The House Committee on Administration held a hearing with Secretaries of State to discuss the 2024 elections.
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00:00:00Revisiting the 2024 election with Secretaries of State, I note that a quorum is present.
00:00:06Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time.
00:00:10We will do opening statements here today and then recess for the floor vote.
00:00:14We will quickly reconvene after the vote and begin with witness testimony.
00:00:18Also, without objection, the hearing record will remain open for five legislative days,
00:00:23so members may submit any materials they wish to be included therein.
00:00:28Thank you, Ranking Member Sewell, members of the committee, and our witnesses for participating in today's hearing.
00:00:34Recent elections have produced record-high turnout, and in turn, those elections become the most challenging
00:00:41for elections officials to administrate and process.
00:00:44Presidential, primary, general, and special elections occur around the clock, across states,
00:00:50requiring efficient administration to provide Americans with free and fair elections.
00:00:56As a former Secretary of State, I am glad to welcome our witnesses today for an important
00:01:01review of our nation's most recent presidential election.
00:01:06Voters across America went to the polls in record-high numbers in 2024 to exercise one of their most
00:01:11fundamental rights.
00:01:13According to our Constitution, the states are responsible for prescribing the times, places,
00:01:18and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives.
00:01:23The role of Congress in elections is to provide oversight and to support states in those efforts.
00:01:30The purpose of our hearing today is to revisit the 2024 election and hear from secretaries of state
00:01:35who conducted their state's elections this past November.
00:01:39Specifically, we will be looking at what went well and what lessons we can learn from each of the secretaries
00:01:44in administering free and fair elections and how we can continue to protect and promote voter confidence.
00:01:52I thank all of our witnesses for coming before the committee today to share your knowledge and expertise on this matter.
00:01:59During the 2024 election cycle, over 155 million Americans cast their ballots in races for the White House, the Senate,
00:02:08the House of Representatives, governor's mansions, state legislatures, state Supreme Courts, and more.
00:02:15Even with record-high turnout, many states were able to report their results on election night for the presidency.
00:02:22However, some states were significantly delayed in calling races for the Senate and the House of Representatives
00:02:27for days, and in some cases, weeks.
00:02:30Something I was very proud of as Florida's former chief elections official was how quickly our state was able to call elections,
00:02:37with confidence in our results.
00:02:40Undoubtedly, states with laws on the books for pre-processing of mail-in ballots,
00:02:45regularly enforced deadlines for receipt on election day,
00:02:49and consistent post-election audits of voter rolls are in the best position to administer their elections
00:02:55without undue delay and to report results on election night, which helps instill voter confidence.
00:03:01Many states across the country, including most of the states the secretaries here today represent,
00:03:06have taken initiative in enhancing their election security laws.
00:03:10When Americans feel their vote will count, they are more inclined to take the time to cast a ballot.
00:03:15Americans must know that their vote will not be misplaced, damaged, or otherwise interfered with,
00:03:20but instead it will be counted in a timely manner.
00:03:23Americans must also know that non-citizens' votes will not cancel out a legal vote.
00:03:29Strengthening our voting laws increases voter confidence and leads to higher turnout in our elections.
00:03:34This most recent election was proof of that.
00:03:37In Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho, and Ohio, successful election integrity measures have been implemented.
00:03:44Each of these states are evidence of how enhancing election integrity and security can help to manage high voter turnout,
00:03:51voter access, and the rapid process of ballots to certify results on election night.
00:03:57While states are the primary authority on how elections are conducted, it is our role here in Congress to assist in any way that we can.
00:04:07One way we will be able to help provide resources to states is by passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or the SAVE Act.
00:04:15This bill would bring critical reform to the National Voter Registration Act that would help prevent non-citizens from being added to voter rolls.
00:04:23It would also provide states with free access to the DHS SAVE program and the Social Security death database,
00:04:30which will help states remove non-citizens or deceased persons who should not be on their voter rolls.
00:04:37In doing so, the SAVE Act would codify many of the measures included in President Trump's recent executive order to strengthen election integrity and security.
00:04:47Running a successful and uneventful election is no easy task.
00:04:52I am looking forward to learning from each of you about how you successfully ran elections in each of your states in 2024,
00:05:00and how Congress can assist in future elections.
00:05:04Thank you for being here today, and I look forward to our conversation.
00:05:08With that, I yield to Ranking Member Sewell for an opening statement.
00:05:13Good afternoon, everyone.
00:05:15As a Ranking Member of the Election Subcommittee and as a representative of Alabama's Civil Rights District,
00:05:21there is nothing more important to me than ensuring that every American can cast their ballot.
00:05:26It was in my hometown of Selma, Alabama, 60 years ago, where John Lewis and hundreds of foot soldiers
00:05:33were bludgeoned on the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the equal right of all Americans to vote.
00:05:38However, for the past decade, extremists have fought to undo the hard-won progress that the foot soldiers sought to achieve.
00:05:47Just last year, lawmakers in 40 states introduced 317 bills to eradicate new barriers to the ballot box.
00:05:55Since its defeat in the 2020 election, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed the big lie of a stolen election.
00:06:04They have even tried to convince the American people of the lie that non-citizens are voting in large numbers and are threatening our elections.
00:06:11And now, they are using the lie as an excuse to pass new laws like the SAVE Act that would make it harder for millions of Americans to vote.
00:06:20Moreover, Donald Trump just signed an executive order that would not only give him unilateral authority to regulate federal elections,
00:06:28but it would open the floodgates for mass voter purges and give Elon Musk unfeathered access to sensitive voter files.
00:06:36The executive order and the SAVE Act also create unnecessary barriers for election workers by withholding funds
00:06:42and threatening election administrators with five years of prison sentence if they make a simple mistake while trying to register new voters.
00:06:50Even though the 2024 election was fair and secure, it was marred with threats of violence,
00:06:56like the bomb threats that targeted polling stations, election offices, and tabulation centers on Election Day.
00:07:02However, today's hearing should present a great learning opportunity because states like Connecticut are leading the charge to expand access to the ballot box.
00:07:12In 2023, Connecticut passed a state-level voting rights act to expand voter access.
00:07:19Sadly, last year, Alabama, my home state, cared more about enacting laws to criminalize absentee ballot assistance
00:07:26and purge thousands of eligible voters from the rolls.
00:07:30Alabama is one of only three states in the nation that does not allow any form of early in-person voting.
00:07:36But in Connecticut, voters were allowed to exercise their right to vote 14 days before Election Day.
00:07:43Before Election Day in Alabama, the courts had to prevent Alabama from unfairly and unlawfully removing thousands of eligible voters from the roll
00:07:53because they were wrongfully flagged as non-citizen in direct violation of the National Voter Registration Act.
00:08:01Voters in Alabama and every other state should not have fewer options to vote.
00:08:07What they deserve is to learn on Election Day that their names were actually on the rolls rightfully, not wrongfully, and purged unnecessarily.
00:08:18As we examine the 2024 election, what we should be addressing are issues such as chronic underfunding of our elections,
00:08:25the safety and security of our election workers, polling stations and voters, and expanding access to the ballot box for every eligible American.
00:08:32We should be honoring the legacy by passing legislation like the John Robert Voting Rights Advancement Act,
00:08:39the Freedom to Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the Native American Voting Rights Act.
00:08:44Trump has no regard for the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, or the fundamental principles that all Americans,
00:08:50regardless of their race, creed, or color, has a right to have their voice heard at the ballot box.
00:08:56The American people's right to vote is sacred, as John Lewis said, and I would never stop fighting to protect the cornerstone of our democracy.
00:09:05We, as elected officials, should be looking for ways to expand access to the ballot box, not to curb it.
00:09:11I want to thank our secretaries for being here today. I also want to thank Chairwoman Lee for holding this.
00:09:16I look forward to hearing from all of you, and I would like to welcome my Secretary of State, Wes Allen. Thank you.
00:09:23With that, I yield to ranking member of the full committee, Representative Morelli, for an opening statement.
00:09:30Good afternoon. Thank you, Chairwoman Lee, for gathering this subcommittee, and thanks for giving me a few moments,
00:09:38and certainly thank you to the various secretaries of state for being here today.
00:09:43As we gather this afternoon to revisit the 2024 election, it's important to state up front that the 2024 election was fair and secure,
00:09:52that Donald Trump was elected president. You see, unlike many on the other side of the aisle, Democrats can and will acknowledge that fact.
00:10:00Even when we don't personally like or agree with the outcome of an election, we honor the democratic process and accept the results.
00:10:07In examining the last election and looking for ways to improve our country's election administration,
00:10:12we must address the rampant spread of myths and disinformation and falsehoods that continue to be spread about our electoral system.
00:10:20We must protect election workers who face continued threats and harassment.
00:10:24We must address the rise of artificial intelligence, generative AI, and continued foreign influence campaigns that seek to affect and influence our elections.
00:10:36We must fully fund our elections. Federal elections are on the ballot in every state, every two years, and yet Congress has continued and consistently failed to sufficiently fund those election efforts at the state and local level.
00:10:52Congress has continued and reversed and reversed the administration's harmful decisions to attack, undermine, and defund critical federal agencies and partnerships like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force.
00:11:11These actions to cripple and undermine these agencies do not strengthen our elections. In fact, they make us less secure.
00:11:18We need to fix our broken special interest big money campaign finance system.
00:11:22Last year, one donor, billionaire Elon Musk, spent at least $291 million backing Donald Trump and other Republican candidates.
00:11:32According to Open Secrets, the top six donors in the United States gave over $100 million each during the 2024 election,
00:11:40all supporting the president and Republican candidates.
00:11:43In last week's Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Elon Musk and allied groups spent over $20 million.
00:11:51We also need fair maps. Look at North Carolina, where Republicans gerrymandered their way into the House majority by drawing three Democratic members out of their seats.
00:12:01The President's recent executive order on election integrity is a further assault on our democracy.
00:12:06The order is unlawful and unnecessary, attempting to impose documentary proof of citizenship requirements to register to vote by executive fiat, circumventing the United States Congress and our constitutional authority.
00:12:19It undermines the independence of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and injects chaos and uncertainty into our voting system certification process.
00:12:28New York's Attorney General and a coalition of 18 other attorneys general are suing to stop President Trump's unconstitutional attempts to seize control of our elections.
00:12:37Voters and party committees have also sued to stop the White House from doing that.
00:12:43Alongside all of this is the so-called SAVE Act, a measure that my colleagues on the other side claim is necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting in U.S. elections.
00:12:54It's not. Non-citizens registering to vote is already a crime. Non-citizens voting is a crime and leads to immediate deportation.
00:13:02It rarely happens, and when it does, non-citizens are held accountable as they should be.
00:13:07The SAVE Act and the President's Order are two sides of the same coin.
00:13:10Now, with the economic pain of the President's chaotic tariffs just being felt, members of the majority are planning to charge millions of Americans potentially billions of dollars just to register to vote for the 150 million Americans who don't have passports.
00:13:26Last week, I testified before the Rules Committee that SAVE Act and the Executive Order were disenfranchised women, rural voters, military voters, overseas voters, Native American voters, seniors, students, survivors of domestic abuse, and survivors of natural disasters.
00:13:41Millions of Americans. There is, however, real work Congress can do to improve our elections. Election officials take on essential, often thankless tasks in running elections.
00:13:51They face increased threats and too little and inconsistent funding from Congress. That could stop.
00:13:57As a ranking member of this committee and a member of the Appropriations Committee, I'll continue to push for additional funding and consistent elections funding.
00:14:04We can work to combat mis- and disinformation to meet the challenges posed by AI and to approve access to the ballot for every single American.
00:14:11Providing both support and accurate information will allow election workers to administer secure, accessible elections and give Americans the confidence in elections that they need.
00:14:20I was honored to join ranking member Sewell in her hometown of Selma for the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday just last month.
00:14:28We must honor the legacy and continue moving forward in the fight for voting rights, not backwards.
00:14:33So I'm anxious to hear from each of the secretaries today.
00:14:37Thank you for your work, for the work your staffs do, and all the election workers in your respective states to carry out these important, important elections.
00:14:45With that, Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity and I yield back.
00:14:48Without objection, all other members' opening statements will be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted to the committee clerk by 5 p.m. today.
00:14:57At this time, votes for members have been called.
00:15:00We will take a brief recess to go vote and then return as quickly as possible to the hearing room to hear the opening statements and testimony from our witnesses.
00:15:09At this time, this committee stands in a temporary recess.
00:15:14And reconvene our business.
00:15:18Today we have one witness panel and I will now introduce our witnesses.
00:15:22First, we have Wes Allen, the Secretary of State of Alabama.
00:15:26Next, we have Nancy Landry, the Secretary of State of Louisiana.
00:15:30Followed by Frank LaRose, the Secretary of State of Ohio.
00:15:34Then we have Phil McGrain, the Secretary of State of Idaho.
00:15:38And Stephanie Thomas, the Secretary of State of Connecticut.
00:15:42Each witness will have three minutes to provide an opening statement.
00:15:46We thank you for your cooperation and your patience with us in that regard.
00:15:50You have just witnessed what was not an exercise in efficiency.
00:15:53We're so glad to have you all here and to have this time with you.
00:15:57So with that, I now recognize Secretary Allen for the purpose of giving an opening statement.
00:16:03Thank you, Madam Chairman.
00:16:06Good afternoon, members of this subcommittee.
00:16:08It is my honor to be invited to represent the great state of Alabama as its chief elections official.
00:16:14I bring a unique perspective to today's proceedings as my career in elections began more than a decade prior to my election
00:16:21as Alabama's 54th Secretary of State when I served for nearly 10 years as probate judge,
00:16:27the chief elections official in Pike County, Alabama.
00:16:32The foundation of election integrity is voter file maintenance.
00:16:37Moments after I was sworn in, I signed the letter notifying the Electronic Registration Information Center,
00:16:43also known as ERIC, that Alabama would no longer participate in their program.
00:16:49My team and I developed and implemented the Alabama Voter Integrity Database, better known as AVID,
00:16:54which utilizes state-to-state data sharing agreements, partners with driver's license division of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency,
00:17:02the National Change of Address Database and the Social Security Administration's National Death Master Index
00:17:08to identify individuals who should be placed on a path for removal from our voter file.
00:17:14Since taking office, more than half a million ineligible voters have been removed from Alabama's voter file.
00:17:21Our voter file, which was a bloated mess on the day I took office, is now the most accurate record of eligible voters our state has ever had.
00:17:30However, two major hurdles remain.
00:17:33First, the immediate removal of deceased voters from our voter files should be common sense.
00:17:39However, obtaining access to the Social Security Administration's National Master Death Index was absurdly time-consuming and overly burdensome.
00:17:49Unnecessary red tape makes it more difficult than it should be.
00:17:53You, as members of Congress, can cut through that red tape and make this important data immediately available to all 50 states.
00:18:02Second, my efforts to gain access to non-citizen data held by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, were repeatedly denied by the previous administration.
00:18:15Fortunately, President Trump's CEO directed DHS to cooperate with states to eliminate non-citizens from our voter file,
00:18:25will allow batch comparisons of DHS non-citizen data to our state-level voter files,
00:18:31allowing for the immediate removal of those who are illegally registered to vote.
00:18:35Granting states immediate access to this data is crucial.
00:18:39Only United States citizens should participate in our elections.
00:18:45Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today.
00:18:48It has been my honor.
00:18:51I now recognize Secretary Landry for the purpose of her opening statement.
00:18:56Good afternoon, Chairwoman Lee, Ranking Member Sewell, and members of this committee.
00:19:01It's an honor to be with you here today to discuss the successes Louisiana had and the lessons we learned in the 2024 election.
00:19:09As Louisiana's Secretary of State, the most important function of my job is to reinforce voters' confidence in our elections.
00:19:17I believe our work did just that and led to a banner year in our state's election administration.
00:19:23Just months after taking office in early 2024, I announced the legislative package of 11 bills intended to strengthen our state's election integrity posture.
00:19:35I'm proud to say that all 11 bills passed, eight of those with bipartisan support, and our governor signed all of them into law.
00:19:43Last August, I joined Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and our Attorney General to announce new steps our state is taking to ensure that only U.S. citizens can vote in Louisiana elections.
00:19:55This included a directive from the governor requiring the Office of Motor Vehicles to share information on non-citizens who hold a Louisiana driver's license or ID.
00:20:05Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the presidential election, I embarked on a tour that took me to 21 of Louisiana's 64 parishes.
00:20:14I met with civic groups, local election officials and staff, and conducted countless radio and TV interviews to reinforce what I call the four Ps of election security.
00:20:25And those are our people, and that is my staff and our local election officials, the only people that ever program our equipment.
00:20:33Our policies, the legislation that we've passed over the years to ensure election integrity.
00:20:39Our procedures, such as our logic testing and sealing procedures that we conduct before each and every election.
00:20:46And the last P is our physical security.
00:20:49Every machine is stored under lock and key when not in use, and no machine is ever connected to the Internet.
00:20:55While Louisiana has employed these for several years, I felt it was important to meet voters where they are
00:21:02and to empower our local partners with the knowledge that they need to speak with authority on our election processes.
00:21:09All of that hard work we put in last year resulted in a record-breaking presidential election.
00:21:15Among other records, we saw the fastest reporting of results in any presidential election in Louisiana's history.
00:21:22Full, unofficial results were posted within three hours of our polls closing.
00:21:28These efforts led to a noticeable increase in voter confidence in our elections.
00:21:34Over an eight-month period in 2024, a poll found a nine-point jump in the number of voters who believe that our elections are safe and secure.
00:21:43Louisiana proved that states can make it easy to vote and hard to cheat, and that doing so will instill confidence in our elections.
00:21:50I believe every state in the nation can replicate the strides we've made.
00:21:55In doing so, they can reassure voters that their elections are safe and secure.
00:21:59Thank you again for having me, and I look forward to your questions.
00:22:02I now recognize Secretary LaRose for the purpose of giving an opening statement.
00:22:08Well, thank you so much, Chairwoman Lee and Ranking Member Sewell, all the members and the staff for inviting us here today.
00:22:14We had a simple bit of wisdom that we used in the military that you sweat in training so you don't bleed in battle.
00:22:20Maybe sounds a little bit dramatic.
00:22:21We summed it up a little bit simpler when I was in the Boy Scouts with the slogan, Be Prepared.
00:22:26And the work of Elections Administration is all about being prepared for that next election.
00:22:32It's a massive logistical undertaking, running an election.
00:22:34Sometimes we lose track of that because for each of us individually, it's a very individualized experience.
00:22:39You show up at your voting location, check your ballots, you walk out with your I Voted sticker, and then you see the results at the bottom of your screen that night.
00:22:48But it's a massive undertaking.
00:22:50In Ohio, we created what we call the Ready for November Task Force that started well over a year before the election with training seminars for each of our county boards of elections.
00:23:00Working through the after action reports of previous elections to make sure that those best practices had been put into place.
00:23:07Recruiting and training over 35,000 poll workers that it takes to run Ohio's elections.
00:23:12Our fifth security directive that built on the four before them to make Ohio a real leader in cybersecurity.
00:23:19And then, of course, we run an election day operations center.
00:23:22Some call it our war room where we can quickly work through those issues that inevitably come up on election day and make sure that none of them can become a showstopper for the voters of Ohio.
00:23:31Ohio has implemented a number of best practices that I think are worth considering.
00:23:35Prompt reporting of our election night results.
00:23:38That comes about as a result of pre-processing those absentee ballots as they arrive and making sure that those are ready to be the first ones reported at 815, 830 on election night.
00:23:49We're already reporting those early votes and those absentee votes.
00:23:52One of the other things that we've done in Ohio is standardized our data.
00:23:56Now, to start, we have a bottom-up system in Ohio with each county being run by two Democrats and two Republicans.
00:24:02But we needed to create standardized definitions.
00:24:04We did that through a bipartisan effort called the Data Act.
00:24:08Simple things like what constitutes a voter registration date or a ballot cast or a ballot counted.
00:24:14Standardizing all that data, reporting it publicly, has made Ohio among the most transparent election systems in the country.
00:24:20And, of course, photo ID, which is widely accepted.
00:24:22In Ohio, we provide that for free.
00:24:24And it includes an indication of your citizenship status.
00:24:28There are things that the federal government needs to do.
00:24:30The president took a good first step with the executive order on citizenship data.
00:24:34But we need more access to that through DHS and others, as well as the U.S. Postal Service.
00:24:40There's a list of things that we as secretaries proposed in September of 2024.
00:24:45Many of those still require action.
00:24:47In 2024, we ran a record-breaking election in Ohio.
00:24:50Voters went to bed on election night, whether their favorite candidates won or lost, knowing that it was an honest result.
00:24:56And ultimately, that's our goal.
00:24:57So look forward to the questions you all have for us later.
00:24:59Thanks.
00:25:00I now recognize Secretary McGrane for the purpose of giving an opening statement.
00:25:06Chairwoman Lee, Ranking Member Sewell, and members of the committee.
00:25:09It really is my privilege to be here before you today.
00:25:11My background in elections goes back to right when I got out of college.
00:25:15I landed a job as an election specialist, counting ballots when we were voting on punch cards and training poll workers.
00:25:20And I've had the unique opportunity to work my way up in a variety of roles along the way.
00:25:25And I can say I've seen just about everything when it comes to elections.
00:25:28And I stand proud to represent the state of Idaho here to really highlight that the 2024 election was one of the most successful in Idaho's history.
00:25:36We had a record 917,000 Idahoans head out to the polls and vote, which really stands out.
00:25:43But I also think, you know, this committee, I think I came to your attention based on a local election.
00:25:49You mentioned that in your opening statement, Chairman, regarding judicial review, right?
00:25:55Whenever there's an error, errors can happen in any election.
00:25:58But the ability to correct those errors, no matter how granular.
00:26:01We had an election that was determined.
00:26:02It was 47 votes versus 48 votes.
00:26:05And we put that before a judge to make sure that we could get the right result for that community.
00:26:10And that's the level of detail that we'll use in Idaho to get it right.
00:26:14Over the 2024 election, I think one of the biggest things that stands out, though, is our use of the SAVE database and the SAVE tools.
00:26:22Governor Little and I signed an executive order last summer, the Only Citizens Can Vote Act, to ensure that only American citizens were on our voter rolls headed into the November election.
00:26:32And we did a comparison with all of the data and had a close working relationship with DHS.
00:26:37But I think one of the telling things and something that you can do about this is we talk about the SAVE database or the SAVE program.
00:26:45It's not actually a program or a database.
00:26:47It's a patchwork of varying databases that really was never intended for election integrity work.
00:26:53And I think one of the things this committee can do is invest in the tools that we need as states to ensure that our voter rolls are accurate.
00:27:00I think that's something that all parties should be able to get behind is the accuracy in our voter rolls.
00:27:05Additionally, I think one other thing that this committee can take up, and it was already mentioned before, is voter ID.
00:27:11Thirty-six states already have some standard of voter ID.
00:27:14And when you look at polling, whether it's Pew or any other resource, it shows heavy bipartisan support.
00:27:20And most notably, last November, Nevada, and just two weeks ago, Wisconsin, the voters, when they get to choose, overwhelmingly choose for identification.
00:27:29We have the real ID taking effect.
00:27:31We all see this when we travel.
00:27:32All of us experience it.
00:27:33This is something that we can do.
00:27:36I really look forward to the conversation today in terms of our elections and what Congress can do to help support us as states.
00:27:43But most importantly, I really stand proud of the work that all of the county clerks, the election workers, poll workers did to make sure that 2024 really was a success, both in Idaho and across our entire country.
00:27:56Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:27:59I now recognize Secretary Thomas for the purpose of giving an opening statement.
00:28:03Good afternoon to all the members of the committee.
00:28:06It's a true honor to be here today to reflect on an incredible year for the great state of Connecticut, home of the Yukon Huskies.
00:28:15At a time when election mistrust was in the headlines, Connecticut expanded our voting access while maintaining voters' trust.
00:28:24We submitted more than 20 pages of written testimony.
00:28:28Extremely long, I know, but I hope others can learn from us as we made voting more accessible while maintaining security.
00:28:36Like most states, we faced many challenges in 2024.
00:28:41The introduction of early voting, skittish election workers, a potential poll worker shortage, and a proliferation of false claims about election integrity.
00:28:52But we've been at this a long time.
00:28:54Connecticut is known as the Constitution State because ours is the first written Constitution in America, dating back to 1639.
00:29:03But we're also known as the land of steady habits due to our thoughtful approach.
00:29:09We've always used paper ballots.
00:29:11We've never used equipment connected to the Internet.
00:29:14We audit regularly.
00:29:16We perform robust list maintenance.
00:29:19We require certification and continuing education for our election workers and more.
00:29:26But today, I want to focus on several of the elements that helped our elections run smoothly, even as 40% of our voters switched to early voting for the first time.
00:29:37First, we took a very collaborative approach, hosting monthly meetings beginning in 2023 with members of our election workforce and our Fusion Center partners.
00:29:49This enabled us to create trainings as we needed to keep everyone in lockstep.
00:29:55For example, police didn't know what they should do at a polling location, so election workers created a training for them.
00:30:03Our election workers weren't sure what to do in certain emergencies, so law enforcement created scenario planning drills for them.
00:30:12Second, we visited over 100 groups to teach them how early voting would work, and we've recruited over 250 businesses and organizations to join our CEO program, which stands for Civically Engaged Organizations.
00:30:29Third, because we don't have a county form of government, each town administers its own elections run by an elected Republican and Democrat, which help keep our elections fair and transparent.
00:30:44And lastly, we have an investigatory agency that any individual can report any claims of election malfeasance, and we have volunteer attorneys who also are deployed on election day if needed.
00:31:03Our team felt great coming out of 2024, but my message to Congress today is simple.
00:31:11We don't need complicated mandates for what states are already doing well.
00:31:16I believe we need to focus on continual funding, education, recruitment, and global security.
00:31:24Thank you so much for listening today.
00:31:26I know we had to adjust our minutes downward by two, so I hope I'll receive some questions.
00:31:34I'll begin our questions today, followed by the ranking member.
00:31:38I now recognize myself for the purpose of questioning our witnesses.
00:31:43Secretary Allen, I'll start with you and follow up on your testimony that related to your efforts to have accurate and contemporary voter roles.
00:31:52Under your leadership, the Alabama Voter Integrity Database System entered into a memorandum of understanding with my home state of Florida through 2027.
00:32:01Can you share with us what that is and why it is so crucial to have states communicate with each other about voter roles?
00:32:08Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
00:32:09It is vitally important that states talk to each other, and we have been so very, very proud of these memorandums of understanding, not only with the state of Florida, but with Georgia and Tennessee and Mississippi and Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, and most recently Texas.
00:32:26Those are vitally important to have a bilateral agreement to where we can get our IT departments to talk to each other to make sure that we do not have anyone that is double registered in both states, and we are very, very proud of this effort.
00:32:41We have exchanged data with a number of states so far, and we found over 40,000 individuals that were double registered in other states as well as Alabama.
00:32:52And tell us what sort of adjudication process occurs when you do identify somebody who appears to be registered in more than one location.
00:32:59So we get that information, and we send out to the counties, to the different boards of registrars where that person was last registered in Alabama, and they send out correspondence to this person to let them know that there may be some question about their voter registration.
00:33:16And if they indeed have moved to another state to call them back or to correspond with them and to remove themselves from the Alabama voter file, if they do not correspond with us, there's a time period for the in conjunction with the NVRA that places them on a pathway to removal.
00:33:35So we don't remove them instantly.
00:33:36We put them on a pathway in case they do not call the state of Alabama to remove themselves.
00:33:42And Secretary Landry, Louisiana recently enacted safeguards for mail-in ballot returns via third-party collection.
00:33:49Can you share with us how these safeguards reduce fraud in third-party ballot collections?
00:33:54Sure, certainly.
00:33:56We passed some legislation last year that closed loopholes regarding ballot harvesting, and in addition to prohibiting individuals from picking up multiple ballots,
00:34:09we also now prohibit delivery by any method where one individual is delivering multiple ballots.
00:34:16So if you're not a family member, you can only deliver one ballot, whether it's to the Registrar of Voters Office or to a post office box.
00:34:25Have these additional safeguards reduced voting via absentee ballot?
00:34:30They have not.
00:34:32And in your opinion, did these measures unduly burden absentee voters in Louisiana?
00:34:37They do not.
00:34:38In fact, we had a lawsuit regarding one of our new laws, and the plaintiffs, after the most recent election, moved to dismiss the lawsuit and end the motion.
00:34:49They mentioned that they were unable to find a single plaintiff who was impacted by the legislation in spite of their thinking that they would.
00:34:57They couldn't find anyone.
00:34:58So we think they're just common sense measures, and they protect our most vulnerable voters.
00:35:05Secretary LaRose, Ohio, much like my home state, implemented pre-processing for mail-in ballots, which you mentioned in your testimony.
00:35:14We attribute rapid processing of absentee ballots as a crucial part of calling election results in a timely manner.
00:35:21Will you explain to us how early processing of ballots increases confidence in elections in Ohio?
00:35:26Yeah, thank you, Chairwoman.
00:35:27As soon as an absentee ballot arrives back at a county board of elections, it can be opened by a bipartisan team, a Democrat and Republican sitting there, slicing it open, checking the name, date of birth, last for the social state driver's license, and verifying the signature against the signature on file in the database.
00:35:44At that point, they can flatten it out.
00:35:45And let's not over, you know, trivialize that.
00:35:48They have to be flattened out to go through the machine.
00:35:51Sometimes that takes some time to do.
00:35:52They flatten those ballots out, and they're ready to scan so that on election night at 7.30 p.m. precisely, the very first ballots counted are those early votes and absentee votes because they're all processed and ready to go.
00:36:04And tell us if you would, around what time was Ohio able to call the race for the presidency on election night?
00:36:11It was in the 10 p.m. hour, and we were at 90 percent reported by 11 p.m. However, that last 10 percent took us until about 3 a.m. because we had a few counties that needed some help.
00:36:22But before everybody went home for the night, we had every vote counted, every election day vote counted and reported.
00:36:28Thank you, Secretary LaRose.
00:36:29I now recognize Ranking Member Sewell for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses.
00:36:34Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:36:35I'd like to welcome to the nation's capital my Secretary of State, Wes Allen.
00:36:40Sir, you mentioned in your testimony that the foundation of election integrity is voter maintenance.
00:36:47And I know that you mentioned that you withdrew Alabama from the ERIC organization and replaced it with AVID,
00:36:57an Alabama voter integrity database to partner with state agencies to identify individuals to purge from the rolls.
00:37:07Last year, you led an effort to clean the rolls in Alabama by directing the Department, the Board of Registrar,
00:37:13to remove registered voters that were, quote, non-citizen identification number, end quote, by the Department of Homeland Security.
00:37:22Shortly after implementing this purge, a group of civil rights organizations challenged, sir, your voter purging program in court.
00:37:31And do you know, sir, what percentage of voters that you purge were actually U.S. citizens and should be eligible to vote versus not being eligible?
00:37:41Well, we're extremely proud that—I'm extremely proud of my staff who work to implement this program.
00:37:46And I will say that—
00:37:48Sir, it was 93 percent.
00:37:51Ninety-three point eight percent of the 3,251 voters that were purged from the rolls were actually U.S. citizens and should have been eligible to vote.
00:38:00Federal courts have acknowledged that relying solely on databases like the State Department of Homeland Security,
00:38:07State DMV databases, and the Federal Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlement database can, quote, have a very high rate of inaccuracy.
00:38:19How will you ensure, sir—first of all, is the program—the voter purge program still ongoing?
00:38:25And how do you ensure that you're actually capturing voters that are—that should be ineligible?
00:38:31Well, I will say that our staff is working extremely hard to make sure the voter file maintenance is top of mind each and every day when we come into the office.
00:38:38And we will continue to make sure that only United States citizens are on Alabama voter files.
00:38:44Yeah, you know, that's the law that only American citizens can vote.
00:38:50How much did it cost to defend that program in court? Do you know? How much money did you guys—
00:38:55I don't have that number, but—
00:38:56Well, all I can say is that Alabama taxpayers shouldn't be paying for a program that has shown such a high rate of inaccuracy.
00:39:03And while I totally understand the importance of making sure that every person who is on the voter roll is eligible,
00:39:10I think that there are better ways to do that than voter purging.
00:39:15Mr. Allen, Secretary Allen, you also mentioned in your written testimony that the state banned ballot harvesting last year.
00:39:22The state legislature passed an initiative that would criminalize people for assisting others with their absentee ballots.
00:39:29For example, if someone pays their family member to actually take their ballot, to deliver their ballot,
00:39:35that person would be—that assistance would be criminally charged.
00:39:40And I'm not sure if that was the intent, but I can tell you that several of my constituents called me in fear of voting absentee
00:39:48because they were afraid of it being rejected for simple reasons like, you know, not being able to provide the ballot themselves,
00:39:56but actually having a family member deliver it.
00:39:59Can you give us assurances that we in Alabama can actually, you know, make it easier for voters to access the ballot box?
00:40:09I mean, we're one of three states that don't have early voting, so I think it's really important that we get it right.
00:40:14Yes, ma'am. The right to vote is sacred. And what that bill did was to protect absentee voting.
00:40:20Paid political activists should not be involved in manipulating the absentee process.
00:40:25I hear what you're saying, but these are family members who are trying to help their elderly parents actually vote.
00:40:31And they shouldn't be in fear of, you know, of actually turning in a ballot if they have to borrow money from their mother
00:40:39to actually get to the post office or to get to the agency, to the voting registration office.
00:40:46Yeah, there's no need to fear. You know, we mimic federal law.
00:40:50If anybody is disabled, they can have anybody that they choose to help them with the application.
00:40:54It doesn't pertain to the ballots themselves. It's already illegal in Alabama for anyone to return a ballot for anyone else.
00:41:01SB1 specifically talked about the application portion of the absentee ballot process, and it did that.
00:41:08It protected the absentee process.
00:41:09Well, sir, I think that both of us, given the great history, the amazing history that occurred in our state,
00:41:14we really owe it to every Alabamian to make sure that not only are they eligible to vote, they have access to the ballot box.
00:41:21Having said that, Secretary Thomas, I note that you all passed a voter, a state-level voting rights act in 2023.
00:41:31I know I'm about to run out of time. I wanted to ask if she could just answer one question with respect to that.
00:41:36Sure. Can you talk just a little bit about this initiative and how it will make it easier for folks to vote, your new law?
00:41:44Sure. So the Connecticut Voting Rights Act passed last session to codify some of the elements of the National Voter Rights Act,
00:41:54such as free clearance, making sure that materials related to voting were provided in languages and communities that were majority in certain languages.
00:42:10It also provides a great transparency for members of the public.
00:42:16They can access statistics and data about voting in their communities via a GIS system.
00:42:24So in Connecticut, anyway, it passed handily and many implemented in 2024 election.
00:42:34Not the Voting Rights Act other than the language access.
00:42:38But we did implement early voting in 2024.
00:42:42Thank you, Madam Chair, for indulging me.
00:42:44I also would ask unanimous consent to submit several articles to the record.
00:42:49Without objection, so ordered.
00:42:51I now recognize the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Loudermilk, for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses.
00:42:56Well, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you all for being here.
00:42:59I appreciate the job, the work that you all do.
00:43:02It is so very important for our free republic to have integrity in our elections.
00:43:07And that has been something that was has risen in the interest of the American people in the past several years.
00:43:15I've been the longest serving member of this committee.
00:43:18And this used to be an obscure committee when all that our jurisdiction was security of the Capitol and federal elections.
00:43:26And then in 2020, that became important to a lot of people for various reasons.
00:43:32And I thank you for being here.
00:43:36Secretary McCrane, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions.
00:43:40I understand that the Idaho state law requires voters to be documented U.S. citizens.
00:43:45Correct.
00:43:46Has this requirement unduly denied the vote to any lawful citizens?
00:43:50Not that I'm aware of.
00:43:51Okay.
00:43:52I also understand that Idaho recently removed a number of non-citizens from the voter rolls.
00:43:59How was your office able to accurately identify and remove non-citizen voters in a timely manner?
00:44:06I appreciate the question.
00:44:08As I mentioned, last summer we signed the Only Citizens Can Vote Act.
00:44:11And working through a process using our Idaho Transportation Department, Idaho State Department,
00:44:15Idaho State Police, and then most notably Department of Homeland Security.
00:44:19We ran the entire 1.1 million registered voters in Idaho through those systems to verify citizenship.
00:44:25I mean, easily determining citizenship for the overwhelming majority.
00:44:29But then really dialing it into a case-by-case basis to narrow it down to 34 individuals who were non-citizens on Idaho's voter rolls.
00:44:36But I think using that precision and scrutiny really helped.
00:44:40But as I identified in my remarks, there are still tools that are needed to help really bolster this for all of us.
00:44:46Had you done that in the past?
00:44:49Or was this the first time that you really started drilling down looking for non-citizens?
00:44:54This was the first time that we've actually had that.
00:44:56And I think this will be continued work, as you see from the President's executive order and other efforts.
00:45:00Okay.
00:45:01I appreciate that.
00:45:03Some of our colleagues continue to maintain that non-citizen voting is a non-issue.
00:45:08Is that true?
00:45:09Or do you have a different opinion on that?
00:45:11I think every American wants to make sure that their vote can count and that their vote counts the same as everybody else.
00:45:17And that there is no one who's ineligible participating in our elections.
00:45:21Because as we know, any time that happens, especially that razor-thin election like I mentioned earlier, it can cancel out somebody else's vote.
00:45:27So I do think this is an issue for determining accuracy.
00:45:31Also, Idaho recently adopted the Only Citizens Can Vote Act, as you've mentioned.
00:45:36Can you share with us about how you and the governor were able to successfully collaborate with state law enforcement and verify citizen status?
00:45:44Which you have a little bit.
00:45:45Is there anything specific in there that we can learn from how you work with law enforcement and other agencies?
00:45:53I think specifically it really does tie in both to voter ID, right?
00:45:58So identification that identifies citizenship.
00:46:00I think that's an ongoing conversation and something that you can continue to do work on.
00:46:04And then the other part really is investing in USCIS.
00:46:07So earlier today I met with USCIS officials to talk about how can we bolster these efforts?
00:46:13I think they're eager to do the work.
00:46:15One of the things they reiterated to me was they are going to remove whatever barriers.
00:46:19So you heard from Secretary Allen some of the challenges other states had to remove those barriers,
00:46:24but to make sure we have the accurate data we need to do this voter verification.
00:46:28Idaho competes with many of the states you guys represent for one of the fastest growing states in the nation.
00:46:33That means people are moving, people are coming in, and this is an ongoing effort to keep our voter rolls up to date and accurate.
00:46:40So what can we do as Congress to assist you going forward with this?
00:46:45What would you like to see Congress do to make that more efficient and more accurate?
00:46:54I think first and foremost is invest in this database.
00:46:58There needs to be a database built with this purpose in mind.
00:47:01And then also to review some of the policies.
00:47:03I will say there are some really unique incidents we identified, and I know this is a concern,
00:47:07to make sure both non-citizens are not participating but also citizens aren't interfered with.
00:47:13There's the Child Citizenship Act of 2000.
00:47:16There are what I would classify as undocumented citizens.
00:47:20These are people who have become citizens through their parents' naturalization,
00:47:23but it's actually not recorded because we haven't built the tools in place to do the verification we're doing.
00:47:28I think the efforts of this committee, though, you look at whether it's the SAVE Act, the President's Executive Order,
00:47:33are aimed towards that.
00:47:34So if you can continue to invest in those resources and these agencies, that will really make a difference.
00:47:38Okay.
00:47:40And Secretary Landry, I have one question for you.
00:47:43I have a very good friend that used to serve in this chamber as now the governor.
00:47:47Is there any relation?
00:47:48We are not related.
00:47:50Governor Landry and I are from the same area of the state.
00:47:53And Landry is a very common Cajun name in Louisiana.
00:47:56It's the second most common Cajun name.
00:47:58So it's sort of like Smith in South Louisiana.
00:48:01Well, I assumed you weren't because I understood everything that you said while you were here.
00:48:06With that, I yield back.
00:48:07I won't tell him you said that.
00:48:09Please do.
00:48:11I now recognize Ranking Member Morelli of our full committee for five minutes of questioning our witnesses.
00:48:16Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:48:19Again, thanks to the Secretaries for being here.
00:48:24I want to start, Secretary Thomas, with you.
00:48:27As I understand it, you allowed for the first time in-person early voting in the state of Connecticut.
00:48:36And as you look back on the election, what tools and techniques did you use?
00:48:43Particularly I'm sort of interested too as it relates to misinformation and disinformation.
00:48:48But did you have any challenges with information as it related to early voting for the first time?
00:48:54And are there any challenges that you think you'll face moving forward that you have to adjust to?
00:48:59Thank you for the question.
00:49:01Yeah, we definitely, I think, like states around the country, were struggling to explain how elections worked.
00:49:10There's this narrative that they are not safe, et cetera.
00:49:14So we did many things.
00:49:16We proactively, as I said, reached out to many communities, over 100 grassroots organizations.
00:49:24We also held regular media activities for the press, answering commonly misunderstood aspects about election administration.
00:49:36With our Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, we got together and put together a social media campaign in all communities to make sure that people understood where to go for trusted information.
00:49:53But as you say, I still think no matter what safeguards have been put in place, there's still this narrative.
00:50:01Most Connecticut residents think our elections are great.
00:50:06But feeding into the national news media, like I get emails all the time saying disconnect our election machines from the Internet, although they never have been.
00:50:18And so I think we have this conflation of fear and mistrust that is often not well placed.
00:50:27Gotcha. Thank you.
00:50:29Secretary Allen, I noted in your testimony, you said we do not, in Alabama, we do not accept any ballot received after Election Day, with the exception of UOCAVA ballots, which must be postmarked no later than the date of the election.
00:50:44What's wrong in your mind with the idea of taking ballots that have been postmarked before the end of in-person voting on Election Day?
00:50:53Because I believe in Election Day. Election Day is Election Day. We set it out in state law. It's set out in federal law.
00:50:59And the further we deviate from that, I think it can lead. It's a very slippery slope.
00:51:04Is it that you don't trust the U.S. Postal Service?
00:51:07We've had problems with the U.S. Postal Service in the past.
00:51:10Really? So when you file taxes with the IRS on April 15th, which is the filing deadline, if you file it, if it's postmarked, should you be fined for or should you in some way pay a penalty for filing your taxes late?
00:51:26Well, fortunately, I filed my taxes early this year.
00:51:30Yeah, but April 15th is the deadline. So if you but I mean, we accept I'm just honestly, I don't even mean to be argumentative.
00:51:36I just find this sort of a strange argument that voters in America could vote on or before Election Day, but vote in mail.
00:51:44But if it's received after Election Day, you could you could have to your point, you could have sent it in early.
00:51:49You could send it in three days before Election Day, but the post office and you could send it by absentee ballot in most states postmarked days before Election Day.
00:51:58And if it doesn't get to the post office by Election Day, why is I don't understand the theory of that?
00:52:03I mean, I don't understand why that's an issue.
00:52:05Again, Representative, I just believe that we have rules for a reason. The further we deviate from that is a slippery slope.
00:52:14And if we start accepting the dates, the date.
00:52:18But the date is the date. So if you did it two days before Election Day, you've done it, you've complied with the date.
00:52:23There's no way that you're changing the outcome of the election after the end of the election period.
00:52:29I don't I mean, unless you don't believe we believe somehow the United States Postal Service is doing something to the balance.
00:52:36I think we generally accept for all kinds of business things, tax purposes.
00:52:40I mean, postmarks actually mean something in America. Does anybody disagree with me?
00:52:44I mean, I'm sorry. I hate to belabor the point in my last minute, but Secretary Landry, do you subscribe to the same view?
00:52:51I think the ballot should be in by Election Day and that, you know, manipulation can occur once you start reporting with the election.
00:52:58Once you start reporting results that people can go out and gather more ballots and.
00:53:03No, not if it's postmarked. I mean, you could not. I mean, I hate to.
00:53:06This is like a physical impossibility.
00:53:08You can't affect the election after Election Day if you submitted the ballot prior to the deadline.
00:53:15It's just physically impossible. Unless you go back in time or do something like that.
00:53:18I think we should have an end date to the election and the end date to the election should be Election Day.
00:53:23Do you feel the same way about taxes also? The IRS should not accept anything that's postmarked?
00:53:27I don't think the IRS. I don't think the IRS is the same thing because they're not waiting to report a result of income tax collections,
00:53:36whereas the whole state is waiting for us to report the results of an election.
00:53:41And we need to give them the timely results to secure the confidence in our elections.
00:53:47I yield back.
00:53:49I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, Dr. Murphy, for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses.
00:53:54Thank you, Madam Chairman. And thank you all for coming today.
00:53:56I think everybody in this room wants free, fair, safe elections.
00:54:01So I think that's uniform. I think there's very much consensus about that.
00:54:06How that happens, I think there may be a little bit of disagreement.
00:54:08But this is why, you know, I think our House passed the SAVE Act that requires states to approve citizenship
00:54:16before registering an individual to vote and to remove noncitizens from existing voter rolls.
00:54:22You know, the question is, why do people fear that?
00:54:24Because here in Washington, D.C., they passed a law which had to be reversed.
00:54:28That was or passed a rule or whatever they call it here in the county or the city,
00:54:34that would have allowed people from the Chinese embassy to come and vote.
00:54:38In New York, they wanted noncitizens to be able to vote.
00:54:41So there is precedent in this country that has justified fear for being able to say,
00:54:46am I not coming on? Oh, hello. Do I need to speak louder? Okay, good.
00:54:52Anyway, long and short, there is, I think, justified fear for people saying,
00:54:56hey, we want noncitizens not to vote in our elections.
00:54:59Secretary Rose, in your testimony, you mentioned that Ohio requires voters to present
00:55:03a government issued photo ID to vote and your state requires drivers licenses and state IDs.
00:55:09Can you tell us how this has safeguarded the elections in Ohio?
00:55:13Thank you, sir. By just proving that people are who they say they are when they come to vote.
00:55:17And by the way, vast majority of Democrats and Republicans support this.
00:55:21Ohio provides a free ID if you don't have one.
00:55:24We even have a religious exemption for that very small minority that doesn't allow them to be photographed.
00:55:30And so they may not have a state ID.
00:55:32So we cover all the bases.
00:55:33And our state ID has an indication on it that says whether you're a citizen or not.
00:55:38Shockingly, I actually had to go to court last year and defend that,
00:55:41because there was a group saying that we should give people a ballot even if they give us an ID that says noncitizen.
00:55:47Amazing.
00:55:48Ballot harvesting requires a lot of attention and for good reason—receives a lot of attention and for good reason.
00:55:54Fraudulent actions committed by third parties are a threat.
00:55:58Can you tell me what election security initiatives do you find to be the most effective in reducing fraud
00:56:04from these third-party collection of mail-in ballots?
00:56:06Well, Ohio recently outlawed the pre-populating of these forms by some of these third-party organizations,
00:56:15because in many cases they were sending out pre-populated forms with inaccurate information on them.
00:56:20So now you have to fill the form out yourself.
00:56:22But we also have strict rules around the use of so-called drop boxes or secure receptacles,
00:56:28whereas only the voter may return their ballot if you're returning somebody else's ballot,
00:56:33which Ohio law allows you to do for a family member or a disabled person.
00:56:38In those cases, you just have to come inside and present it to the election officials.
00:56:41You have to present an ID if you bring in somebody else's ballot, a family member?
00:56:45No, but you do have to sign an affidavit that says that you've been designated by a disabled Ohioan to return their ballot,
00:56:51and that has obviously the power of law behind it.
00:56:54All right. Thank you.
00:56:55Secretary Landry, in your testimony, you shared that your governor issued a directive requiring the Office of Motor Vehicles
00:57:01to share information on non-citizens who hold Louisiana driver's license or ID.
00:57:06How can illegal immigrants take advantage of automatic voter registration, particularly when they come in contact with a state DMV?
00:57:14In Louisiana, illegal immigrants are not allowed to get a driver's license.
00:57:19Only those here legally can get a driver's license.
00:57:22And we previously did not have access to that information.
00:57:26And then the governor Landry, our governor now ordered the DMV to provide that information to us.
00:57:33And it allows us to now audit our voter rolls to see if there are non-citizens on the voter rolls.
00:57:40But we it's not enough.
00:57:42There are still there's still information that we need.
00:57:45And getting access to the save database will allow us to find even more people who may be on our rolls who are not citizens.
00:57:53You know, I've worked in some other countries during election periods, just playing doctor like I do sometimes.
00:57:59And just I think it's a good look for this country that we want voters to be citizens.
00:58:05And we want our vote our elections to have integrity.
00:58:09Secretary McGrane, your office has been sued for removing college student identification cards from the approval list of voter IDs for voter registration.
00:58:18How did that happen?
00:58:19How did that what how did what happened there?
00:58:21We Idaho two years ago updated its voter ID requirements to register to vote.
00:58:26And I think to the core, how did it happen?
00:58:28I'm not sure.
00:58:29Like was mentioned earlier.
00:58:30Did it affect turnout?
00:58:31It did not affect turnout.
00:58:33Actually, in this last election, overwhelmingly.
00:58:36So 98.1% of Idaho voters showed an Idaho driver's license or ID card when they voted.
00:58:41It doesn't affect students as well use driver's licenses.
00:58:44Yeah, they drive.
00:58:45Yep.
00:58:47I now recognize the gentlewoman from Texas, Miss Johnson for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses.
00:58:55Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:58:56I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this hearing.
00:59:01You know, Texas is the hardest state in the union to vote in, some would say.
00:59:08We've been assaulting the right to vote in our state for quite some time.
00:59:13I've seen firsthand how troublesome it is to make voting difficult.
00:59:18I want to address the previous question on student ID.
00:59:22You go through the university process, right, Miss Thomas?
00:59:25When you go to admit to a university, you have to submit birth certificates.
00:59:29You have to submit all these things about who you are to get that student ID.
00:59:35Why in the world would we not want students?
00:59:37The whole point of ID is here's a picture.
00:59:40Here's who you are.
00:59:41Are you who you say you are to go vote?
00:59:44What in the hell is wrong with using a student ID to vote?
00:59:47Nothing.
00:59:48I agree with you.
00:59:50Absolutely nothing.
00:59:51Most of these state are state universities paid for by the taxpayers to make sure that they know who their students are.
00:59:58And when they issue a student ID, the problem without using student ID is a lot of young people, for what reasons are beyond to me, they don't get a driver's license.
01:00:07I mean, I remember my son, my oldest son, when he turned 16, he decided he didn't need a driver's license because I could drive him.
01:00:16And I thought, well, that's a huge problem.
01:00:18I am not your chauffeur, sir.
01:00:21And I can get you a bus pass or you can decide to get your driver's license.
01:00:25And he miraculously decided to get a driver's license.
01:00:28But I am constantly amazed at how many young people don't get a driver's license right now.
01:00:34And so I don't understand why in the world we would not want to use student IDs.
01:00:39And that's an argument of why I think what makes this whole voter integrity discussion somewhat disingenuous.
01:00:46Because, yes, we want to make sure American citizens vote.
01:00:50Absolutely.
01:00:51There's no disagreement amongst party lines that we want citizens to vote.
01:00:56The disagreement comes in how easy are we going to make it for those citizens to vote.
01:01:02And what it seems like right now with the SAVE Act and this legislation that comes through,
01:01:06we are more interested in making it harder for people to vote in the name of rooting out 32 people who may have improperly voted,
01:01:15as opposed to making it possible for 20 million people to vote.
01:01:20And so, you know, my question is, you know, when we have the other problem is we have a lot of people born in rural Texas.
01:01:29We have a lot of people born in places where they don't necessarily have access to their documents.
01:01:34They don't have this, but they are citizens.
01:01:37What are we doing to make it easier for these people to vote?
01:01:40And what about people with disabilities?
01:01:42You know, how are we making it possible for people to go in person and vote?
01:01:47Ms. Thomas, does Connecticut have online voter registration?
01:01:50We certainly do.
01:01:51And it's how 33 percent of our voters register.
01:01:56And that makes it easy for people who are seniors, people who may be homebound for whatever reason.
01:02:01Maybe you're part of the sandwich generation where you're caring for young kids.
01:02:05You're working.
01:02:06You're caring for senior families to be able to participate in our democracy.
01:02:10And I don't it seems to me that states like Texas that don't allow online voter registration, which is insane to me, are more concerned about people who may not vote Republican to keep them from voting because it disproportionately affects young people who trend more progressive on average.
01:02:29And it disproportionately affects poor people and disproportionately affects people of color to not be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
01:02:39And what is very frustrating to me in this building with this whole election integrity discussion is seems that people on the other side of this aisle are not committed to ensuring that people have the right to vote in this country.
01:02:55And we are making it so hard.
01:02:59You want to say something?
01:03:00I was just going to say it also helps election workers.
01:03:03And I would love for this Congress to actually spend its time fighting for American citizens.
01:03:10We know for a fact that there are more women who have changed their last name, more young people, more people living in nursing homes,
01:03:18more people serving in our military overseas than there are non-citizens voting.
01:03:26So when are we going to prioritize American citizens instead of making them jump through hoops?
01:03:32I completely agree.
01:03:34We should be doing everything we can to make sure every American citizen can cast their constitutional right to vote.
01:03:40And, Madam Chair, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record four letters in opposition to the SAVE Act,
01:03:46the first from the Brennan Center for Justice, the second from the American Civil Liberties Union,
01:03:50the third from Vet Voice, and the fourth from the League of Conservation Voters,
01:03:53all in opposition to the SAVE Act and the barriers and burdens it would place on millions of Americans' ability to register to vote and participate in our democracy.
01:04:01With that, I yield back.
01:04:03Without objection, so ordered.
01:04:05I now recognize the gentleman from Illinois, Ms. Miller, for the purpose of questioning our witnesses for five minutes.
01:04:12Is this on?
01:04:15Okay.
01:04:16Thank you, Chairwoman, and thank you to the witnesses for being here.
01:04:20And I do want to address my colleague, Ms. Johnson.
01:04:24You just insulted the young, the poor, the rural, and people of color by insinuating that they don't have enough wherewithal to go get a photo ID or a driver's license.
01:04:39Ridiculous.
01:04:40Voting is a privilege.
01:04:41Being an American citizen is a privilege.
01:04:44And we want to make sure that American citizens are, that their votes are not being canceled out by people that are not U.S. citizens.
01:04:55And so anyway, I have a question for Secretary Landry.
01:04:59Order.
01:05:00Direct remarks to the witnesses.
01:05:01Carry on.
01:05:02I have a question for Secretary Landry.
01:05:06In 2024, Louisiana enacted House Bill 476, which requires that an absentee ballot delivered by a third party be accompanied by a signed statement of the voter prepared by the Secretary of State, which attests the voter authorized the postal service or commercial carrier to deliver the ballot.
01:05:28So, Secretary Landry, why is signature verification so crucial to ballot integrity?
01:05:35So we believe that the custody of your ballot is very important, the chain of custody and keeping track of that.
01:05:42And so when you hand your ballot to somebody, you need to know who has your ballot and what they've done with it.
01:05:48And so if they're unable to deliver it themselves or they need assistance, we ask them to put their name and signature on there as well so that we know who's delivered the ballot and we know that they have permission to do that.
01:06:02What kind of consequences are there if someone doesn't get the voter's authorization or they turn in something that's fraudulent?
01:06:11There's no consequence for the voter, actually.
01:06:14The vote is still counted.
01:06:16But if someone is there's a prohibition on witnessing more than one or delivering more than one.
01:06:21So the prohibition, the penalty is on that person who didn't put their name or who delivered more than one.
01:06:30So we don't, we still count the vote, I think, in those situations where the ballot is delivered.
01:06:39But if it's missing a witness signature, it's not counted.
01:06:42In the last election, were you able to identify anybody that turned in some kind of fraudulent whatever attestation?
01:06:52In the last election, no.
01:06:53We had a lot of complaints in the election before that of people who were harvesting ballots and going to apartment complexes and offering to assist vulnerable voters.
01:07:07And family members had contacted our office and asked that we investigate because they felt like there was some manipulation going on with the assisting with the ballot.
01:07:17So that's what prompted that legislation.
01:07:19Well, I think until we have severe consequences for people that are engaged in activities, you know, like what you just described, I don't think we're going to have free and fair elections.
01:07:34So I'd like to see just to clarify if they're missing any signatures, the ballot is not counted.
01:07:40But if if it's if it's just something untoward that or against the law that the ballot harvester is doing, that person is punished and the vote is still counted.
01:07:51Right.
01:07:52Thank you so much.
01:07:53And I yield back.
01:07:54I'd like to thank our witnesses for appearing before the committee today and for the work that you do for your communities and voters.
01:08:03Across America.
01:08:04Members of the committee may have some additional questions for you.
01:08:08And we ask that you please respond to those questions, if any, in writing without objection.
01:08:13Each member will have five legislative days to insert additional material into the record or to revise and extend their remarks.
01:08:20If there is no further business, I think the members for their participation and without objection, the committee stands adjourned.