▶ 0:01:56Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration will come to order. The title of today's hearing is revisiting the 2024 election with secretaries of state. I note that a quorum is present. Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time. We will do opening statements here today and then recess for the floor vote. We will quickly reconvene after the vote and begin with witness testimony.
▶ 0:02:21Also, without objection, the hearing record will remain open for five legislative days, so members may submit any materials they wish to be included therein. Thank you, ranking member Suil, members of the committee, and our witnesses for participating in today's hearing. Recent elections have produced record high turnout, and in turn, those elections become the most challenging for elections officials to administrate and process.
▶ 0:02:47Presidential, primary, general, and special elections occur around the clock across states, requiring efficient administration to provide Americans with free and fair elections. As a former Secretary of State, I am glad to welcome our witnesses today for an important review of our nation's most recent presidential election. Voters across America went to the polls in record high numbers in 2024 to exercise one of their most fundamental rights.
▶ 0:03:15According to our constitution, the states are responsible for prescribing the times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives. The role of Congress in elections is to provide oversight and to support states in those efforts. The purpose of our hearing today is to revisit the 2024 election and hear from secretaries of state who conducted their states elections this past November.
▶ 0:03:42Specifically, we will be looking at what went well and what lessons we can learn from each of the secretaries in administering free and fair elections and how we can continue to protect and promote voter confidence. I thank all of our witnesses for coming before the committee today to share your knowledge and expertise on this matter.
▶ 0:04:03During the 2024 election cycle, over 155 million Americans cast their ballots in races for the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, Governor's Mansions, state legislatures, state supreme courts, and more. Even with record high turnout, many states were able to report their results on election night for the presidency. However, some states were significantly delayed in calling races for the Senate and the House of Representatives for days and in some cases weeks.
▶ 0:04:33Something I was very proud of as Florida's former chief elections official was how quickly our state was able to call elections with confidence in our results. Undoubtedly, states with laws on the books for pre-processing of mail-in ballots, regularly enforced deadlines for receipt on election day, and consistent post-election audits of voter roles are in the best position to administer their elections without undue delay and to report results on election night, which helps instill voter
▶ 0:05:04confidence. Many states across the country, including most of the states the secretaries here today represent, have taken initiative in enhancing their e election security laws. When Americans feel their vote will count, they are more inclined to take the time to cast a ballot. Americans must know that their vote will not be misplaced, damaged, or otherwise interfered with, but instead it will be counted in a timely manner. Americans must also know that non-citizens votes will not cancel out a legal vote.
▶ 0:05:33Strengthening our voting laws increases voter confidence and leads to higher turnout in our elections. This most recent election was proof of that. In Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho, and Ohio, successful election integrity measures have been implemented. Each of these states are evidence of how enhancing election integrity and security can help to manage high voter turnout, voter access, and the rapid process of ballots to certify results on election night.
▶ 0:06:01While 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. One way we will be able to help provide resources to states is by passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or the SAVE Act. This bill would bring critical reform to the National Voter Registration Act that would help prevent non-citizens from being added to voter roles.
▶ 0:06:27It would also provide states with free access to the DHS SAVE program and the Social Security death database, which will help states remove non-citizens or deceased persons who should not be on their voter roles. In 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. Running a successful and uneventful election is no easy task.
▶ 0:06:55I am looking forward to learning from each of you about how you successfully ran elections in each of your states in 2024 and how Congress can assist in future elections. Thank you for being here today and I look forward to our conversation. With that, I yield to Ranking Member Su for an opening statement. Good afternoon, everyone.
▶ 0:07:19As a ranking member of the election subcommittee and as a representative of Alabama's civil rights district, there is nothing more important to me than ensuring that every American can cast their ballot. It was in my hometown of Selma, Alabama, 60 years ago where John Lewis and hundreds of foot soldiers were bludgeoned on the Edund Pettis Bridge for the equal right of all Americans to vote.
▶ 0:07:42However, for the past decade, extremists have fought to undo the hard one progress that the foot soldiers sought to achieve. Just last year, lawmakers in 40 states introduced 317 bills to eradicate new barriers to the ballot box. Since this defeat, since his defeat in the 2020 election, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed the big lie of a stolen election.
▶ 0:08:08They have even tried to convince the American people of the lie that non-citizens are voting in large numbers and are threatening our elections. And now they are using the lie to as an excuse to pass new laws like the Save Act that would make it harder for millions of Americans to vote.
▶ 0:08:25Moreover, Donald Trump just signed an executive order that would not only give him unilateral authority to regulate federal elections, but it would open the floodgates for mass voter purges and give Elon Musk unfathered access to sensitive voter files. The executive order and the Save Act also create unnecessary barriers for election workers by withholding funds and threatening election administrators with five years of prison sentence if they make a simple mistake while trying to register new voters.
▶ 0:08:54Even though the 2024 election was fair and secure, it was marred with threats of violence like the bomb threats that targeted polling stations, election offices, and tabulation centers on election day. However, today's hearing should present a great learning opportunity because states like Connecticut are leading the charge to expand access to the ballot box. In 2023, Connecticut passed a state level voting rights act to expand voter access.
▶ 0:09:22Sadly, last year, Alabama, my home state, cared more about enacting laws to criminalize absentee ballot assistance and purge thousands of eligible voters from the roles. Alabama is one of only three states in the nation that does not allow any form of early in-person voting. But in Connecticut, voters were allowed to exercise their 14 days uh their right to vote 14 days before election day.
▶ 0:09:46Before election day in Alabama, the courts had to prevent Alabama from unfairly and unlawfully removing thousands of eligible voters from the role because they were wrongfully flagged as non-citizen in direct in direct violation of the National Voter Registration Act. Voters in Alabama and every and every other state should not should not have fewer options to vote. They do.
▶ 0:10:11They what they deserve is to learn on election day that their names were actually on the roles rightfully, not wrongfully and purged uh unnecessarily. As we examine the 2024 election, what we should be addressing are issues such as chronic underfunding of our elections, the safety and security of our election workers, polling stations, and voters, and expanding access to the ballot box for every eligible American.
▶ 0:10:36We should be honoring the legacy uh by passing legislation like the John Robert Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom the Right, the Freedom to Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the Native American Voting Rights Act. Trump has no regard for the US Constitution, the Rule of Law, or the fundamental principles that all Americans, regardless of their race, creed, or color, has a right to have their voice heard at the ballot box.
▶ 0:11:00The 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. We, as elected officials, should be looking for ways to expand access to the ballot box, not to curb it. I want to thank our secretaries for being here today. I also want to thank Chairwoman Lee for holding this. I look forward to hearing from all of you, and I would like to welcome my secretary of state, Wes Allen.
▶ 0:11:25Thank With that, I yield to ranking member of the full committee, Representative Morelli for an opening statement. Uh, good afternoon. Thank you, uh, Chairwoman Lee for gathering the subcommittee and thanks for giving me a few moments and certainly thank you to the various secretaries of state for being here today.
▶ 0:11:47As we gather this afternoon to revisit the 2024 election, it's important to state upfront that the 2024 election was fair and secure, that Donald Trump was elected president. You see, unlike many on the other side of the aisle, Democrats can and will acknowledge that fact.
▶ 0:12:04Even when we don't personally like or agree with the outcome of an election, we honor the democratic process and accept the In examining the last election and looking for ways to improve our country's election administration, we must address the rampant spread of myths and disinformation and falsehoods that continue to be spread about our electoral system. We must protect election workers who face continued threats and harassment.
▶ 0:12:29We must address the rise of artificial intelligence, uh, generative AI, and continued foreign influence campaigns that seek to, uh, affect and influence our elections. We 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.
▶ 0:12:55Congressman Halton reversed the administration's harmful decisions to attack, undermine, and defund critical federal agencies and partnerships like the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, uh, CISA, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or the FBI's Foreign Influence Tax Task Force. These actions to and undermine these agencies do not strengthen our elections. In fact, they make us less secure. We need to fix our broken special interest big money campaign finance system.
▶ 0:13:26Last year, one donor, billionaire Elon Musk, spent at least $291 million uh backing Donald Trump and other Republican candidates. According to Open Secrets, the top six donors in the United States gave over $100 million each during the 2024 election, all supporting the president and Republican candidates. In last week's Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Elon Musk and allied groups spent over $20 million. We also need fair maps.
▶ 0:13:56Uh look at North Carolina where Republicans gerrymandered their way into the House majority by drawing three Democratic members out of their seats. The president's recent executive order on election integrity is a further assault on our democracy. The the 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.
▶ 0:14:23It undermines the independence of the US Election Assistance Commission and injects chaos and uncertainty into our voting system certification process. New 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. Voters and party committees have also sued to stop the White House from doing that.
▶ 0:14:47Alongside all of this is a so-called Save Act, a measure um that my colleagues on the other side claim is necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting in US elections. It's not. Non-citizens registering to vote is already a crime. Non-citizens voting is a crime and leads to immediate deportation. It rarely happens and when it does, non-citizens are held accountable as they should be. The Save Act and the president's order are two sides of the same coin.
▶ 0:15:14Now, with the economic pain of the president's chaotic tariffs just being felt, um members of the majority are planning to charge million of Americans potentially billions of dollars just to register to vote for the 150 million Americans don't have passports.
▶ 0:15:29Last week, I testified before the rules committee that the Save Act and the executive order would disenfranchise women, rural voters, military voters, overseas voters, Native American voters, seniors, students, survivors of domestic abuse, and survivors of natural disasters, millions of Americans. There is, however, real work Congress can do to improve our elections. Election officials take on essential, often thankless tasks uh in running elections. They face increased threats and too little and inconsistent funding from Congress.
▶ 0:15:59That could stop. As ranking member of this committee and a member of the appropriations committee, I'll continue to push for additional funding and consistent elections funding. We can work to combat miss and disinformation to meet the challenges posed by AI and to improve access to the ballot for every single American. Providing both support and accurate information will allow election workers to administer secure, accessible elections and give Americans the confidence in elections that they need.
▶ 0:16:24I was honored to join Ranking Member Su in her hometown of Selma for the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday just last month. We must honor the legacy and continue moving forward in the fight for voting rights, not backwards. So, I I'm anxious to hear from each of the secretaries uh today. uh thank 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. With that, Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity and I yield back.
▶ 0:16:53Without objection, all other members opening statements will be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted to the committee clerk by 5:00 p.m. today. At this time, votes for members have been called. Uh we 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. At this time, this committee stands in a temporary recess.
▶ 1:27:39I now call this hearing back to order and reconvene our business. Today we have one witness panel and I will now introduce our witnesses. First we have Wes Allen, the Secretary of State of Alabama. Next we have Nancy Landry, the Secretary of State of Louisiana, followed by Frank Larose, the Secretary of State of Ohio.
▶ 1:28:02Then we have Phil McGraine, the Secretary of State of Idaho, and Stephanie Thomas, the Secretary of State of Connecticut. Each witness will have three minutes to provide an opening statement. We thank you for your cooperation and your patience with us in that regard. Uh you have just witnessed what was not an exercise in efficiency. We're so glad to have you all here. uh and to have this time with you.
▶ 1:28:25So with that, I now recognize Secretary Allen for the purpose of giving an opening Thank you, Madam Chairman. Good afternoon, members of this subcommittee. It is my honor to be invited to represent the great state of Alabama as its chief elections official.
▶ 1:28:43I bring a unique perspective to today's proceedings as my career in elections began more than a decade prior to my election as Alabama's 54th Secretary of State when I served for nearly 10 years as probate judge the chief elections official in Pike County, Alabama. The foundation of election integrity is voter file maintenance.
▶ 1:29:06Moments after I was sworn in, I signed the letter notifying the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC, that Alabama would no longer participate in their program. My team and I developed and implemented the Alabama Voter Integrity Database, better known as AVID, which utilizes state-to-state data sharing agreements, partners with driver's license division of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the National Change of Address Database, and the Social Security Administration's National Death Master
▶ 1:29:36Index to identify individuals who should be placed on a path for removal from our voter file. Since taking office, more than half a million ineligible voters have been removed from Alabama's voter file. Our 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. However, two major hurdles remain.
▶ 1:30:02First, the immediate removal of deceased voters from our voter file should be common sense. However, obtaining access to the Social Security Administration's National Master Death Index was absurdly timeconsuming and overly burdensome. Unnecessary red tape makes it more difficult than it should be. You, as members of Congress, can cut through that red tape and make this important data immediately available to all 50 states.
▶ 1:30:30Second, my efforts to gain access to non-citizen data held by the United States Citizenship and Immigration USCIS, were repeatedly denied by the previous administration. Fortunately, President Trump's CEO directed DHS to cooperate with states to to eliminate noncitizens from our voter file.
▶ 1:30:53Will allow batch comparisons of DHS non-citizen data to our state level voter files, allowing for the immediate removal of those who are illegally registered to vote. Granting states immediate access to this data is crucial. Only United States citizens should participate in our elections. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. It has been my honor. Thank you.
▶ 1:31:20I now recognize Secretary Landry for the purpose of her opening statement. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Lee, Ranking Member Su, and members of this committee. It's an honor to be with you here today to discuss the successes Louisiana had and the lessons we learned in the 2024 election. As Louisiana's Secretary of State, the most important function of my job is to reinforce voters confidence in our elections.
▶ 1:31:45I believe our work did just that and led to a banner year in our state's election administration. Just months after taking office in early 2024, I announced a legislative package of 11 bills intended to strengthen our state's election integrity posture. I'm proud to say that all 11 bills passed, eight of those with bipartisan support, and our governor signed all of them into law.
▶ 1:32:12Last August, I joined Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and our attorney general to announce new steps our state is taking to ensure that only US citizens can vote in Louisiana elections. This 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. Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the presidential election, I embarked on a tour that took me to 21 of Louisiana's 64 parishes.
▶ 1:32:42I 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. And those are our people. And that is my staff and our local election officials.
▶ 1:32:58The only people that ever program our equipment, our policies, the legislation that we've passed over the years to ensure election integrity, our procedures such as our logic, testing, and sealing procedures that we conduct before each and every election. And the last P is our physical security. Every machine is stored under lock and key when not in use. and no machine is ever connected to the internet.
▶ 1:33:24While Louisiana has employed these for several years, I felt it was important to meet voters where they are and to empower our local partners with the knowledge that they need to speak with authority on our election processes. All of that hard work we put in last year resulted in a record-breaking presidential election. Among other records, we saw the fastest reporting of results in any presidential election in Louisiana's history.
▶ 1:33:50Full unofficial results were posted within three hours of our polls closing. These efforts led to a notable noticeable increase in voter confidence in our elections. Over an eighth month period in 2024, a poll found a 9-point jump in the number of voters who believe that our elections are safe and secure. Louisiana proved that states can make it easy to vote and hard to cheat and that doing so will instill confidence in our elections.
▶ 1:34:19I believe every state in the nation can replicate the strides we've made. In doing so, they can reassure voters that their elections are safe and secure. Thank you again for having me. I look forward to your questions. I now recognize Secretary LaRose for the purpose of giving an opening statement. Well, thank you so much, Chairwoman Lee and Ranking Member Sil, all the members and the staff for inviting us here today. Uh, we had a simple bit of wisdom that we used in the military that you sweat in training so you don't bleed in battle. Maybe sounds a little bit dramatic.
▶ 1:34:50We we summed it up a little bit simpler when I was in the Boy Scouts with the the slogan be prepared. And the the work of elections administration is all about being prepared for that next election. It's a massive logistical undertaking running an election. Sometimes we lose track of that because for each of us individually, it's a very individualized experience. You show up at your voting location, check your ballots, you walk out with your I voted sticker and and uh and then you see the results at the bottom of your screen that night. But it's a massive undertaking.
▶ 1:35:18Uh in 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. uh working through the afteraction reports of previous elections to make sure that those best practice uh had been put into into place, recruiting and training over 35,000 pole workers that it takes to run Ohio's elections. Our fifth security directive that built on the four before them to make Ohio a real leader in cyber security.
▶ 1:35:48And then of course we run an election day operations center. Some 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 uh for the voters of Ohio. Ohio has implemented a number of best practices that I think are worth considering. Prompt reporting of our election night results. Uh that 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 8:15 8:30 on election night.
▶ 1:36:17are already reporting those early votes and those absentee votes. Uh, one of the other things that we've done in Ohio is standardized our data. Now, to start, we have a bottomup system in Ohio with each county being run by two Democrats and two Republicans, but we needed to create standardized definitions. We did that through a bipartisan effort called the data act. Simple things like what constitutes a voter registration date or a ballot cast or a ballot counted.
▶ 1:36:42Standardizing all that data, reporting it publicly has made Ohio among the most transparent election systems in the country. And of course, photo ID, which is widely accepted. In Ohio, we provide that for free. And it includes an indication of your citizenship status. There are things that the federal government needs to do. The president took a good first step with the executive order on citizenship data, but we need more access to that through DHS and others as well as the US Postal Service.
▶ 1:37:08Uh there's a list of things that we as secretaries proposed in September of 2024. Many of those still require action. In 2024, we ran a record-breaking election in Ohio. Voters went to bed on election night whether their favorite candidates won or lost knowing that it was an honest result and ultimately that's our goal. So look forward to the questions you all have for us later. Thanks. I now recognize Secretary McGraine for the purpose of giving an opening statement. Chairwoman Lee, Ranking Member Suall, and members of the committee.
▶ 1:37:37really is my privilege to be here before you today. Uh my background in elections goes back to right when I got out of college. I landed a job as an election specialist counting ballots when we were voting on punch cards and training pole workers. And I've had the unique opportunity to work my way up in a variety of roles along the way. And I can say I've seen just about everything when it comes to elections. And 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.
▶ 1:38:04uh we had a record 917,000 Idahoans uh head out to the polls and vote um which really stands out. Uh but I also think you know this committee uh I think I came to your attention based on a local election and you mentioned that in your opening statement chairman uh uh regarding judicial review right whenever there's an error errors can happen in any election but the ability to correct those errors no matter how granular.
▶ 1:38:29We had an election that was determined it was 47 votes versus 48 votes and we put that before a judge to make sure that we could get the right result for that community. And that's the level of detail that we'll use in Idaho to get it right. Uh over 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.
▶ 1:38:50Uh, Governor 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 roles headed into the November election. And we did a comparison with all of the data and had a close working relationship with DHS. But I think one of the telling things and something that you can do about this is we talk about the SAVE database or the SAFE program. Um, it's not actually a program or a database.
▶ 1:39:16It's a patchwork of varying databases that really was never intended for election integrity work. And 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 roles are accurate. I think that's something that all parties should be able to get behind is the accuracy and our voter roles. Additionally, I think one other thing that this committee can take up and it was already mentioned before is voter ID.
▶ 1:39:4036 states already have some standard of voter ID and when you look at polling whether it's Pew or any other resource it shows heavy bipartisan support and most notably last November Nevada and just two weeks ago Wisconsin the voters when they get to choose overwhelmingly choose for identification. We have the real ID taking effect. We all see this when we travel. All of us experience it. This is something that we can do.
▶ 1:40:04Uh I I really look forward to the conversation today in terms of our elections and what Congress can do to help support us as states. But most importantly, I really stand proud of the work that all of the uh 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. Thank you, Madam Chair. I now recognize Secretary Thomas for the purpose of giving an opening statement. Good afternoon to all the members of the committee.
▶ 1:40:35It'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. At a time when election mistrust was in the headlines, Connecticut expanded our voting access while maintaining voters trust. We submitted more than 20 pages of written testimony. extremely long, I know, but I hope others can learn from us as we made voting more accessible while maintaining security.
▶ 1:41:05Like most states, we face many challenges in 2024. The introduction of early voting, skittish election workers, a potential pole worker shortage, and a proliferation of false claims about election integrity. But we've been at this a long time. Connecticut is known as the Constitution state because ours is the first written constitution in America, dating back to 1639.
▶ 1:41:31But we're also known as the land of steady habits due to our thoughtful approach. We've always used paper ballots. We've never used equipment connected to the internet. We audit regularly. We perform robust list maintenance. We've require certification and continuing education for our election workers and more.
▶ 1:41:54But 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. First, we took a very collaborative approach, hosting monthly meetings beginning in 2023 with members of our election workforce and our fusion center partners. This enabled us to create trainings as uh as we needed to keep everyone in lock step.
▶ 1:42:23For example, police didn't know what they should do out of polling locations, so election workers created a training for them. Our election workers weren't sure what to do in certain emergencies, so law enforcement created scenario planning drills for them.
▶ 1:42:40Second, 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.
▶ 1:42:58We um third uh 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. And lastly, we have an investigatory agency that any individual can um report any claims of election malfeasants.
▶ 1:43:23And we have volunteer uh attorneys who also are deployed on election uh day if needed. Um our team felt great coming out of 2024, but we are my message to Congress today is simple. We don't need complicated mandates for what states are already doing well. I believe we need to focus on continual funding, education, recruitment, and global security.
▶ 1:43:52Thank you so much for listening today. I know we had to adjust our minutes downward by two, so I hope I'll receive some questions. Thank you. Thank you. I'll begin our questions today followed by the ranking member. I now recognize myself for the purpose of questioning our witnesses. Secretary Allen, I'll start with you and follow up on your testimony that related to your efforts to have accurate uh and and contemporary voter roles.
▶ 1:44:20Under your leadership, the Alabama voter integrity database system entered into a memorandum of understanding with my home state of Florida through 2027. Can you share with us what that is and why it is so crucial to have states communicate with each other about voter roles? Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
▶ 1:44:37Uh it 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.
▶ 1:44:55uh those 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 don't do not have anyone that is uh double registered in both states and we are very very proud of this effort. We have uh 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.
▶ 1:45:20and tell us what sort of adjudication process occurs when you do identify somebody who appears to be registered in more than one location. So we get that information and we um send out to the counties to the different boards of registars where that person was last registered in Alabama and they send out correspondence to this person to let them know uh that there may be some question about their voter registration and if they indeed have moved to another state to call them back or to correspond
▶ 1:45:50with them and to remove themselves from the Alabama uh voter file. uh if they do not correspond with us, there's a time period for the u in conjunction with the NVR that places them on a pathway to removal. So we don't remove them instantly. We put them on a pathway in case they do not call the state of Alabama to remove themselves. And Secretary Landry, Louisiana recently enacted safeguards for mail and ballot returns via thirdparty collection.
▶ 1:46:18Can you share with us how these safeguards reduce fraud in thirdparty ballot collections? Sure. Certainly, we um we passed some legislation last year that um closed loopholes regarding ballot harvesting and um in addition to prohibiting um individuals from picking up multiple ballots, we also now prohibit delivery by any method um where one individual is delivering multiple ballots.
▶ 1:46:44So, if you're not a family member, you can only deliver one ballot, whether it's to the register, voters's office or to a post office box. Have these additional safeguards reduced voting via absentee ballot? They have not. And in your opinion, did these measures unduly burden absentee voters in Louisiana? They do not.
▶ 1:47:06In fact, um we had a lawsuit regarding one of our um new laws and the um plaintiffs after the most recent election moved to dismiss the lawsuit. And in the motion, they mentioned that they were unable to find a single plaintiff who was impacted by the legislation. in spite of their thinking that they would, they didn't, they couldn't find anyone. So, we think they're just common sense measures and they um and they protect our most voters.
▶ 1:47:34Secretary LaRose, uh Ohio, much like my home state, implemented pre-processing for mail and ballots, which you mentioned in your testimony. Uh we attribute rapid processing of absentee ballots as a crucial part of calling election results in a timely manner. Will you explain to us how early processing of ballots increases confidence in elections in Ohio? Yeah, thank you, Chairwoman.
▶ 1:47:56As soon as an absentee ballot arrives back at a county board of elections, it can be opened by a bipartisan team, a Democrat, 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. At that point, they can flatten it out. And let's not over o, you know, trivialize that. They have to be flattened out to go through the machine. Sometimes that takes some time to do.
▶ 1:48:21They 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. And tell us, if you would, around what time was Ohio able to call the race for the presidency on election night? It was uh it was in the the the 10 pm hour uh and we were at 90% reported by 11 pm. However, that last 10% took us until about 3:00 am because we had a few counties that needed some help.
▶ 1:48:50But before everybody uh went home for the night, uh we had every vote counted, every election day vote counted and reported. Thank you, Secretary Lorose. I now recognize ranking member Su for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to welcome to the nation's capital uh my secretary of state, Wes Allen.
▶ 1:49:08Uh sir, you mentioned in your testimony that the foundation of election integrity is voter maintenance and I know that you mentioned that you withdrew Alabama from the ERIC uh organization and replaced it with um aid um a vote Alabama voter integrity database um to partner with state agencies to identify individuals to purge from the roles.
▶ 1:49:35Last year you led an effort to clean the roles in Alabama by directing the department the board of registar to remove uh registered voters that were uh quote non-citizen identification number end quote by the department of homeland security. Shortly after implementing this purge, a group of civil rights organizations challenged sir your um voter purging program in court.
▶ 1:49:59Um, and do you know, sir, what percentage of voters that you purged were actually US citizens and should be eligible to vote versus not being eligible? Well, we're extremely proud that I'm extremely proud of my staff who work to implement this program. And I will say that um, so it was 93% 93.8% 8% of the 3,251 voters that were purged from the roles were actually US citizens and should have been eligible to vote.
▶ 1:50:29Federal courts have acknowledged that relying solely on databases like the state department of homeland security state DMV databases and the uh federal systemic alien verification for entitlement database uh can quote have a very high rate of inaccuracy. Um, how will you ensure, sir, first of all, is the programs the voter purge program still ongoing? And how do you ensure uh that you're actually capturing uh voters that are that should be ineligible?
▶ 1:51:00Well, I will say that our staff is working extremely hard to make sure voter file maintenance is top of mind each and every day when we come into the office and we will continue to make sure that only United States citizens are on Alabama voter files. Yeah, you know, that's the law that only American citizens can vote. Um, how much did it cost to defend that program in court? Do you know how much money you I don't have that number?
▶ 1:51:24Well, all I can say is that Alabama taxpayers shouldn't be paying for a program that has shown such a high rate of inaccuracy. And while I totally understand the importance of uh making sure that every person who is on the voter role is eligible, I think that there are better ways to do that than than voter purging. Um, Mr. Mr. Allen. Um, Secretary Allen, you also mentioned in your written testimony that the state banned uh ballot harvesting last year.
▶ 1:51:50Uh, the state legislature passed an an initiative that would criminalize people for assisting others with their absentee ballots. For example, if someone pays their family member to actually take their ballot, to deliver their ballot, that person would be um that that assistance would be criminally charged.
▶ 1:52:09And I'm not sure if that was the intent, but I can tell you that several of the my constituents called me in fear of voting absentee because they were afraid of being it being rejected um for simple reasons like, you know, not being able to provide the ballot themselves, but actually having a family member deliver it. Can you give us assurances that um we in Alabama can actually um um you know, have make it easier for voters uh to access the ballot box?
▶ 1:52:37I 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. Yes, ma'am. Uh, the right to vote is sacred, and what that bill did was to protect absentee voting. Uh, pay political activists should not be involved in manipulating the absentee process.
▶ 1:52:54I hear what you're saying, but these are family members who are trying to help their elderly parents actually vote, and they shouldn't be in fear of uh, you know, of actually turning in a ballot um if they have to borrow money from their mother to actually get to the get to the post office or to get to the um to to the agency to the voting registration. Yeah, there's no no need to fear. Uh, you know, we mimicked federal law that if anybody's disabled, they can have anybody that they choose to help them with the application.
▶ 1:53:23It doesn't pertain to the ballots themselves. It's already illegal in Alabama for anyone to return a ballot for anyone else. SP1 specifically talked about the application portion of the absentee ballot process and it did that. It protected the absentee process. Well, sir, I think that both of us, given the great history, the amazing history that occurred in our state, we really owe it to every Alamian to make sure that not only are they eligible to vote, they have access to the ballot box.
▶ 1:53:49Having said that, um, Secretary Thomas, um, I note that you all passed a voter, um, a state level voting rights act in 2023. I know I I'm about to run out of time. I wanted to ask if she could just answer uh, one question with respect to that. Go ahead. Sure. Can you talk just a little bit about this initiative and how it will make it easier for folks to to vote, your new law? Sure.
▶ 1:54:13So, uh, the Connecticut Voting Rights Act passed, uh, last session to codify some of the elements of the, uh, National Voter Rights Act, um, such as preclarance, making sure that, uh, materials related to voting were provided in languages in communities that were majority in certain languages.
▶ 1:54:38Um it also provides a great um transparency for members of the public. They can access statistics and data about voting in their communities via a GIS system. Um so in Connecticut anyway uh it passed um uh handily and uh many implemented in 2024 election um not the voting rights act other than the language access.
▶ 1:55:06Um but we did um implement early voting in 2024. Thank you, Madam Chair, for indulging me. I also have would ask unanimous consent to submit several articles to to the record. Without objection, so ordered. I now recognize the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Louderdermilt, for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses. Well, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you all for being here. I appreciate the job, the work that you that you all do.
▶ 1:55:30It is so very important for our free republic uh to have integrity in our elections and that has been something that was uh uh has risen uh in in the interest of the American people in the past several years.
▶ 1:55:44I've been the longest serving member of this committee and this used to be an obscure committee when all that our our jurisdiction was security of the capital and federal elections and then in 2020 that became important to a lot of people for various reasons and and uh I thank you for being here. Um Secretary McCraine, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions. I understand that the Idaho state law requires voters to be documented US citizens. Correct.
▶ 1:56:14Has this requirement unduly denied the vote to any lawful citizens? Not that I'm aware of. Okay. Um I also understand Idaho recently removed a number of noncitizens from the voter roles. How was your office able to accurately identify and remove non-citizen voters in a timely manner? Uh I appreciate the question.
▶ 1:56:36And as I mentioned last summer, we signed the Only Citizens Can Vote Act and working through a process using our Idaho Transportation Department, Idaho State Police, and then most notably Department of Homeland Security. Um, we ran the entire 1.1 million registered voters in Idaho through those systems to verify citizenship. I mean, easily determining citizenship for the overwhelming majority, but 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 roles.
▶ 1:57:05Uh but I think using that precision and scrutiny really helped. But as I identified in my remarks, there are still tools that are needed to help really bolster this for all of us. Um had had you done that in the past or was this the first time that that uh you really started drilling down looking for non-citizens? This was the first time that we had actually had that and I think this will be continued work as you see from the president's executive order and other efforts. Okay.
▶ 1:57:29I appreciate Um, some of our colleagues continue to maintain that non-citizen voting is a non-issue. Is that true or do you have a different opinion on that? I think every American wants to make sure that their vote can count and that their vote counts the same as everybody else and that there is no one who's ineligible participating in our elections. Uh, because as we know, anytime that happens, especially that razor thin election like I mentioned earlier, it can cancel out somebody else's vote. So, I do think this is an issue for accuracy.
▶ 1:57:59Also, Idaho recently adopted the Only Citizens Can Vote Act, as you've mentioned. Can you share with us about how you and the governor were able to successfully collaborate with state law enforcement and verify citizen status, which you have a little bit? Is there anything specific in there that we can learn from how you work with law enforcement and other agencies? I think specifically, um, it really does tie in both to voter ID, right? So, identification that identifies citizenship.
▶ 1:58:28I think that's an ongoing conversation and something that you can continue to do work on. And then the other part really is investing in USCIS. So earlier today I met with USCIS officials to talk about how can we bolster these efforts. Um I think they're eager to do the work. One of the things they reiterated to me was they are going to remove whatever barriers. So you heard from Secretary Allen some of the challenges other states had to remove those barriers but to make sure we have the accurate data we need to do this voter verification.
▶ 1:58:57Idaho competes with many of the states you guys represent for one of the fastest growing states in the nation. That means people are moving, people are coming in, and this is an ongoing effort to keep our voter roles up to date and accurate. So, what can we do as Congress to assist you going forward with this is u u you know, what would you like to see Congress do to make that more efficient and uh more accurate? I think first and foremost is invest in this database.
▶ 1:59:26there needs to be a database built with this purpose in mind and then also to review some of the policies. I will say there are some really unique incidents we identified and I this is a concern to make sure both non-citizens are not participating but also citizens aren't interfered with. Um there's the child citizenship act of 2000. Um there are what I would classify as undocumented citizens. These are people who have become citizens through their parents' naturalization, but it's actually not recorded because we haven't built the tools in place to do the verification we're doing.
▶ 1:59:56I think the efforts of this committee though you look whether it's the SAVE act, the president's executive order are aimed towards that. So, if you can continue to invest in those resources and these agencies, that will really make a difference. Okay. Thank you. And uh Secretary Landry, I have one question for you. I have a very good friend that used to serve in this chamber is now the governor. Is there any relation? We are not related. Governor Landry and I are from the same area of the state and Landry is a very common cinjun name in Louisiana's the second most common cinjun name.
▶ 2:00:26So it's sort of like Smith in South Louisiana, but Well, I assumed you weren't because I understood everything that you said while you were here. With that, I yel back. I won't tell him you said that. Please do. Thank you. I now recognize ranking member Morelli of our full committee for five minutes of questioning our witnesses. Thank you, Madam Chair, and again, thanks to the, uh, secretaries for, uh, for being here. Um, I want to start, uh, Secretary Thomas, with you.
▶ 2:00:55As, um, as I understand it, uh, you allowed for the first time in-person early voting uh, in the state of Connecticut. Um, and as you look back on the election, what um, tools and techniques did you use?
▶ 2:01:11particularly I'm sort of interested too as it relates to um misinformation and disinformation, but did you have any challenges with um information as it related to early voting for the first time and um are there any challenges that you think you'll face moving forward that you have to adjust to? Thank you for the question. Yeah, we definitely I think like states around the country um were uh struggling to uh explain how elections worked.
▶ 2:01:38there's this narrative that they are not safe etc. Um so we did many things. Um we proactively as I said reached out to many communities over hundred grassroots organizations.
▶ 2:01:52We also held regular media um activities for the press uh answering commonly misunderstood aspects about election um with our department of emergency services and public protection. we got together and put together a social media campaign um in all communities to make sure that people understood where to go for trusted information.
▶ 2:02:21But as you say, I still think no matter what safeguards have been put in place, there's still this narrative. Um, most Connecticut residents think our elections are great, but 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.
▶ 2:02:46So, I think we have this conflation of um, uh, fear and mistrust that is often not well placed. Gotcha. Thank you. Um, Secretary Allen, I noted in your testimony, you said we do not um, in Alabama, we do not accept any ballot received after election day with the exception of Yuokava ballots, which must be po postmarked no later than the date of the election.
▶ 2:03:12What What's wrong in your mind with the idea of taking ballots that have been postmarked before uh, the end of inerson voting on election day? Because I believe in election day. Election day is election day. We set it out in state law. It's set out in federal law. And if the further we deviate from that, I think it can lead. It's a very slippery slope. Is it that you don't trust the US Postal Service? We've had problems with the US Postal Service in the past. Really?
▶ 2:03:39So, 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 be you in some way pay a penalty for filing your taxes late? Well, fortunately, I filed my taxes early this year. Uh, yeah, 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.
▶ 2:04:04I just find this sort of a strange argument that voters in America could vote on or before election day, but vote in mail. But if it's received after election day, you could you could have, to your point, you could have sent it in early. You could send it in 3 days before election day, but the post office and you could send it um by absentee ballot in most states, postmarked days before election day, and if it doesn't get to the post office by election day. Why is I don't understand the theory of that. I mean, I don't understand why that's an issue.
▶ 2:04:35Again, representative, I I just believe that we have rules for a reason. The further we deviate from that is a very slippery slope. and and if we start accepting and then the date's the date, but the date is the date. So if you did it two days before election day, you've done it, you complied with the date, there's no way that you're changing the outcome of the election after the end of the election period.
▶ 2:04:58I don't I mean unless you don't you believe somehow the United States Postal Service is doing something to the balance, I think we generally accept for all kinds of business things, tax purposes. I mean postmarks actually mean something in America. Does anybody disagree with me? I mean, I'm sorry. I I hate to belabor the point in my last minute, but um Secretary Landry, do you subscribe to the same view?
▶ 2:05:21I I think the ballot should be in by election day and that, you know, manipulation can occur once you start reporting results that people can go out and gather more ballots and and No, not if it's postmark. I mean, you could not I mean, I hate to this is like a physical impossibility. You can't affect the election after election day if you submitted the ballot prior to the deadline. It's just physically impossible unless you go back in time or do something.
▶ 2:05:47I think we should have an end date to the election and the end date to the election should be election day. Do you feel the same way about taxes? Also, the IRS should not accept anything that's postction. I don't think the IRS is the same thing because they're not waiting to report a result of income tax collections whereas the whole state is waiting for us to report the results of an election and we need to give them the timely results to secure the confidence in our elections. I yield back.
▶ 2:06:17I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, Dr. Murphy, for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you all for coming today. I think everybody in this room um wants pretty fair safe elections. So I I I think that's uniform. I think there's very much consensus about that.
▶ 2:06:34How that happens I think there may be a little bit of disagreement but um this is why you know I I think our house passed the SEVE act that requires states to prove citizenship before require registering an individual to vote and to remove non-citizens from existing voter roles. You know the question is why do people fear that?
▶ 2:06:53Because here in Washington DC, they passed a law which had to be reversed that was or passed a a rule or whatever they call it here in the county or the city that would have allowed people from the Chinese embassy to come and vote. In New York, they wanted non-citizens to be able to vote. So there is precedent in this country that is justified fear for being able to say am I not coming on? Oh, hello. Do I need to speak louder? Okay, good.
▶ 2:07:21Anyway, long and short, there is, I think, justified fear for people saying, "Hey, we want non-citizens not to vote in our elections." Secretary LaRose, in your testimony, you mentioned that Ohio requires voters to present a governmentissued photo ID to vote and your state requires driver's licenses and state IDs. Can you tell us how this has safeguarded the elections in Ohio? Yeah, thank you, sir. It by just proving that people are who they say they are when they come to vote. And by the way, vast majority of Democrats and Republicans support this.
▶ 2:07:49Ohio provides a free ID if you don't have one. We even have a religious exemption for that very small minority that doesn't allow them to be photographed and so they may not have a state ID. So we we cover all the bases and our state ID has an indication on it that says whether you're a citizen or not. Shockingly, I actually had to go to court last year and defend that uh because there was a group saying that we should give people a ballot even if they give us an ID that says non-citizen. Amazing.
▶ 2:08:17Ballot harvesting requires a lot of attention and for good reason receives a lot of attention and for good reason. Fraudulent actions committed by third parties are a threat. Can you tell me what election security initiatives do you find to be the most effective in reducing fraud from these third party collection of mailin ballots?
▶ 2:08:35Well, Ohio recently outlawed the prepopulating of these forms by some of these third party organizations because in many cases they were sending out pre-populated forms with inaccurate information on them. So now you have to fill the form out yourself. Uh but we also have strict rules around the use of so-called dropboxes or secure receptacles.
▶ 2:08:56Whereas uh only the voter may return their ballot if you're returning somebody else's ballot, which Ohio law allows you to do for a family member or a disabled person. In those cases, you just have to come inside and present it to the election officials. You have to present an ID if you bring in somebody else's ballot, a family member. No, but you do have to sign an affidavit that says that you've been designated by a disabled Ohioan to return their ballot. And that has obviously the power of law behind it. All right. Thank you, Secretary Landry.
▶ 2:09:24In your testimony, you share that your governor issued a directive requiring the office of motor vehicles to share information on non-citizens who hold Louisiana driver's license or ID. How can illegal immigrants take advantage of automatic voter registration, particularly when they come in contact with a state DMV? In Louisiana, um, illegal immigrants are not allowed to get a driver's license. only those here legally can get a driver's license.
▶ 2:09:51And we previously did not have access to that information. And um then the governor Landry, our governor, now ordered the DMV to provide that information to us. And it allows us to now um audit our voter roles to see if there are non-citizens on the voter roles. But we it's not enough.
▶ 2:10:11There are still there's still information that we need and getting access to the save database will allow us to find even more people who may be on our roles who are not citizens. You know, I I've worked in some other countries um during election periods just playing doctor like I do sometimes and just I think it's a good look for this country that we want voters to be citizens and we want our vot our elections to have integrity.
▶ 2:10:37Secretary McGraine, your office has been sued for removing college student ID identification cards from the approval list of voter IDs for voter registration. How did that happen? How did that what how did what happened there? We uh Idaho two years ago updated its voter ID requirements to register to vote. And I think to the core, how did it happen? I'm not sure. Um like was mentioned earlier, did it affect turnout? It did not affect turnout actually in this last election overwhelmingly.
▶ 2:11:04So 98.1% of Idaho voters showed an Idaho driver's license or ID card when they voted. It doesn't impact students as well use driver's licenses. Yeah, they drive. Yep. Thank you. I now recognize the gentleoman from Texas, Miss Johnson, for five minutes for the purpose of questioning our witnesses. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this hearing. Um, you know, Texas is the hardest state in the union to vote in.
▶ 2:11:34Some would say, um, we've been assaulting the right to vote in our state for quite some time. I've seen firsthand how troublesome it is to make voting difficult. I want to address the previous question on student ID. You go through the university process, right, Miss Thomas? When you go to admit to a university, you have to submit birth certificates. You have to submit all these I all things about who you are to get that student ID. Why in the world would we not want students?
▶ 2:12:05The whole point of ID is here's a picture. Here's who you are. Are you who you say you are to go vote? What in the hell is wrong with using a student ID to vote? Nothing. I agree with you. Absolutely nothing. Most of these state or state universities paid for by the taxpayers to make sure that they know who their students are and 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.
▶ 2:12:36I 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. And I thought, well, that's a huge problem. Um, I am not your chauffeur, sir, and um I can get you a bus pass or you can decide to get your driver's license. And he miraculously decided to get a driver's license, but I am I am constantly amazed at how many young people don't get a driver's license right now.
▶ 2:13:03And so I don't understand why in the world we would not want to use student IDs. And that's that's an argument of why I think what makes this whole voter integrity discussion somewhat disingenuous because yes, we want to make sure American citizens vote. Absolutely. There's no disagreement amongst party lines that we want citizens to vote. The disagreement comes in how easy are we going to make it for those citizens to vote.
▶ 2:13:31And what it seems like right now with the Save Act and this legislation that comes through, we are more interested in making it harder for people to vote in the name of rooting out 32 people who may have improperly voted as opposed to making it possible for 20 million people to vote. And so, you know, my question is, you know, when we have the the other problem is we have a lot of people born in rural Texas.
▶ 2:13:58We have a lot of people born um in places where they don't necessarily have access to their documents. They don't have this, but they are citizens. What are we doing to make it easier for these people to vote? And what about people with disabilities? You know, how are we making it possible for people to go in person and vote? Miss Thomas, does Connecticut have online voter registration?
▶ 2:14:18We certainly do and it's how 33% of our voters register and that makes it easy for people who are seniors, people who may be homebound for whatever reason, maybe you're part of the sandwich generation where you're caring for young kids, you're working, you're caring for senior families to be able to participate in our democracy.
▶ 2:14:39And I don't, it seems to me that states like Texas that don't allow online voter registration, which is insane to me, um 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. And it disproportionately affects poor people and it disproportionately affects people of color to not be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
▶ 2:15:08And 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 to vote in this country and we are making it so hard. You want to say something? I was just going to say it also helps election workers and I would love for this Congress to actually spend its time fighting for American citizens.
▶ 2:15:38We know for a fact that there are more women who have changed their last name, more young people, more people living in nursing homes, more people of every people serving in our military overseas than there are noncitizens voting. So when are we going to prioritize American citizens instead of making them jump through hoops? I completely agree.
▶ 2:16:02We should be we should be doing everything we can to make sure every American citizen can cast their constitutional right to vote. And Madam Chair, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record four letters in opposition to the Save Act. The first from the Brendan Center for Justice, the second from the American Civil Liberties Union, the third from Vet Voice, and the fourth from the League of Conservation Voters. all 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. With that, I yield back.
▶ 2:16:32Without objection, so ordered. I now recognize the gentleoman from Illinois, Miss Miller, for the purpose of questioning our witnesses for five Okay. Thank you, Chairwoman, and thank you to the witnesses for being here. And I do want to address my colleague, Miss Johnson.
▶ 2:16:53Um, you just insulted the young, the poor, the rural, and people of color by insinuating that they don't have enough uh wherewithal to go get a photo ID or a driver's license. Ridiculous. Voting is a privilege. Being American citizen is a privilege. And we want to make sure that American citizens are uh that their votes are not being canceled out by people that are not US citizens.
▶ 2:17:23I would like to respond. So anyway, I have a question for Secretary Landry. Direct remarks to the witnesses. Carry on. I have a question for Secretary Landry. Uh, in 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
▶ 2:17:54commercial carrier to deliver the ballot. So, Secretary Landry, why is signature verification so crucial to ballot integrity? So, we believe that um the custody of your ballot is very important, the chain of custody and and keeping track of that. And so, when you hand your ballot to somebody, you need to know who has your ballot and what they've done with it.
▶ 2:18:16And so, if they're unable to deliver it themselves, um having or or they need assistance, we ask them to put their name and signature on there as well, so that we we know who's delivered the ballot and we know that they have permission to do that. What kind of consequences are there if someone doesn't get the voter's authorization or they turn in something that's fraudulent? There's no consequence for the voter.
▶ 2:18:42Actually, the the vote is still counted, but if someone is there's a prohibition on witnessing more than one or delivering more than one. So, the the prohibition the the penalty is on that person who didn't put their name or who um who delivered more than one. So, we don't we don't we we still um count the vote, I think, in those situations where the ballot is um is delivered, but if it's missing a witness signature, it's not counted.
▶ 2:19:11In the last election, were you able to identify anybody that turned in some kind of fraudulent um whatever? In the last election though, we had a lot of complaints in the election before that of people who were um harvesting ballots and um go into apartment complexes and offering to assist uh vulnerable voters and family members had contacted our office and asked that we investigate because they
▶ 2:19:41felt like there was um some manipulation going on with um the assisting with the ballot. So that's what prompted that Well, I think until we have severe consequences for people that are engaged in uh activities, you know, like what you just described, I I don't think we're going to um have free and fair elections. So, I'd like to see So, just to clarify, if they're missing any signatures, the ballot is not counted.
▶ 2:20:09But if if it's um if it's just something untoward that or against the law that the the ballot harvester is doing, that person is punished and the vote is still counted. Thank you so much and I yield I'd like to thank our witnesses for appearing before the committee today and for the work that you do for your communities and voters across America.
▶ 2:20:34Uh members of the committee may have some additional questions for you and we ask that you please respond to those questions if any in writing. Without objection, each member will have five legislative days to insert additional material into the record or to revise and extend their remarks. If there is no further business, I thank the members for their participation. And without objection, the committee stands