Washington, DC – Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) today offered the first Motion to Refer of the 117th Congress to promote integrity and voter confidence in our elections. Unfortunately, House Democrats voted to table this motion. Davis spoke in support of working in a bipartisan way to address mail-in ballot integrity, signature verification standards, and ensuring ballots are counted in a timely manner.

Text of Davis's floor remarks:

It's disappointing House Democrats have completely dismissed the first opportunity to work together in the new Congress to instill voter confidence and protect the integrity of our election process.

The purpose of H. Res. 5 is to address many of the election administration problems that occurred in 2020 – something I have encouraged the Committee on House Administration and this House to address long before the 2020 general election.

The resolution would have required the Committee on House Administration to report out a bill that contains five main provisions:

First, a provision to ensure this House's commitment to upholding the U.S. Constitution by maintaining that it is states that have the primary authority to conduct elections, NOT the federal government.

Second, that ensure ballot integrity for votes cast by mail.

Third, provides a federal baseline for signature verification.

Fourth, includes measures to improve voter confidence and certainty in our election results by counting ballots in a timely manner.

And lastly, a provision to ensure proper oversight of federal dollars provided to states to help them administer elections through the Help America Vote Act.

These issues are non-partisan – they're problems both sides struggled with in the 2020 election – and as the committee with jurisdiction over federal elections, it's our responsibility to address them.

Arguably, the time to address these issues was before the 2020 general election, but it's never too late to do the right thing.

In 2020, more than 65 million people voted by mail – more than ever before. Just as we have baseline standards for administering in-person elections, we should have them for mail-in voting. Baseline standards for these ballots would help ensure every legal vote is counted.

There were many last-minute changes made during the 2020 cycle in the name of COVID-19 that chip away at the integrity of our election system and it's important that we do not maintain this "pandemic style" voting in the long term.

The worst thing that could happen to our government is for the People to lose all confidence in our elections…

There are bipartisan steps we can take to help restore public confidence in our elections and protect our republic…

While it's disappointing that House Democrats have dismissed the first opportunity in the new Congress to work together to protect the integrity of our elections, I'm hopeful we can set politics aside to achieve this goal.