sections 2 and 3 – which has already proven to be effective in fighting true discrimination where and when it has existed.”
Read Chairman Ken Cuccinelli’s full testimony, or watch the hearing online.
What do real ‘Jim Crow’ laws look like? Georgia’s 1958 civics test was used to bar black citizens from voting, but it was not only southern states discriminating against voters. California, Connecticut, Delaware, and more also had constitutional and/or statutory provisions to impede minority voting.
The 1902 Virginia Constitution imposed poll taxes, literacy tests and even a civics test as hurdles to voter registration and voting, all intended to deny as many black citizens access to voting as possible. In such constitutions also employed devices to allow illiterate whites onto the voter rolls. These included “going easy” on the civics tests for prospective white voters who could not read, as well as so-called “grandfather clauses,” by which illiterate whites whose father or grandfather fought for either the union or confederacy (virtually always the Confederacy) would also be admitted to register to vote.
Elections are setting records for diversity and turnout, but Democrats have manufactured the myth of widespread “voter suppression” in order to override state election laws via H.R. 1/S.1 and H.R. 4—erasing key safeguards protecting our elections from fraud and undermining fair, secure, and transparent elections every American can trust.
- Two-thirds of adult citizens voted in 2020, the most in 120 years, and nearly every state hit a record high in turnout. 17 million more Americans voted in 2020 compared to 2016.
- Minority turnout rose significantly, with African American and Hispanic voter turnout both increasing in 2020 compared to 2016.
Read more about Democrats’ “voter suppression” myth being used to justify giving unelected federal bureaucrats ‘veto’ authority over state-passed election laws in Mr. Cuccinelli’s op-ed for Fox News: “Democrats’ election takeover – here’s what’s at stake for every state.”
Read more about Democrat’s partisan, politically-driven attempt to force a federal takeover of elections into law in Mr. Cuccinelli’s op-ed for The Exponent-Telegram: “Dems make it impossible for Sen. Manchin to support H.R. 4.”
Recent polling shows the majority of voters, including Black and Hispanic as well as urban and independent voters, overwhelmingly support voter I.D. protections and want it to be easy to vote and hard to cheat.
According to polling released earlier this year by the Honest Elections Project, Americans of virtually every voting group support voter integrity safeguards:
- Majority of voters want it to be easy to vote but hard to cheat: 64% of voters, including Black (51%) and Hispanic (66%) voters, as well as urban (59%) and Independent (61%) voters, want to strengthen voting safeguards that prevent fraud – not eliminate them.
- More than 3 in 4 voters support voter ID requirements: 77% of voters, including strong majorities of Republicans (92%), Independents (75%), and Democrats (63%) all support requiring voter ID. 64% of Black voters, 77% of Hispanics, and 76% of low-income voters reject the notion that presenting a form of ID at the ballot-box is a “burden.”
- Voters support protections on absentee voting: Two-thirds of voters (66%) support increased protections on absentee voting, like requiring voter ID to vote absentee, which S.1. expressly blocks.
Polling from Rasmussen Reports indicates that 75% of likely U.S. voters say requiring voters to show photo identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to vote is necessary to “a fair and secure election process.” Only nineteen percent (19%) disagree.
The Election Transparency Initiative, a partnership between American Principles Project (APP) and the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), was organized to combat H.R. 1/S. 1 and advocate for state-based election reforms that voters can trust.
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