During a House Administration Committee hearing, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) spoke about GOP voter registration and mail-in voting restrictions, and the importance of voting in the US.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to welcome all of our witnesses and thank you for your testimony today.
00:04I'm a daughter of Selma, Alabama. I grew up there. I have the honor and privilege of representing them in Congress.
00:10And there's nothing more important and sacred than the right to vote, in my opinion.
00:14And protecting that right, I think, is something that is clearly within our preview here on this committee.
00:21I'm a little bit puzzled by our hearing today.
00:25I mean, the first premise that is being made is that somehow giving everyone a ballot who is eligible is somehow flawed.
00:35You know, I think that we as elected officials should be in the business of making it easier for people to vote, not harder for people to vote.
00:43I represent Alabama, and Alabama has same-day voting only.
00:47We don't have early voting. We don't have our absentee ballot process has been restricted.
00:54You can't even help your elderly grandmother without thinking, without helping her to vote, who has, you know, an elderly grandmother who has a stroke, a stroke victim.
01:05You can't help them prepare their ballot by, because you're, for fear of a felony being committed.
01:13That's the most recent charge that Alabama has.
01:19You know, there are, Alabama, I mean, California is one of the largest states in the union, and they have a lot of folks, and they provide eligible voters their vote by mail.
01:33And so, I don't think that there is something inherently wrong with sending ballots out to every eligible voter.
01:40In fact, I would venture to guess that Alabama, that California does have a better return rate and participation rate than states like Alabama that make it harder for folks to vote.
01:52And the second reason why we're here today is because somehow getting it, getting the results that same night is so critically important.
02:00It's more important than making sure that our overseas military personnel who are eligible voters get their ballots back in a timely fashion.
02:11I'm not sure what timely is, but I can tell you same day results does not make it any less prone to fraud or any more prone to fraud.
02:22Rather, it allows eligible voters time, especially those that are overseas, an opportunity to cast their ballot.
02:31I would venture to guess, Mr. Chairman, that it's more important that we protect that sacred right to vote than to get some result in that same night.
02:44So, for me, I think that I've been encouraging folks in the state of Alabama to do early voting and to make it easier for folks to vote, not harder for folks to vote.
02:56And I'm not really sure why my colleagues don't think that that's right, especially when the Brennan Center says that there's a .05% of fraud that occurs during elections, not a rampant fraud from everyone.
03:13So, I'd like to ask you, Mr. Palmer, as one of the commissioners for the Federal Election Commission, are there best practices that are recommended when it comes to military personnel voting or absentee balloting?
03:31Is there sort of one way to do that?
03:35And I also would like, I guess, the first question that I have for you is, is it a right for American citizens to have the right to vote when they turn 18?
03:49Isn't that a right that every American citizen has?
03:53And if so, why is it that so many states like Alabama make it harder for folks to vote rather than easier for folks to vote?
04:06The EAC's clearinghouse function sort of takes best practices from across the country and we share them with each other so states can see how things are working across the country.
04:16Our EVE survey is something that our election officials across the country could also view and compare it to other states and similar counties.
04:24And I agree with you that, you know, coming of age at 18 and being able to register to vote and vote, you know, talking about the opportunities may include in person, you know, in person absentee, it may include in person early voting, overseas voting.
04:41So there's no action, I'm running out of time, so there's no sort of standardized practice that is recommended by the commission.
04:48No, I think we take a best practices look and also the use of technology to make our elections more efficient.
04:55Yeah.
04:56Mr. Chairman, I just want to just go on record as saying that the right to vote is a sacred right.
05:03It is not a privilege for the few.
05:06Somehow we, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle think that somehow it's a privilege.
05:11It is a birthright of every American citizen to be able to vote and we should be in the business of making it easier to vote, not harder to vote.
05:18I'd like to put into the record unanimous consent to enter into the record two items, a letter we sent to you, Mr. Chairman, requesting that the majority be allowed to have it testify by remote access.
05:31And secondly, a January 2025 Orange County grand jury report on November 20 of the November 2024 election, which made three findings that there was no evidence of fraud and out.
05:44Without objection.
05:46I yield back the balance of my time.
05:47Representative.