|
Chairman Steil's full opening statement as prepared for delivery:
Today, the Committee on House Administration continues our oversight of federal elections.
Voter list maintenance is crucial to election integrity.
List maintenance adds new voters to the rolls and removes ineligible ones, such as deceased, relocated, or duplicate registrants.
Inaccurate voter rolls can open the door to election fraud and can hinder public confidence in our elections.
In the current world of mail-in voting, live ballots can be sent based on inaccurate, out-of-date information.
It's a risk - how do you mitigate that risk?
For example, California has universal vote by mail, meaning they send every single registered voter in the state a ballot, regardless of whether it was requested.
This shows the significance of making sure the voter rolls are accurate and it means live ballots can be sent to a resident’s former address if the voter rolls were not properly updated
That would be a live ballot. It would be illegal for someone to vote that besides the eligible voter, but it would be difficult to determine that after the ballot had been illegally cast.
The responsibility of maintaining voter lists is largely fulfilled by the states.
In addition to state-specific regulations, federal law, such as the National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA, includes voter list maintenance requirements.
As it is currently written, the NVRA arguably has a low standard for compliance - a standard we will discuss today.
Because of this, if states choose, they can largely avoid properly maintaining their voter rolls.
Litigation has shown that judges consider minimal list maintenance compliant with federal law.
Lawsuits have alleged that states are failing to timely and effectively maintain their voter rolls.
This year, the Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest asserting the federal government’s interest in effective enforcement of the NVRA against Illinois.
The DOJ alleged that thirty-four counties in the state failed to disclose any data that would show Illinois conducts list maintenance.
Representative Mary Miller, I have a hunch, will have questions about that.
The lack of transparency in voter list maintenance undermines both legal compliance and voter confidence.
In addition to legal compliance, we will discuss today where states are obtaining data for proper voter list maintenance.
States need access to accurate and timely data to effectively maintain their voter lists.
Accurate data can be exchanged between states and the federal government.
Some states, such as Virginia, have entered into MOUs with neighboring states to exchange voter data.
This type of information sharing allows states to determine whether a voter is registered in another state, and if they were removed upon registering in their new state.
Also, as Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I have worked to ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections.
It is critical that states are utilizing federal citizenship verification resources that are available to them.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced enhancements to their citizenship verification system.
The updated system allows state and local governments to access federal databases to verify voters’ citizenship.
In conclusion, list maintenance requires efficient, effectively and accurate access to data, as well as thorough and routine updates.
Proper voter list maintenance protects the security of our elections.
I thank our witnesses for being here today and I look forward to our discussion.
###
|
