Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing On Voting Safety During COVID-19 20240712

Compliance regulations of a mocon City Committee hearings with House Resolution 965 and believe the committee will keep microphones muted, limit background noise, members will need to unmute themselves when seeking recognition for five minutes. Witnesses will need to unmute themselves when recognized for their five minutes or when recognized for questions. Members and witnesses, please keep your camera on at all time, even if you have to step away for a moment during the meeting. Do not leave the meeting. As we begin, we should take a moment to honor an important anniversary in our nations history. Today, hundreds of thousands of americans went to our Nations Capital for the march on washington for jobs and freedoms. Our beloved culligan hearing hero, the late representative john lewis, went to the Lincoln Memorial that day. The lessly challenged our countrys denial to freedom of black rights americans, including the right to vote. 70 years earlier called preservative of all rights. Today, many people are gathering at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the march and continue demands for Voting Rights, racial equality, police accountability, and criminal justice reform. On it, access to voting, the bedrock of our democracy. Today, the likes of our country has not experienced in more than a century, voters are worried about how to safely votes and navigate potential disruption november. Nearly half of americans will be voting physically, according to recent polling. It doesnt have to be that way. No one should be forced to choose between the right to vote for their health. In june, its an important subcommittee hearing to examine the impact of covid19 and Voting Rights and Election Administration. Tragically, since that hearing, an additional 3. 6 Million People have become infected in the United States, and another 59,000 americans have lost their lives to the disease. This crisis has devastated many families and disrupted our way of life. The virus will continue to affect for the foreseeable future, including how we vote. I look forward to hearing more today with our experts about how people can vote safely vote during this pandemic. Americans have cast ballots nationaleat strife and emergencies before. Civil war voters voted by mail in the battlefield, millions of men and women in uniform have voted by mail since then, including after Congress Passed in 1942 soldier voting act and the federal Voting Assistance act in 1965. References to civilian mail voting date back to the late 1800s. This year, many states have changed their election procedures to make voting safer, from a Public Health perspective. Although some voters in all 50 states can vote from home, the widest availability in 44 states and the District Of Columbia, noexcuse, vote by mail state or where fear of covid counts as a valid excuse this fall. Other americans can choose to vote early in person from one of 42 states provided. Early inperson voting helps keep polling places less crowded crowded. Offering those methods is consistent with the cdc recommends alternative voting methods that minimize direct contact and reduce crowd sizes. Voters should have the option to vote by mail or in person and it should be safe and accessible. Alternative voting methods that minimize contact and reduce the house voted to make this possible, 105 days ago and the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act, including 3. 6 billion in funding. Unfortunately, leader mcconnell efusing to pick up legislation and do nothing for months. The violence has not delayed, nor has it simply disappeared. Sadly, neither has the president s Misinformation Campaign against voting, especially absentee voting. The president has expanded to include even the United States Postal Service, a venerated and popular institution enshrined in our constitution. Earlier this month, President Trump, as he is prone to do, said the quiet part out loud. He explicitly stated he opposes funding the Postal Service, because the Postal Service facilitates voting by mail. Meanwhile, the trump reported dejoyser general louis act of disrupted policies that have caused backlogs and mail delivery across the country. Impeding mail service to senior citizens, veterans, and the sick who depend on Postal Service to deliver educations and other essentials, including ballots. Ive heard from thousands of my own constituents whose mail has been delayed. They were outraged. After much public outcry, postmaster general dejoy announced some policy changes would be paused until after the election. This reckless management of the Postal Services warrants close scrutiny and continued accountability. The house continued on saturday, passing the delivery for america act on a bipartisan basis to prohibit the Postal Service from implementing any further changes that will delay mail and reduced delivery standards. The bill would also require the Postal Service to treat all election mail as firstclass mail, as has been practiced for years. And it will provide the 25 billion in muchneeded funding, that its board of governors each , governor appointed by President Trump himself, has requested. Still, the president continues to spread disinformation about and falsehoods about the safety and security of voting. They do not bear repeating at a congressional hearing. What does bears repeating is the best way voters can stand up to bullies at the ballot box. Make a plan to vote, register to vote or confirm registration, and update it if necessary. Do it as soon as possible. Te. Gov for morefovo information. Decide if you plan to vote in person or by mail. Researcher options. Follow the instructions carefully, including request of ballot. Cast your ballot early if you can. And if youre healthy and able, consider signing up to work as a poll volunteer by going to helpamericavote. Gov. Many jurisdictions scrambled at the last minute to find coal workers this spring and summer. You can do your part by considering this public service. Now i look forward to the testimony today. I want to recognize first the Ranking Member, mr. Davis, for Opening Statements he wish to may wish to make it i also understand he wishes to show a video of less than two minutes as part of the Opening Statements. Mr. Davis, you are now recognized. You, madam thank chair, and thank you for recognizing our colleague, john lewis, and the difference he made to our nation not so long ago. I want to do something a little different today and start off by this video brought to my attention a couple of days ago, and i was haunted by the rhetoric, that i cant unsee it or unhear because its this unnecessary rhetoric that led to me and my republican colleague getting shot at the baseball field three years ago. This is a video by the Democratic Association and secretaries of state whose chair is a witness today at this hearing. Heres the video. [silence] undergoing. Attling a killer White Supremacy does not endure White Supremacy does not endure on its own. Suppressingd up by black voices and votes. Threefifths compromise to voter i. D. White supremacy isnt just a classic ideology, its a strategy to hold power. Segregation forever. Its no surprise donald trump thinks of the strategy in 2020. Pres. Trump very fine people on both sides. That is why democratic secretaries of state will fight to ensure every eligible american can vote safely in november. Expanding vote by mail so no one has to choose between their vote and their health. White supremacy has no place in our elections and no place in our country. Together, we can demand in an america that is truly equal. Rep. Davis thank you, madam chair. White supremacy doesnt have any place in our nation, but it is thatthe top rhetoric like that led to many situations that im afraid i dont want to see happen to anyone in this country. Recent analysis by npr found that nearly half a million ballots rejected in the 2020 primaries. Studies also show voters of color are more likely than others to have their ballot not count. In california alone, 102,000 ballots rejected. 22,000 wisconsin. These are democrat states. 28 million mailin ballots went missing according to the eac. Democrats in this house and across the country continue to push implementing universal vote by mail before the november election, just over 60 days away. During the 2020 primaries, with the closure of polling places across the country, forcing people to wait hours in line to vote. Washington d. C. Closed more than 120 polling places. In atlanta, voters were upwards five hoursards of because of their polling places. In philadelphia, 77 of the polling locations were closed. In houston, voters waited close to six hours to vote. All of these cities are democrats. The Voting Rights act of 1965 fight against discrimination, to ensure that every american can cast a vote. Im afraid the policy is being pushed by democrats are unintentionally taking us backwards. I have sent oversight letters to localities, where we have seen these issues during recent primaries, because i am concerned, unless changes are made, voters will be disenfranchised this fall. Again most of these are , democratcontrolled areas. I am very concerned about fraud. Ballot isve valid i mailed to every registered olls arehen those r not updated. Not because i want to suppress votes but i want every vote to count. I want every american to have the confidence we have to vote. Racist or white supremacist, im incredibly disappointed the ad insinuates that. Again this is the kind of , rhetoric that i personally witnessed and even violence last night in washington, d. C. No one should stand for that. Instead lets discuss our , differences and find Common Ground to empower states and localities to help everyone safely and securely vote this fall. With that, madam chair, i will yield back the balance of my time. Rep. Lofgren we have a distinguished group of witnesses, and i will introduce them in turn. First we have secretary alex padilla, who is the california secretary of state. He is focused on increasing Voter Registration and participation in Voting Rights. In 2018, he launched the california program, which automatically registered eligible californians to vote may obtain or renew their state i. D. Or drivers license. California reach a record high 21 million new voters this year alone. In march 2019, california reaching record high 70 million from filling registered voters. He oversaw the 2018 election in which 64. 5 of registered voters cast a ballot. The highest turnout in the gubernatorial election. To establish vote centers and registration. Implement sameday Voter Registration through the california choice act. Previously, he served two terms in the California State Senate representing the east San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles City county. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, attended local schools, graduated Massachusetts Institute of technology with a degree in Mechanical Engineering , and i remember when he was he saidhead of lulac, he only did that for two things besides being in the state , senate, being a husband and was being chair i. T. Alumni association. Welcome to you. We also have julie wise, the director of elections in king county in washington since november 2015. King county is the 13th largest county in the nation and has approximately 1. 3 million registered voters. She has worked there for nearly 16 years, including managing operations of elections. Washington state certified election administrator, certified election registration, recognizing both sides of the nation, receiving significant reform and Innovative Solutions for new barriers and increase access while ensuring access for security and transparency. Shes added two languages, allowing voters to access Elections Services in overall. Fiveenglish, chinese, korean, spanish, and vietnamese. In 2018, she worked with the king Council Executive in providing prepaid postage for all registered voters in the county. And we welcome you. We also have ms. Amber reynolds, mcreynolds, ceo National Voters coalition. She is coauthor of when women vote and former director of elections for the city and county of denver, colorado. She has experience in election professional and nationally recognized as an innovator in designing voter policies. Implementing Technical Innovations and improve the voting experience. Denver elections for national and International Recognition for the u. S. Election assistance commission, Election National association of counties and international studies. Additional petition circulation applications that makes ballot process more efficient. She was recognized in 2018 is as top public official of the year by governing magazine for her work to improve the voting experience in denver and across colorado. Recently, she was recognized as one of the top 25 most powerful women in business in colorado. She served on the Advisory Board for the m. I. T. Election data and science labs and other organizations. She has masters of science from the London School of economics and Political Science and a bachelor of arts from the university of illinois champagne or bono. Urbana. Amber, thank you for being here. Thank you so much for being here. She is president and ceo of the Leadership Conference on civil rights. She has been working to advance civil rights her entire career. Before joining in june 2017, i think this is an attorney and head of the u. S. Department of justice and civil rights division. October 2014, by president barack obama as the chief civil rights prosecutor for the u. S. , a wide range of criminal and civil efforts to ensure justice and protect equal opportunity for all during one of the most consequential periods for the division. Under her leadership, critical work and a number of areas including advancing , Constitutional Police and criminal justice reform, prosecutors hate crime, human trafficking, disability rights, protecting the rights of lgbt q individuals, ensuring Voting Rights for all, and combating discrimination in education housing, lending, and religious exercise. Prior to joining the justice department, she was deputy legal director and directives of the center for justice of the American Civil Liberties union. Joining the staff, beginning her legal career in the Legal Defense and education, she graduated magna cum laude in the and yale university, received her law degree from the New York University school of law, where she had civil rights litigation at the clinic for several years. We welcome you. Finally, commissioner donald palmer, was the eac in 2019, a former bipartisan policy scholar, divided testimony to state legislature on Election Year in voting reform. Commissioner palmer was appointed secretary of the virginia board of election by former governor Bob Mcdonnell in 2011 and the commonwealth chief election officer until 2014. He formerly served as the Florida Department of state elector of elections. Prior to the Election Administration, he served as attorney for the Voting Rights section of the department of justices civil rights division. He was a u. S. Navy intelligence advocatend judge advocat general and he was awarded the navys service model, and accommodation medal. We welcome you, commissioner, and all witnesses, and i remind the witnesses the full statement will be limited to the record and would like to address you for about five minutes, summarizing your testimony and then you will can have questions. First, we will return to you, secretary padilla. Thank you for being here. Sec. Padilla thank you, ranking lofgren,an Ranking Member davis, and members of the committee for the opportunity to set you today. I want to talk about the two greatest free, fair and safe election in november. Our first covid19 Pandemic Commission was issued the very next day. We begin to hear from local officials for many of the polling places and coworkers we were depending on for the november elections backing up and as you listen to federal and state health officials, it quickly became clear we would need to modify how the administer the general election and proof to keep the election to keep the election accessible, keep the election accessible, secure, and safe. California voters will not have to choose between exercising the right to vote and protecting their health. So we are expanding vote by mail while maintaining safe and inperson voting options for voters who need it. California is wellpositioned. Vote by mail has grown from 25 cast 20 years ago to 72 in this years primary. My office includes stakeholders to identify these challenges and develop solutions. I recommend a plan adopted by the government and state legislature, including the following. Every active registered voter of by mail ballot. Expanding tools statewide, voters can sign up to receive notification by email, text message, or phone call on the status of the balance due to ballots due to Postal Service on its way back to the county including of final alert when , their ballot has been received and when the ballot has been counted. More than 600,000 california voters have already signed up. We are expanding the postmark policies to 17, and we set alternatives minimum in person voting for counties that are struggling to maintain the prepandemic numbers of in person voting locations. Counties may have one location for every 10,000 registered voters, but they must be open for minimum of four days leading up to and including election day. These counties must also provide a minimum of one drop off location for every 15,000 registered voters starting 28 days before election day. And of course we are listening to Public Health officials for to craft health and safety guidelines for in person voting locations. These measures require resources. Thanks to the recent c. A. R. E. S. Act appropriations and significant state appropriations, california is in an ok position. But other states cant say the same. Many states have not received state funding, and many states that have held their primary election during this pandemic have expended most, if not all, of their c. A. R. E. S. Act funds, so i respectfully urge you to appropriate funding for elections as soon as possible. The other threat i mentioned is election disinformation. Baseless attacks on the integrity of our elections pose a serious danger to the health of our citizens and our democracy. Disinformation, amplified and initiated by President Trump, about vote by mail, ballot drop boxes, and more undermines public. Decisions found voter fraud is rare and isolated. To quote the judge Julie Robinson of kansas, there are no cases of voter fraud at the tip of the iceberg, there are no icebergs. Only icicles. Earlier this week, the fbi said they have no information or intelligence that any nations nationstate or threat actor has been engaging in activity to undermine any part of the mail in vote or ballot. Also, im deeply concerned about the public Postal Service. The ability to effectively handle the search of vote by mail will rely on close collaboration with state and local Election Officials. The approval of overtime and expansion of their workforce and expanding mail voting capacity and the number of mailboxes. California is prepared. But we do not control the Postal Service. We need your help to ensure a healthy usps. Together, these pose unprecedented dangers to Election Officials and voters. To protect our democracy, state and local officials must act now. California provides a template that Needs Congress to provide resources to ensure an acceptable secure and safe election. Thank you. Rep. Lofgren thank you very much, mr. , secretary padilla. Ask ms. Uld like to wyatise. For five minutes. Ms. Wise thank you, chairwoman lofgren, Ranking Member davis, and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitations to testify before you today. I am the director of elections in king county, washington. Its made up of 39 sittings ranging from rural cities and big towns, like where i live. We are the most diverse country with multibilliondollar tech , companies, farmers, and small businesses. Most importantly, from my perspective, we are home to 1. 4 million registered voters who care deeply about the community. Ive been working elections for 20 years, overseen the transition for all mail, and now the largest vote by mail counties in the country. Id like to start this morning by addressing misinformation. That has been circulating of late. First, voting by mail is secure. Previously, we managed 8000 across 700 polling locations, and now we have every ballot at one location, secure headquarters. Not only is the risk, and means we directly oversee the entire population. Its every ballot in the help the observer complete transparency. All of our election staff are highly trained, even swearing to uphold the safety of the election. Second, voter fraud is almost nonexistent, while lot by speculation and little evidence, the reality is we have to reality is we have to prevent fraud, working with other states and the department of licensing, the usps, and that Social Security administration. In king county and Washington State, cases of suspected fraud is incredibly low. In 2016, elections referred 17 cases of potential voter fraud. Millionout of ballot one ballots cast across 30 states for a rate of just 100,000th of 1 . The u. S. Postal service is a democracy, and i found recent reports of moving mailboxes, and i find it incredibly troubling. We benefit from relationships with Postal Service partners that we meet with regularly and daily during elections. Good news is, we saw normal delivery times for inbound ballots. However, let me be clear, i view any attack on the Postal Service as an attack of our right to vote. I will closely monitor changes and continue to meet to make sure we are in front of any issues ahead of november. Also, there is speculation that ballot drop boxes are secure. I can assure you that our 70 plus boxes are safe. We even had one hit by a school bus, and i can attest that the box and its contents were fine. The school bus, not so much. Finally, returning the ballots, they are indeed daily by trained staff in teams of two. Finally, both by mail removes barriers. Believe that my job is not only i believe that my job is not only to conduct accurate elections but also remove barriers. From creating partnerships to provide grants for Voter Education, service and new languages, we have seen the results. King county has had a 76 turnout in the 2018 Midterm Election and 60 this year for primaries. This fall, we are projecting 90 a 90 turnout. Of course, we live in a different world now than six months ago. A number of things to make sure we are ready for the president ial election. Id like to underscore how critical it is to receive the money through the c. A. R. E. S. Act. In elections during a pandemic, theres a lot to do to make sure voters and staff are safe, drive votestalled drivethru centers, plexiglass, and implement temperature checks. We want to ensure safety and our staff dont have to work to make that happen. Over the last several months, my office has grown across the country about how to vote by mail. Every jurisdiction does, thats what voting is. How to expand the ability to handle a whole lot more mail ballots. Thing, expand existing First Operations and communicate with voters. Beyond that, my main piece of advice we all need to start , resetting expectations about elections. That is ok. To process ballots takes time, and jurisdictions have the time. Thank you for inviting me here today. Rep. Lofgren thank you very much. We will now hear from ms. Mcreynolds for about five minutes. You need to unmute. Ms. Mc reynolds good morning. Thank you, chairwoman lofgren, Ranking Member davis, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today. First, i want to say congratulations to my dad quickly. Higherjust sworn into a court a couple of days ago, if he is watching. Congrats, jack. As mentioned, my experience not only is not currently running an organization Election Officials across the country formally, election process for 13 years, im also an affiliate which i would like to highlight in terms of my political connections. The pandemic has affected all areas of our lives. Our democracy is essential and we will do everything we can to be sure our election system is resilient and secure. Election officials are working each day to make it an extremely challenging process and often with one hand tied behind their back. Due to outdated laws and a lack of funding. Resources. What is clear during this pandemic is the challenges weve faced the nation is that americans are resilient and deserve a voting process that is also resilient, not only from a pandemic but from unfairness, barriers, burdens, from foreign adversaries, and administrative deficiencies due to outdated policies that create long lines. Voting by mail has proven to be resilient, both during natural disasters during the pandemic. Expanding home options is nonpartisan and supporting leaders on both sides of the aisle. I want to address a few concerns that have come up recently. In a report released july 31, this information is mail and 30, is similar to that of in person voting while utilizing different content. Threat actors may leverage limited understanding regarding mailin voting to mislead and to confuse. This support is critical at highlighting not only an issue within the security of our elections but particularly as it relates to vote by mail. This includes casting doubt without evidence about the process. Combating disinformation and misinformation is a critical aspect of Election Officials work right now. The Postal Service operations are critical for election processes regardless of voting methods. Mail ballots are just one piece of how the Postal Service supports the election infrastructure. Federal and state laws have toal mandates when it comes laws for defunding for information, election information from a poll worker appointments, with notification cards, and other required information. All of these are legally required and are at risk if the Postal Service is unable to process mail effectively or experience delays, and its especially important in the critical time. Around election day. Some states, such as michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, maryland, and minnesota, have not updated certain election laws and processes to ensure adequate time to process mail ballots, which has caused recent delays with Election Results. Local Election Officials and state officials have repeatedly highlighted this gap, and some state policymakers have refused to make necessary adjustments , even though they are simply operational, not partisan. States still have time to close the gaps and support Election Officials with their work. Let me be clear, Election Results have never final on Election Night. There are specific processes, including receiving and counting military ballots, processing provisional ballots, auditing the voting system, and canvassing the Election Results. Certification can occur. Additionally, many western voters are still casting ballots when the media starts to call winners in the eastern states. This has been a problem for decades and is not new this year. As with every part of our election system, we watched be able to deter and hold that actors accountable to try to interfere with the voting process. While voter fraud is exceedingly rare in elections, regardless of method, it is Still Critical for Election Officials to detect malicious activity and for voters to report suspicious activity to appropriate authorities. Our democracy functions when every eligible voter is able to exercise their right to vote. No system is perfect, and this is why it is critical to continue review and approve systems by enhancing security access and transparency. An example of a necessary improvement is ballot tracking systems or audit. Democracy is the shared dna of our community and throughout our history. Election administration and policy must be about who votes and not who wins, and we must put voters first. Just like the Postal Service, Election Administration is a service. Rep. Lofgren thank you very much. Now return to you. You are recognized for about five minutes. You, chairwoman lofgren, Ranking Member davis, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity today. I find american democracy requires urgency. From Global Pandemic to hitting unities of color, widespread outrage about state violence, taken together these crisis to expel how deeply equality continues to permeate american life. Many Democratic Institutions and voting options free from unnecessary my now more than ever. The Leadership Conference has been for families by the recent operational challenges within the u. S. Postal service. Timely, Affordable Access to medication and necessity. Its an essential service for voting amid a pandemic. Voters should not be forced to choose between health and fundamental right to vote. Thats how the Postal Service would change that. We have a history of denying people color the right to vote. Celebrating the anniversary of 100th women suffrage, remember africanamerican women and women of color were not able to exercise the franchise for decades after the last 19th amendment. While the Voting Rights act of 1965 offers new tools to fight discrimination, people of color have continued reporting, invalidated the position in 2013. As a Leadership Conference for Voter Suppression continues today. Weve seen this years primary election alone, a dire warning of what we could expect in november without congressional action. From nondelivered absentee to unreasonable online to polling place closures, for Misinformation Campaign s specifically targeting voters of color. Thats why lawmakers must act now to ensure the general election is fair, safe, and acceptable and support Election Officials trying to do that. First, it means taking immediate action to preserve the integrity of the Postal Service. The usps is legally required to deliver mail to all postal addresses no matter how far it , may have to travel. The accessibility and affordability the usps provides is crucial to seniors, people with disabilities, veterans in rural and tribal communities. In response to the alarming problems the usps and disinformation efforts to underline confidence in voting by mail in the highest offices of the land, a bipartisan House Majority delivered action this weekend. This bill needs to be made into law. It provides a 25 billion in emergency funding and resource services. We are encouraged by this step to protect the u. S. Postal service. However, our concerns on the upcoming election go well beyond the u. S. Postal service. We are just over two months away from the general election, and states need funding to prevent disasters during the primaries. Congress must allocate 3. 6 billion for states to fully prepare for november and provide voters with a range of options to safely cast their ballot. Pushing states as well to expand online and Voter Registration to , to ensure access to no excuse absentee ballots with prepage posted, prohibits requiring of notarization of witness to cast an absentee ballot, all registered voters no later than two weeks prior to election day, the counting of ballots before election day, and have widely available, secure drop boxes. We must expand in person early voting and ensure voters on indian land have options and provide secure ballot return drop boxes. And finally, theres a huge urgency to provide and educate voters about all the rules have changed. We are also encouraging voters to make sure they understand how to take direct action by making sure they are registered, a plan making a plan to vote early, and signing up to be a poll worker. For the past 70 years, the Leadership Coalition has fought to open the doors to democracy, and in the next 70 days, will do everything we can in our power to Push Congress to have the right to vote in the critical november election. Thank you. Rep. Lofgren thank you so much for your testimony. Now we turn to commissioner palmer. You are recognized for about five minutes. Commr. Palmer thank you, members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today. Elections officials are working and tirelessly to make sure there is a secure election. The agency has distributed almost 1. 2 billion in Grant Funding since 2018 and 84 million in recent c. A. R. E. S. Act funds. These are proving vital in preparing for november. We will be able to pivot our response to covid by existing programs and developing these services. A series of virtual ways of what we have learned, helping to improve election procedures for the benefit of the voters. Americans should feel confident that in person voting places are ready. Of course, cares act ppe for election workers and sanitizing pulling places. Men and women who serve across the country, engaged and overcoming obstacles. They deserve much credit. Preparing for the anticipating increase in the absentee mail in ballots. Personal shifts and using this to request absentee ballots and secure process. During the primary season, there were a number of ballots rejected. In recent years, the Postal Service recommended absentee ballots no later than 15 days prior to election day. Returned no later than saturday prior to election day. Thirty days prior to election day. Returned no later than saturday prior to election day. Thirty days prior to election and the deadline. The state and local level is essential to reduce chances. [silence] i think we have a glitch with commissioner palmer wifi, perhaps. Madam chair, can i Say Something real quick . Sure. We have one of our members who have to back out from a late notice. A chance for a second round. Im planning to do a second round of questions. Thank you. Mr. Palmer, i think your wifi is going on and off. Ballots received after election day. Any problems with the uniform application for this type of mail. Taking the time to reach out, enjoy ballots and support. Postmark even when prepaid. The Postal Service to ensure election mail receiving measurable postmark with uniformity and help avoid confusion and controversy. I would encourage governing bodies to give elections emergency and necessary to meet all deadlines and ensure voters they have the support necessary to secure voting places. This is crucial to our democracy. Working together to support Election Officials and the voters they represent. Thank you. Thank you very much commissioner. We have a time when each member of the committee may question the witnesses for five minutes and i would like to turn to the Ranking Member first to begin with the questions. Mr. Davis, your recognize for five minutes. You need to unmute. In. Not likely having been on this radio before, i apologize. I do have some questions for ms. Wise. If you could, first off, thank you for being here. I appreciated your opening statement. Ms. Reynolds, tell your dad i hope never to see you in the courtroom, congratulations. I want to ask ms. Wise, your counterparts headfirst in all male election, i am concerned any switch at this time on the calendar will Cost Administration issues. Ill give a series of questions, can i just get a yes or no answer, i dont have a lot of time. Was the reason they delayed their move is because it needed time to procure the necessary equipment, etiquette personnel and working spaces . I dont know what you are speaking of. Okay. Yes or no, i took king county for five years to transition all male voting, krait right . No. How long did it take . We went a decade to vote by mail and im not sure the actual process, that 86 of our voters voting absentee at the time. I understand the procurement process, it can take some time. The state started today, it would be possible for them to come up with the equipment by november. It depends on how many absentee voters they have. Every jurisdiction has some amount of absentee ballots, it just depends on how big. I dont have a lot of time, i dont want to be like others and have to reclaim my time. I understand Washington State is a member of the nra system, [inaudible] correct. The Postal Service has issues and recently 538, 30 states. [inaudible] thank you. More than 30 states have had compatible deadlines. More americans expected to vote by mail, im concerned these issues are major Election Administration issues in november. Appreciate your time and i agree, weve got to be better at our Election Administration. While i have a little more time, secretary padilla. Thank you for being here today. My office has sent you numerous letters requesting to meet with you and your staff fully cap heard nothing back. Its good to discuss administration issues that i see occurring in california but unfortunately, we have been able to get this done before hand. It is a little disappointing to me. Im disgusted by the advertising showed earlier which was released by your association of secretaries of state. You lead that group. The greatest threat to the integrity of our election is partisanship. Ive seen no better example in the ad. I think it is important to focus on the current and sears Election Administrations the home state of california. Rejected ballots, registration lists and rampant ballots. 100,000 california ballots were rejected this year alone. Studies tell us people of color usually pay the price. No wellmanaged system should have so many ballots rejected. In case youre not aware, National Order reregistration requires you to do this. Im not sure this is getting through. You went into a legal settlement recently that forces you in the law. In april, we received a letter that indicated that california is still and not in compliance. Particularly those requiring eligible registrants to be remote. Know how many registers are likely to cease or move out of state . Multiple questions there. I will respond to each one. First of all, havent been able to set up a call for a meeting but i do think there are responses to every request your office has made of nine, number one. Number two, i couldnt agree more, thats the fundamental right to vote for making it easier for eligible citizens to register to vote and stay registered and ballots should not be a partisan issue but you see the policies being implemented in different states, it has an effect of making it harder and specifically making it harder disproportionately on young people or communities of color, etc. From lower income families to register to vote. We should absolutely stand up against that. To your question about full by mail in our primary, ballots postmarked after the primary election will arrive very late. All the more reason to extend to postmark plus 17 for the november general election so more ballots can and will be counted. If theyre worried about if you could very quickly wrap up. Sure. They are concerned about disenfranchisement of eligible citizens, fully funding u. S. Postal service and elections. Thank you very much. The gentleman from maryland is now recognized for five minutes. Thank you very much. Im greatly reassured by the testimonies from our secretaries of state and Election Officials, we are ready to go and we should stop spreading anxiety disinformation about the elections. I confess i am baffled by my friend, Ranking Members indignant complaint about the democratic secretary of state completely White Supremacy being a political ideology and strategy for maintaining power, one would think the whole history of disenfranchisement in our country with literally would vindicate the accuracy and passion of that and when the gentleman repeatedly invoked overthetop rhetoric, i dont know what hes referring to but it strikes me as overthetop rhetoric to link this ad presumably made over the last several months. To be the secretary could tell us but linking the ad to the pilot assault on our colleagues june 4, 2017, something that took place three years ago, it strikes me as true overthetop rhetoric. We face two key obstacles, one is covid19, the other is the continuing disinformation about voting which is scary and confusing people and theres a stream of propaganda from the highest levels of government trying to scare people about different forms of voting. I want to focus on ballot drop boxes because they are what the states are working to address problems caused by covid19 which has afflicted more than 5 million of our people and killed more than 180,000 of them. At least 34 states and the District Of Columbia have used ballot drop Box Including my home state we are going to have to break away from this live hearing we have drop boxes. 10, we now have 70. Of our residents have a dropbox box within a few miles of their home. Proximity to a dropbox increases turnout. Its an important service, especially when we dont have prepaid postage. Now that we have prepaid postage boxes come in handy for our voters who maybe want to wait until election day but they are procrastinators. Before, day and the day 15 of the voters use the drop boxes. We had the opportunity to host students at our facility. Where 99,000 square feet we process our ballots. The school bus was on site to bring the students mistook the turn the dropbox was fine. I hope all the kids were ok. You also testify that washington is one of the five states that has conducted universal vote by which is another target of the president who says vote by mail promotes fraud, it is not trustworthy et cetera et cetera and as your state seen any significant increase in the voter fraud because you are doing universal vote by mail and what you think of the president s continuing attacks of state legislator . There has not been cases of fraud and my testimony as i said penetrate of this is when key counties compared it to 30 other states in which those voters were registered and there is not fraud happening. It was 100,000 of 1 . That is correct. So what do you make of this attack on universal male . The gentlemans time has expired so if you could answer that would be wonderful. In Washington State we are all permanent absentee voters. If you want to call it universal mail in or whatever you call it it is the same thing as when a voters stands up in Washington State their signup to be permanent absentee voter. Thank you and i yield back. Thank you so much for the gentle lady from california, ms. Davis is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair and thank you to all our witnesses here today. We appreciate you joining us. One of the steps that we that is a component of a good absentee Ballot System is ballot tracking which lets voters be able to tell online whether their ballots have been sent out or received back in whether their votes have counted. I put language into the defense bill to acquire ballot tracking through the military and overseas voters and my hope is that Elections Officials would open up for all voters as many of them have but most voters are unaware that they contract their ballots and they dont seem to do enough to let voters know about it and its buried in their websites and so a lot of voters truly dont know about this service. Mr. Padilla and mr. Secretary i know you been working on this so could you tell us how you promote where is my ballot and have you had secretaries and state look to you to help them to do this as well and is it too late for them to do that or what is not in detail of the procedure but how can they afford to provide this service to voters . I appreciate the question. I should say we dont believe were the first date but colorado might be the first state to have done it statewide and we have had ballot tracking for prior in california and had about 28 counties participate in the primary election and voters in both counties and great experience but the purposes of november we are expanding and mandating. [audio difficulties] [audio difficulties] the National Association of secretaries of state re exchange the best practices and good ideas and many others are looking at it and some from county to county who have chose to invest both the funding that we received from the cares act to underwrite the ballots statewide expansion so it does not become a fiscal burden for individual counties and lastly i want to say it such a great school for voters and the transparency of your ballots moving in place in confirmation but it has been received and is great for the transparency for the voters but provides a dashboard for us to identify any bottlenecks or delays in the postal delivery so we can work with regional or local postal officials to make sure those ballots are delivered. Thank you. If you could comment on that as well and really making it as prevalent and again giving voters the confidence they can check this information. Yes, im happy to weigh in for a second. In denver was the first pioneering office for ballot tracking. Back in 2009, 11 years ago, we created that and then there is a commercial provider and also a nonprofit provider in some states have built tools inhouse over 30 states offer tracking on their website and there are still states right now that i have been working with to expand and implement ballot tracking like what calpurnia has done statewide for this election so there is, the window is closing but there is absolutely time to do that and ive been working with various dates to try to get that implement and set up now and there is a lot of states in the process of trying to do that now and certainly voters knowing about it is critical and lots of ways to do that through Voter Education campaign or even states when we register to vote you can select the option to get electronic information about voting from the Election Officials and so you can basically opt in at that point in the registration process in various states as well. Thank you. I appreciate that. It feels as if there are a lot more people that could be doing it that arent so we have to do a better job of that and i appreciate it. Secretary padilla i want to give you an opportunity very quickly to respond a little bit because the fact that we are sending ballots to voters in california and somehow and i wonder if you could respond to that that it opens the doors. I will try to be concise. Full pineal is nothing new. California and for many other states across the country california is not the only one in those vote by mail specifically has been in place in california for a couple of decades so vote by mail is absolute convenient for voters and is proven to be secure as well and among the security measures that we have in place starting with the ballots themselves that its not quite like currency but think of specific paper types, watermarks and things and features that are darn hard to introduce big ballots into the system but alarm bells go off almost immediately. Second, vote by mail ballots are returned in the official envelope each with a unique barcode or tracking purposes not just for the mail but for maintaining voters of records to help guard against double voting the all important signature there that when the voter returns their ballots they signed the of the return envelope in the first county officials do is that check that signature against signature on file as part of that voters record to help confirm the identity of the voter and if the voter forgot to sign the envelope or signature do not match California Law requires counties that attempt to contact the voter to rectify any signature issues because we want to make sure there are legitimate vote counted and if the voters say that was not if i could and rocked, sometimes people are afraid the voter is deceased and somehow or other on list maintenance no county officials are constantly to maintain the accuracy of the roles crossreference corners data to identify the digital and remove them from the roles. But i will go back to when it is my turn and so i would like to show recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Butterfield, at this point for five minutes. Thank you very much madam chair it is friday afternoon here on the east coast i did not want to [inaudible] and im reporting for duty. To my friends thank you for playing that video a few minutes ago and i want to associate myself, not with your comments but to associate myself with the content of the video and we touted the benefit of the Voting Rights act in your remarks but you must understand the Voting Rights act is not fully enforceable now and your party reserves refuses to fix it. I for one associate myself with the video and thank you, madam chair moment for recognizing this important day in American History i would think that 57 years ago we call it [inaudible] and i was 16 years of age and my dad rounded up my best friends put me in the car and drove us to washington dc through the night. Thank you for making reference to that. Like Many Americans i have been watching the political conventions of the last two weeks the Democratic Convention last week and the publican convention this week and during each one of the conventions many speaker said this is one of the consequential elections of our lifetime and they are so right. This election will determine and will determine whether you will have a democracy and it will determine, quite friendly, whether we have a president that follows the rule of law and i was very disappointed to see President Trump use the precious real estate of the white house as a political backdrop for his reelection and not only was it inappropriate to have this event at the white house but it violated the hatch act and violated cdc guidelines for protecting the Public Health and i was reading this morning that it was reported to some of the delegates at the charlatan convention they now have covid and lets pray that those attending last night will not find themselves or their neighbors unprotected by the fires. Its incredibly important and as was earlier said in the opening remarks we must have a safe, fair and acceptable election so we must ask one or two questions and then i will yield back but i remember when he went to the department of justice and thank you for your years of service and wish you the department of justice and i will leave it there. Thank you very much. Ms. Guba had a recent house hearing on changes at the Postal Service and the postmaster noted several times that the sorting machine was removed from the post offices were not needed and he refused to agree to reinstatement and refused to make the commitment that election may will be treated as first class mail although this is an accepted practice. Ms. Guba, what is the potential impact removing, sorting and mailbox equipment and not treating election mail is first class mail for voters during the upcoming election . Thank you, sir for the question. 671 mail Voting Machines were removed and 49 states the last few months under postmaster general leadership in every sorting machine had the ability to process 30000 pieces of mail and the refusal to restore them gets to some of the functionalities that the systems rely on and will rely on now more than ever because its a pandemic will be voting revealed protect our Public Health and so there is a lot of concern that the decommissioned machines and mailboxes are not restored that it could undermine or slow down the system by voting by mail and its also the potential to consult views voters to ask for disinformation so this is why there is been such an urgency to get these postmeal boxes restored and voters need to have confidence and there is a policy changes and then there is the confidence that voters need and in midst so much of that information voters need to feel like the u. S. Postal service will be a Reliable Service to vote by mail and the firstclass mail piece its critical that vote by mail ballots are treated as first class mail and expedited priority and move significantly faster than marketing mail and in past years its been a courtesy that the usps is often treated election mail as first class mail until it is critical that was mr. General issue a formal policy and he gave some verbal commitment to treating some but there is some way to formalize which is why the bill this past weekend really needs to become law so that voters can have the confidence this will be the case nationwide. Thank you very much i yield back. Thank you the gentleman yields back and i would like to recognize the gentle lady from ohio, the chairperson of our election subcommittee congresswoman fudge. Thank you, madam chair. I appreciate it. I really dont have questions but i do want to tell you i listen to the Ranking Member, who is so typically misleading, the bill we put in the heroes act is not deny universal vote by mail and he knows it. What it does is give people option so they can be fixed when they decide to go out and vote. He knows that. We have a president that both by mail and tells the Million People that they should take [inaudible], it is no wonder we have destroyed the confidence in every Single Institution in this country. People have lost faith in government and they dont believe in the president , the senate, house and nothing and now they cant even believe in the Postal Service, a place where my uncle worked for 42 years and i have two postmasters in my family and they are appalled by what they are seeing today and the post office is not the place where we came out of schools back in my uncle was she cannot get a anyplace else so they carried mail and she carried mail for 42 years and it took the joy in this group to destroy it. It is amazing to me that we talk about wanting to believe in the constitution that everyone has the right to vote but day after day they put blue roadblock after roadblock and its just listen, they dont want everybody to vote because if they did they would try to make it easier and not harder. He asked someone about their voter rolls and to the credit of my robbing and secretary of state he reached out to places like the naacp and the churches et cetera and found 50000 people in one week so we know what they do is not perfect and today and i hope they read this today that our secretary of state helps enlist 160,000 people who are going to be purged after november election to make sure that they have an opportunity to save their registration and that is what we want to be doing instead of trying to tear down everybody in his country because they figure if we make it difficult and we let people stay at home they wont vote and we will win and if he keeps talking about bipartisanship there is no bipartisanship but it just gets to be always talking about things like fraud and the only fraud is that they want people to believe they care about our vote and they dont. It is disheartening to me that at this time when people are dealing with so much when they have lost their jobs and cant get there on employment insurance and when kids are hungry and they dont know they can go to school that we play these games instead of making it easier and now people are wondering if they go to the polls if their votes will even count. I dont know of any handwriting experts the work of these elections. My signature is different now than it was it 18 i first registered to vote. It will not be an exact match. They play all these games and i dont have the questions, madam chair, but i want to just say the lets stop the charade and just admit you dont want people to vote just admit that you dont care and it will be better because of these people will know how honest you are. I yield back. Gentle lady yields back in the gentleman from california mr. Aguilar is now recognized for five minutes. Thank you chair, i share the frustration that my colleague chair fudge had with some of the statements we heard, secretary padilla on Election Night americans are used to hearing about projected winners, especially on the night of the election but what some voters might not know are that those projections are based off of unofficial results that often take time to line up with the eventual certified results in the certifying results take time in each jurisdiction and each state and that requirements were that. Could you discuss the process for canvassing election in california and why in some cases it takes more time to ensure the official results are accurate. Certainly and i appreciate the question because it is important for us to set the expectations now both with the press and with the public of what Election Night might be like because i think calpurnia has developed a reputation for taking a while to finish counting ballots and certifying results but it is all for good reason, california we are unique with the size of our electorate. We have 21 million voters off the roll so the sheer volume takes longer than many other states with much smaller populations but some of the people we have in place starting with vote by mail and i mentioned in my testimony we have extensive postmark policies with 17 purposes of this november so, election day we wont even have all the ballots in hand to finish counting. If not weeks depending on the health of the Postal Service for ballots to arrive at county election offices. When the polls close at 8 00 oclock in california we start hearing some members and those are votes that came in early enough to county election offices so they can be prepared and processed and ready to be counted and we start providing preliminary results. The overall experience is that we have defendant decent sense of contact on Election Night but for close contact and for final results it does take weeks because what you referenced, congresswoman, we have a secured a verification process that is happening. California has run the state sameday registration where youre to process the registration before we count the ballots and if there is a need to cast the provisional the ballot and they need to cast a person that the manual but it takes a few minutes but we go to these links to preserve the integrity and the right to vote for every eligible citizen and lets not forget the required postelection audit that every require counter at every election so california, the counties have a month after the election to certify the results and then my office takes another week to certify statewide results in the issue for this november is there are so many other states ramping up significantly possibly for the first time and you think michigan and pennsylvania and ohio, arizona and others if the president ial contest was too close to call on Election Night enough key states we may not know the final outcome for at least a few days and all going back to the misinformation that appears my testimony we will be hearing conspiracy theories and the third to undermine confidence in elections of the public in the present need to know it has maintained the integrity of the process and better to be patient and we to get the vote count right at rough. It is important to set those expectations now and i appreciate it. For the life of me i cant understand why the Ranking Member spends so much time devoted to california and election laws and spreading misinformation about our processes. Maybe he wants to move to california and maybe it is something that is available to him as a private citizen but on august 20 this will go to secretary of state padilla and director, the president mentioned that he might send sheriffs, Law Enforcement to voting locations and later the acting secretary of homeland, ted wolf, said the department lacked the authority and so could you assign how the use of on foresman in prison voting locations could affect turnout as well as other issues and concerns receipt with the possible course of action . Sure, i will try to be desolate, President Trump has been publicly honest about why he tried to undermine the Postal Service meant and he tried to stop vote by mail more recently and sent on freshman officials will monitor polling locations and by the way, both of those actions violate California Law. I want to make that absolutely clear. If you look at the vote by mail forcing people to vote in person in the presence of lawenforcement is against law because it intimates people to vote in person and its a nothing but a recipe to suppress the vote, plain and simple. The gentlemans time has expired but missed wise, if you could very briefly respond and i will go to my final minutes. We have Political Party observers for both parties at drop boxes as well as processing ballots on hand and there is no need to have additional observation if if that is what is needed. Dont mean more people there at the drop boxes as we try to surface our voters and our voters in Washington State can also register all the way up to election day so we have the security we need onsite and were prepared to handle our voters and anything else would cause intimidation concern for election administrators. Thank you very much. I did not want to interrupt but ive got a couple points and im sorry. Did not want to interrupt the witnesses but ive couple points of order to raise but first off, i know some of our colleagues are not following the rules laid out to stand video and keep the video open so i appreciate that reminder going out again and these are the videoconferencing rules that were passed and put into place and the second point of order i would come back to the partisan performance on my colleague, ms. Fudge, who mentioned that i want to allow people clearly my opening stated that i want to stop disenfranchisement and unfair attacks mr. Davis, that is not a point of order. The partisanship is. You will have an oppositional maternity additional opportunity and i now reckon eyes was all for five minutes and you will be heard after that, mr. Davis. I promised mr. Padilla to go back to you to let you finish the expiration of how sending ballots to every registered voter is secure. If you could briefly finish addressing that issue i would appreciate it. In closing, talking about the list of maintenance that every county Elections Office does to maintain the accuracy of the role as best as possible across with corners to remove deceased individuals from the voter rolls or those in prison or felony convictions lose the ability until their time served is done and so they crossreference with the department of corrections and rehabilitation to those search for names as well. Here is the bright spot in automatic Voter Registration in california since the launch the program yes more than two previously eligible unregistered california were added to the rolls and another roughly 5 million individuals that have previously registered were able to update their registration and again to more accurate roles and maybe close to 5 million individuals that were reported the update to confirm that the record is accurate and that is just the transactions to the dmv so a great chunk of our current electorate of recently updated or confirmed the accuracy of their information and we talk about the ballots tool earlier we have another tool online for voters to verify the registration status that is also a core element to our voters Outreach Campaign between now and Election Day Campaign and they can go online and verify their registration so that before county elections get those mail and belt out we send them to the current address and in the interest of time i will acknowledge prior in the conversation and mentioned some of the very safeguards to confirm the integrity of those vote by mail ballots when they come in for verification. Thank you. Ms. Wise, could you address from washington make sure that there is security in these mail in balance. Washington state is signature verification for each of our voters and i can attest myself ive been challenged twice for my signature changing over the years and so if signature start to change we are proactive and reach out to those voters but in vote by mail that is how you ensure the voter voted for their ballot and no one else did but as the secretary padilla already said we do a lot of list maintenance here in Washington State between doing felony checks with courts and Social Security administration and Public Health where mark constantly scanning those voter rolls to make sure they are uptodate and accurate. Your mailing ballots in Washington State to at least twice a year which also keeps the voter rolls uptodate. This user will be secure elections [inaudible] thank you. I would like to talk again about how long it takes. In 2018 speaker ryan was complaining about how long it took for the vote to be counted in california. Obviously, if we are accepting ballots that were postmarked on election day or prior for 17 days after the election we are not even going to have all the ballots in hand by the time you know on election day so what percentage do we think secretary padilla, will be vote by mail and i thought in the note that both parties have observers at all of the secretary of states of the register of voters offices and not a single complaint was filed in 2018, no complete was filed but there was no problem even though people were complaining here in washington and can you address that issue . What percentage of the vote will not even be in hand on election day . So, i mean its tough to ballpark but it would not be surprising if half the ballots were half the votes werent in hand when the polls close on election because of the election that comes in by mail so close to the election day and i mentioned there was one marker during my testimony during the march primary 72 of ballots cast were vote by mail ballots and those majority were coming in by mail and a significant chunk came in through drop boxes and a growing number of people who choose to receive their ballot by mail filling it out at home at their leisure and then dropping them off in person so it would not surprise 72 mark goes up to 80 closer to 90 . Okay. My time has expired so i will turn now to the Ranking Member for his five minutes on the second round and you are recognized mr. Davis. Im glad the witnesses the people watching on cspan get to see why i always say at almost every hearing the biggest threat to our election process and Election Security is partisanship. Its disappointing that a couple of colleagues actually talk about being more partisan. Im the most bipartisan member of Congress According to the Lincoln Center and i would compare with almost all my colleagues about how to row together. It is disappointing that we also see talk about accuracy when it comes to the election process and the accuracy on this hearing from some of my colleagues. The heroes act clearly states that if there is an Emergency Declaration in order that all voters on every registration role would get a ballot mailed to them and that is the bill that was passed. That is what it says. Im not making things up. Im very disappointed that some of my colleagues today have decided to actually be encouraged by the hateful rhetoric that we see in our political environment today. That is the partisanship im talking about. That is the type of rhetoric that allowed my friends to get shot on the baseball fields. Its wrong and by someone who was screaming healthcare while they were firing. Talk about no fraud, we did not see elected member of congress because of ballot harvesting brought in North Carolinas ninth district. Its like groundhog day. Every single [inaudible] it is the same thing and it gets frustrating. Im sorry to the witnesses but mr. Palmer, ive got a question for you. We want to make sure every lawful vote is counted as november and people can vote safely and securely and the eac put out on a bipartisan basis suggested timelines for when states can move to vote by mail and could you briefly explain why it takes a long time to move to vote by mail . Very briefly because i got more questions. Sure, in our discussions. [audio difficulties] most of the states in the country, a majority at least have less than 10 absentee and it takes time for voters to get used to voting by mail and accustomed to the Postal Service transmission which is why often of lockbox has become important but i think we found that coming after covid discussions we need to prepare for increased absentee voting not necessarily transition to all vote by mail systems. Thank you. Ive got to move on down and i apologize but i want to get back to the question i asked secretary padilla, the Election Integrity project found over four to 50000 california registrants on your voter rolls are likely to cease or have moved out of state. Since you receive this letter last april could you tell us approximately how many of these form the 50000 registrants you removed that would get a ballot mailed to them if the provisions in the heroes act were submitted because we are in a National Emergency . Again, i dont have the process numbers for you but we are working with each and every county to perform the ongoing list of maintenance in several counties including Los Angeles County which was a big focus of that effort has recently, for example, mailers have been sent to every registered voter in attempt to identify those that may no longer be at their addresses and verified addresses of those who are and ultimately even if a ballot goes to someone who might have moved doesnt mean that ballot is being cast. That would prevent ballot from being cast by mail. Voter fraud is exceedingly rare to the current safeguards are working. Mr. Secretary, it was not rare enough to not see a member of congress in one of our congressional that was North Carolina, sir, not North Carolinas. But that is the same harvesting process. You brought that up slowly address that but here is the law in california. You just mentioned earlier unfortunately that the and dra is not being followed and that is a lot too, sir. That is why i question california so much because theyre too many questions about what laws you want to follow what laws you actually do and that is a process, i certainly wouldve liked to met with you during the mass conferences we requested we did not get response from her team and they offer again and i would love to sit down with you on an extended basis to have a meeting to talk about these issues to get ten minutes in a partisan hearing is clearly not enough to get the answers and for you to get the answers out if needed so thank you, sir and i appreciate everyones time today. Disappointed in the rhetoric once again but i look forward to our working with our witnesses in the future. The gentlemans time is expired, the gentleman from maryland mr. Raskin is now trekking is for five minutes. You very much. I suppose then the disappointment is mutual on are two sides about the rhetoric. My friend mr. Davis says the biggest threat to elections is partisanship but i started to think about that because of course partisanship is a reflection of a free society under the First Amendment and then we formed clinical parties in the alternative is a oneparty state and a dictatorship and authoritarian state in some kind of strongman putin in russia or war man in hungary or other friends of donald trump around the world and i guess a oneparty state would get rid of the problem of partisanship but the problem with partisanship invading the electoral system so that Katherine Harris in florida in 2000 when she was both the chair of the Bush Campaign and also the head of the election and that certainly is something we got to do with through the system of federalism with the states have moved away from partisan brawlers running election and instead trying to move towards independent nonpartisan administration of our elections but of course the leading partisan in this electoral process is donald trump calls ballot drop boxes and voter security disasters and said he wants to get rid of all the ballots harvesting any tweet we learned that he gave his ballot to a third party to go in mail and then his incessant attacking post office where he opposed what we passed in heroes act and said quote, on national tv, they want 25 billion for the post office and now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all these millions and millions of ballots and it cannot be clearer that that is partisan sabotage of our ability to have a free and Fair Election in the United States of america in 2020. I would like to ask some of our guests who have come from around the country that the partisanship is obvious coming from donald trump and his sycophants but isnt this also an attack on federalism when he attacks with Washington State is doing in terms of its dropoff boxes or if direct mail and voting when they attack california or North Carolina or any state where they think the people will vote against donald trump, they attacked the electoral system but isnt that a serious threat to federalism . Would like to ask ms. Wise and secretary padilla about that. , nonpartisan election official that has appreciated elections of in a nonpartisan way. I think that what i do know is that voters can uniquely appreciate the opportunity to vote by mail and one of the things that worries me is we talk about rejection rates so how do you account good. In line after six hours . I believe in peoples fundamental right to have their ballot wherever they want it and if that is by mail or at a Voting Center we need to provide that opportunity to our voters and for the nonpartisan Election Officials who have dedicated half of my entire ways to run election im saddened to see on on my grandmother was also a postal worker and an Election Administration try to demonize election workers and we are Civil Servants with nonpartisan try to do the good work so our voters can have their voice heard we fundamentally believe that democracy at its finest is when all voices are heard through i question how many people do we move we make them stand in line and have to go to the right place out of 700 places. I appreciate that very much and those that want to play messenger, the Election Officials bring back the result and for the first time in American History we have a president who says will not necessarily follow the results and people were questioning whether he would leave office. This is a deranged situation we are in. Secretary padilla, what about you and would you interpret this as an event against federalism to question state Election Officials about validating processes that evolved over the decades toward greater inclusion inclusion. Will, its both offensive and insulting, not just to state Election Officials but to local Election Officials across the country like ms. Wise in the untold number of volunteers and people who sign up to work and pull records to help administer our election in person and in california we believe in both Election Security and accessibility. It is not an either or and now we have to be worried about accessibility for safety because of the covid19 pandemic. Voter enfranchisement is not voter fraud. It is come up a couple times and want to talk about the options rallies ballots the gentlemans time is expired so i will give you an opportunity to talk about it when it is my turn in the gentle lady from california is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. Adam chair, before ask a question i just wanted to ask consent to enter into the record the set science study dated august 25 by [inaudible] without objection. Okay and i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article from politico. Without objection. [inaudible conversations] i wanted to ask, ms. Reynolds, summit those we pres. Trump i will let you know the third, fourth, 30th or five months later. [laughter] thank you everybody. I appreciate you being here. We love this state, it has been a great state for me and everybody in this room, i can tell you, right . We are joined by governor greg