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The State of the Right to Vote After the 2012 Election

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The State of the Right to Vote After the 2012 Election S. HRG. 112–794 THE STATE OF THE RIGHT TO VOTE AFTER THE 2012 ELECTION HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION DECEMBER 19, 2012 Serial No. J–112–96 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 81–713 PDF WASHINGTON : 2013 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah CHUCK SCHUMER, New York JON KYL, Arizona DICK DURBIN, Illinois JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota JOHN CORNYN, Texas AL FRANKEN, Minnesota MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware TOM COBURN, Oklahoma RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut BRUCE A. COHEN, Chief Counsel and Staff Director KOLAN DAVIS, Republican Chief Counsel and Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Page Coons, Hon. Christopher A., a U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware ........... 6 Durbin, Hon. Dick, a U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois .............................. 4 Grassley, Hon. Chuck, a U.S. Senator from the State of Iowa ............................ 3 Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 1 prepared statement .......................................................................................... 178 Whitehouse, Hon. Sheldon, a U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island ...... 5 WITNESSES Bennett, Ken, Secretary of State of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona .......................... 15 Crist, Charles, Jr., Former Governor of Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida ........... 9 Cobb-Hunter, Hon. Gilda, House of Representatives from the State of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ................................................................... 13 Nelson, Hon. Bill, a U.S. Senator from the State of Florida ................................ 7 Perales, Nina, Vice President of Litigation, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), San Antonio, Texas ................................... 17 Schultz, Matt, Secretary of State of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa .............................. 11 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Responses of Nina Perales to questions submitted by Senator Klobuchar ......... 31 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Asian American Justice Center, Mee Moua, President and Executive Director, Washington, DC, statement ................................................................................ 38 African American Ministers Leadership Council (AAMLC), Minister Leslie Watson Malachi, Director, December 19, 2012, letter ...................................... 45 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Laura W. Murphy, Director, Deborah J. Vagins, Senior Legislative Counsel, Demelza Baer, Policy Counsel, Wash- ington, DC, joint statement ................................................................................. 48 Advancement Project, Judith A. Browne Dianis, Co-Director, Washington, DC, statement ...................................................................................................... 71 Arizona Advocacy Network, Phoenix, Arizona, statement ................................... 81 Bennett, Ken, Secretary of State of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, statement and attachments ................................................................................................... 84 Bus Project Foundation, Caitlin Baggott, Executive Director, Portland Or- egon, December 26, 2012, letter .......................................................................... 90 Center for American Progress, Scott Keyes, Washington, DC, December 18, 2012, letter ............................................................................................................ 94 Cobb-Hunter, Hon. Gilda, House of Representatives from the State of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, statement ............................................... 106 Common Cause, Jenny Rose Flanagan, Director of Voting & Elections, Wash- ington, DC, statement .......................................................................................... 116 Crist, Charles, Jr., Former Governor of Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 126 De´mons Ideas & Action, Tova Andrea Wang, Senior Democracy Fellow, New York, New York, statement ................................................................................. 131 Detzner, Kenneth W., Secretary of State, Florida Department of State, Tallahasee, Florida, statement ........................................................................... 150 Forward Montana Foundation (FMF), Andrea Marcoccio, Executive Director, Missoula, Montana, December 26, 2012, letter ................................................. 153 (III) IV Page House, Tanya Clay, Public Policy Director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, statement ............................................... 156 Henderson, Wade, President & CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Washington, DC, statement ..................................................... 173 Nelson, Hon. Bill, a U.S. Senator from the State of Florida, statement ............. 181 National Action Network (NAN), Rev. Al Sharpton, President and Founder, Re. W. Franklyn Richardson, Chairman, and Tamika Mallory, National Executive Director, Washington, DC, joint statement ...................................... 186 National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH, Chief Executive Officer, Washington, DC, statement ............... 189 Palm Beach Post, Sunday October 28, 2012, article ............................................. 197 Perales, Nina, Vice President of Litigation, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), San Antonio, Texas, statement ................ 202 Schultz, Matt, Secretary of State of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, statement ........... 213 ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Submissions for the record not printed due to voluminous nature, previously printed by an agency of the Federal Government or other criteria deter- mined by the Committee, list: Nelson, Hon. Bill, a U.S. Senator from the State of Florida, Mitchell Depo, http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/supporting/mitchelldepo.pdf THE STATE OF THE RIGHT TO VOTE AFTER THE 2012 ELECTION WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2012 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:06 a.m., in room SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Leahy, Durbin, Whitehouse, Coons, Grassley, and Lee. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT Chairman LEAHY. I am told that Senator Grassley is on his way, and I am going to start and, of course, yield to him when he comes. Our Nation has grown stronger since its founding as more Amer- icans have been able to exercise their right to vote. The actions taken by previous generations—through a Civil War, through con- stitutional amendments—in fact, Senator Grassley is here—and through the long struggles of the civil rights movement—have worked to break down barriers that stood in the way of all Ameri- cans participating in our democracy. Yet as we saw in last month’s election, our work is far from done. Barriers to voting continue to exist and evolve. In my State of Vermont, where we have the town meeting with open participation, democracy, Vermonters cannot understand why there is this barrier to voting. You know, the right to vote and to have your vote count is a foundational right because it secures the effectiveness of the other protections of the law and the Constitution. Before the election, we held a hearing that focused on new barriers to the right to vote, building on the work done in field hearings held by Senator Durbin in Florida and Ohio. We heard testimony about the renewed effort in many States to deny millions of Americans access to the ballot box through voter purges and voter identification laws. I was con- cerned that these barriers would stand between millions of Ameri- cans and the ballot box. What we saw during the election shows that we were right to be concerned. Purges of voter rolls, restrictions on voter registration, and limitations on early voting—which in previous elections en- abled millions to vote—led to unnecessary and avoidable problems on election day. (1) 2 You had onerous and confusing voter identification requirements, complications in places like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas, and South Carolina. And throughout the country, misleading political advertising and robocalls worked to sow confusion and suppress the vote. Just because millions of Americans successfully overcame abu- sive practices in order to cast their ballot does not make these practices right. It does not justify the burdens that prevented mil- lions more from being able to vote. Barriers that remind us of a time when discriminatory practices such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses were commonplace have no place in 21st century America. Barriers that seem to fall heaviest
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