Advisory commission which we just saw. This briefing is 30 minutes. All right. Good morning, everyone. My name is michael blake, one of the vice chairs for the Democratic National committee. Thank you for joining us on today. We are grateful we are here with chair of dnc commission, and also president of the vote who is vice chair of the commission we have which well talk about in ha moment. Secretary of state from california alex pa da an are here to join us today. We are here because we know President Trump has brought forth a commission having first meeting today around the myth of voter fraud which we consistently and regularly reject. Our job should be making it easier for people to vote, no the harder. And so we have come forward to create a commission that is focusing on what are we going to do to protect the opportunity for americans to vote across the country. Well be here to make sure we provide consistent response to the Trump Administration. When you have leaders that have demonstrated trying to find more ways for people to have difficulty to vote is the reason we are pushing back. We are expanding the work under our voice chair, Karen Carter Peterson who is overseeing Voter Participation to find more ways for people to vote. We understand, we hear this nonsensical vote of voter fraud. It is not happening. We are not seeing that. But we what we are seeing is that people need to have more opportunities of a chance to go vote. And we are committed to that here at the dnc. As part of that work weve launched the dnc commission to protect the american democracy from Trump Administration. We will not allow them to move forward in manner to hurt our communities. And as you see their chair both for republicans that are on that commission have found ways to push back against us. The commission that we have pulled together though is to make sure we have the democratic response, to demonstrate that we are serious at making sure we push back. And what we hear from the Trump Administration, find more ways to people vote. We should be finding ways for people to have more access to vote. We should find ways for people to get registered. We should be talking about vote by mail, and early voting and opportunities for more of our opportunities to be engaged rather than the fear thats coming from the Trump Administration. As we saw, the Trump Administration and the commission requesting data which was obviously soundly rejected across the country in a bipartisan manner to demonstrate that is not what we should be pursuing. Lastly, this is our continual attempt of demonstrating the new vision of the Democratic Party of saying we will come together and show our leadership in all aspects, whether it be in the federal government, the states, or cities, to say people should it be having an opportunity to vote, not have their votes taken away. So with that, great leader out of the state of missouri and across the country, the chair of our commission, jason candor. Switch places. Thanks, mike, i appreciate it. Thank all of you for coming. Thank you very much. Let me start by talking about how it is that the Trump Commission actually got started in the first place. It is important for us to remember how this started. It started with the biggest lie that a sitting president has ever told when President Trump said three to five illegal voters had voted in the election. Noul when he did that most americans looked at that and saw a deeply insecure human being who was trying to sooth his own eggo about margin of loss in the popular vote. People thought maybe thats all this was. I think there is truth to that. But more than that. That is why you have not seen paul ryan or other elected Republican Leaders stand up and say thats not true. The reason you havent seen that is it fits in perfectly with what their strategy is, which is to get a lie like that out into the conventional wisdom. Because if people believe that, it makes a difference. So this commission started as a way to try and justify the biggest lie a president has told, this being the Trump Administration. But it has more more morphed and what it has become is something different. Voter suppression has been. I was the chief election in a state republican super majority. Ive seen the gop suppression playbook up close. And heres what it is. Its three steps. Step one is to undermine faith in american democracy so that People Police drastic measures have to be taken. Step two is to put up obstacles to voting. Step three is to put up obstacles to those obstacles. Thats how it works. And what you are seeing from the Trump Commission, what i referred to as the Voter Suppression committee to reelect the president , what you are seeing from them is step one in that process. And its important to remember this is not really they pretend it is, but its not really a policy difference between the parties. It is a political strategy from the Republican Party that goes back decades now. Tan heres what its about. Its not for them about, their political strategy is not about trying to reach out and include groups like minorities, women, low income folks, the disabled, its not about crafting policies that might include them. Instead they have this political strategy of excluding them from the political process by making it harder for certain folks to vote including them. So the idea is that if they can keep them from voting they can win elections. So it shouldnt be viewed as a policy difference. It should be viewed for what it is. Which is a political strategy for them thats no different than where they run their tv ads who mailers or whose doors they knock on. That is about Voter Suppression for them. Finally we should talk about two things, this data grab, and second who is on their commission. This recent attempt theyve made to grab up this data and this database of information that includes your Political Party demonstrates that, what this probably is is attempt to figure out who you voted for so they can decide whether or not to push you off the rolls. Thats why youve seen bipartisan opposition. Thats why youve seen the mississippi secretary of state you can jump off in mexico. In terms of Voter Suppression, already started from in chigs, and reports from around the country, we are encouraging people to do opposite, to help their friends get registered, but we are seeing people across the country so concerned they are pulling their Voter Registrations which is immediate Voter Suppression. You look at who is leading their commission. Vice president pence is history of attacking patriotic Voter Registration drives. Thats what it is its pay reot ic. You have folks like hans who was tucan throw verse al to be a member of the federal Election Commission and now they think he should be on this commission. And finally you have secretary of state crisco back is somebody that i have some familiarity with. When i went to my First National of secretary of states meeting five years ago, when president obama was putting forward a package of legislation to try to make voting more convenient, he stood up and said his commission to do so and legislation to do so was wrong. That the federal government should have no role in any of this. That its complete over reach. Well now that President Trump is in power he has a different view. He is somebody that is lead suppresser in this country. Loads of taxpayer dollars to prove voter fraud and has been completely unsuccessful. And last thing i would say is we have already had this argument in our country. American heros marched an across a bridge in selma for the simple idea that we all count and we all get a right to vote. And we are fortunate to be join today by congressman who is vice chair of this commission, who is the cochair of the Voting Rights caucus and house of representatives, and just is an incredible champion for Voting Rights. So congresswoman. Thanks, jason. I want to begin by saying that while i dont believe in our president s baseless voting fraud claims and dont believe that we can trust this administration with the facts, and while i am deeply disturbed by the characters who the president has chosen to put on his commission, i do agree with our president on one important point. Our elections are in need of repair. And the American People deserve solutions that will strengthen our democracy. Over the past decade our country has seen a new wave of Voter Suppression tactics that keep low income and minority voters from casting their ballots. Our election in stra truck youre is out of date. And we need to protect our elections from online threats and cyberattacks. The integrity of this is at risk but not voter fraud. If the president is truly concerned with the integrity of the elections which this commission has been charged to do, there is some real questions that our democracy faces. Like what can we do to ensure that every american is able to participate in our democracy . How can we restore the Voting Rights act of 1965 and our nations most powerful protections . How can we make sure the states are up to date technology to run elections . I had the Great Fortune on sitting on the House Committee and i can tell you our elections are in trouble. There is Election Integrity but its not because of voter fraud. Its because of Voter Suppression. And because of our outdated infrastructure. So there are lots of things that bru President Trump can be doing to actually help americans in this democracy have better elections. But this commission is not one of them. As jason said, i have the great honor of representing my hometown of selma, alabama, as well as birmingham, montgomery the old civil rights district in congress, and i can tell you that people died and bled for the right to vote. And its unacceptable that this president would make the mockery out of voting that has a commission thats focused on voter fraud and not suppression. This is very personal to me. Because so many of my constituents marched across that bridge, died, fought for the right for all americans to have access to the ballot box. Your vote is your voice. And we here on this commission, the dncs commission, well hear will make sure that the voices of the excluded are not always the voices of the voiceless. We plan to be that voice. And i can tell you, President Trump, that well be watching your commission. We will be making sure your commission stays on task. Because there are integrity issues with our election process, but voter fraud is not the problem. It truly is Voter Suppression. I look forward to working with jason and the rest of the commission. I am honored today to introduce next alex padilla who is the secretary of state for california who is a champion and fighting on behalf of voter integrity for those people in california and across this nation. Alex. Thank you. Thank you representative and thank you jason and everybody thats gathered here today. Its my honor to serve on this commission as well. And, yes, this is a big day, big day for democracy. Because very soon trumps president ial Advisory Commission on voter integrity will meet for the first time, but theyll meet behind closed doors with no ability for the public to attend, no ability for the public to view what they are going to be doing, and no opportunity for the public to begin to hold them accountable for this journey that they are on now. And its understandable why. Because its clear that they refuse to invite american citizens to witness what the Trump Administrations agenda really is, and thats to roll back the clock on Voting Rights and attack our democracy. As jason pointed out the commission was created for a number f reasons. Number one, to sooth the president s eggo. He lost the popular vote and cant do that. And what he does in response makes up the lie about millions of votes across the country. We have invited him back and have yet to see one sled of evidence from team trump to back this up. What does he do instead . He creates this Sham Commission to strengthen the integrity of our elections, we are using their quotes here, because we know what the truth is when it comes to voter fraud. There have been studies. There have been investigations. There have been reports issued. And they all say the same thing. Voter fre voter fraud is extremely rare and isolated. So if thats not where this commission is going, where are they going . We dont have to guess. Look at the memo that secretary coback presented to then president elect trump during the transition. It laid out a Clear Strategy to attack and undermine the national Voter Registration act. Thats where this commission is going. And that is an attack on our democracy itself. The 1993 national Voter Registration act, with i hich b way was passed on bipartisan basis, has been one of the most important pieces of federal legislation that protects our Voting Rights, specifically as it pertains to facilitating people who are eligible registering to vote. This commission is working to the contrary. They are clearly working to make it harder for eligible americans to register and to vote. And its not just secretary coback. Look at some of the other appointees of this commission. Kent blackwell, Jay Christian adams, hans vance, pcht akasky, these gentlemen have been clearly documented have spent decades on Voting Rights. They are going backwards on the Voter Registration and voter right itself. You know, when the commission, even before meeting by the way, first hands out the letter to states requesting an unprecedented amount of personal information on every voter in america. The letter was signed by secretary coback, not the Vice President , it was a dangerous request, an invasion of privacy for every voter in america. California was one of the first, but thankfully we are not by far the only state to push back and say no. Sen since then youve seen republican and Democratic Senators alike push back on this dangerous voter data on all americans. And just yesterday in court papers the commission has admitted what do they intend to do with the data that they can collect . They want to store it on white house computers, have white house personnel have direct access to this data. Thats unacceptable. And its dangerous. It violates privacy and Voting Rights. And it goes contrary to every cybersecurity recommendation any expert would give you. I know california has spoken. Californians have spoken, we do not want our Sensitive Information in the hands of trump and anybodys purpose is to dismantle Voting Rights in america t and i as secretary of state on behalf of many of my colleagues will not allow it. Inde indeed tens of thousands of americans have done their thoughts, they did it electronically, because that was the only thing to submit thoughts. Tens of thousands have sent to their commission. And they are saying no hands off our personal information. And whether its intention al or unintentional, its clear to me that trump and Republican Congress are looking in the wrong direction. So if they were genuine about strengthening the integrity of our elections, we have the blueprint for what they should be working on. Number one, dont investigate the American People. Investigate russia. The Intelligence Community is it unanimous and clear in their findings that russian interfered with the 2016 election. And every day that goes by, that the president and administration continues to deny it, is one day less that we have to prepare for the 2018 elections and to maximize the security and integrity of elections going forward. Number two, as has been stated, lets fund new systems in the United States of america. The last time the federal government was a true partner in funding, upgrading, and adding secure systems to our elections was in 2002, when the help america vote act was passed, also on a bipartisan basis. Number three, dont eliminate, fund the eac, the election assistant commission. The very body we look to that sets the Security Standards for voting systems in the country. The very body we look to to aggregate data of whats not working in administrations to make it better for voters to secure the American Congress is seeking to eliminate it. But we need them more than ever. And four secure the voter right an attacks. Because they have come in the last several years since the supreme courts decision on shelby v holder, Voting Rights act, it has opened the requirements to the Voter Suppression laws running rampant state by state and we now see as single agenda for this Fraud Commission and we will not stand for it. Its now my honor to introduce from the state of texas. Thank you. Thank you, alex. And thank you to jason candor and terry soule for chairing this commission, the dnc commission. Thank you to alex. And everybody who has been part of this effort to speak up against the Trump Commission that undoubtedly will strip away the rights of so Many American voters throughout the country. Voting should not be an obstacle course. The problem that we have in the United States of america is not that too many many people vote too often, its that not enough people vote in each of our elections. And i say that coming from the state of texas, which has among the worst records, if not the worst record, in trying to do everything that it can, because of its leaders, greg abbott and other republican state leaders, trying to do everything that it can to suppress the vote, repeatedly federal court after federal court has found that the State Government has violated the rights of so many texans, including African American and hispanic. So when we think about this, that the coback commission will likely be promoting, which is really la political point shaving process. They realize 95 of people may have the approved i. D. Necessary to go vote, but how many elections can you win in that 3 or 5 difference . And to speak very specifically to that, the other day i came across a study of harris county. Harris county is the largest county in texas, several Million People in harris county. And in the 2016 election they were surveyed and people said one big reason they didnt vote is they didnt have the state i. D. In other words they are having the effect that was not coincidental but intended that is the political point shaving that is intended. And if we allow this Trump Administration to be successful, then it wont be texas and several other states that will have this problem, this will be a problem for all americans throughout the country. And whats the result in the great state of texas . Texas consistently ranks in the bottom 3, sometimes last in Voter Participation, election after election. So many will people are disenfranchised. So many people have decided or been kept from going to vote. I think its also important to realize that there are other measures that they are likely to take on this Trump Commission to disenfranchise voters. Let me give you one example from 2011 in texas that didnt get as much attention in voter i. D. But i think is just. So what the legislature did back then, it used to be if you were going to register people vote in texas, you only had to deputized an across the street, just one place in texas. They changed the law so if you wanted to register voters, you had to get registered in each of the 250 counts, in other words you had to get registered for every county you were trying to register voters in. So for harris county, you could only register voters in harris county, you could nt go to neighboring county. So we have to be watchful behind the scenes smaller efforts that also represent obstacle after obstacle. When you combine Something Like voter i. D. With gerrymandering, you can see the incredible negative effect that it has on our participatory democracy. Ive said before, and ill speak for myself, that politicians should no longer be drawing their own political districts. We have to get to a point like california where you have a non bipartisan or non bipartisan position thats drawing across the country, then i believe the americans will feel the process is fairer and feel more invested in that political process. We should be moving to a place of automatic Voter Registration. Why is it that we still have a system where its two steps in order to be able to vote . I hope one day that we can get to a place of online voting, but as terry and i know well as our work on the intelligence committee, the first thing we have to do is secure our voting systems. I have been shocked, as Many Americans have been, that Trump Administration has not lifted a finger to do anything about, which is the fact that there is no law on the books that requires those who run our lexus temps, whether its counties or states, to do a single thing to guard our voting systems. There is no basic minimum requirement for cybersecurity protection of our voting systems that exist in the United States. And that is a tragedy. And thats the real danger to our democracy. And so thank everybody for their effort. We are going to be watching what this Trump Commission does. I know the American People will also be watching. And again we need to do Everything Possible to make sure more people vote, not to make it harder for americans to vote. With that, wed be happy to answer any questions that you all have. David smith. Do you feel as concerted effort to target african American Voters in particular given the majority of the democratic . Yes. Anybody else . I think its no coincidence that the target has been in vulnerable communities of color. Brown and black communities all across this nation. But we cant under estimate the fact that the disabled and our Senior Citizens and young folks are also disadvantaged as well. And i think if you take nothing away from this press conference, i hope that you take away the fact that we as elected officials should be about making it easier for people to vote, not harder. And the fact that the Trump Administration put this forward that there would be other issues, instead of asking for personal identification, it is a travesty, and i think the person people deserve better. And thats what we hope to work on. Obviously its a lot of targeting. I think that one North Carolina court, Appellate Court said its with precision, surgical precision that these voter i. D. Laws were crafted in order to surgical precision target africanamerican communities. But its communities of color all across the country but as well as disabled. My father was disabled. And while he was highly motivated to go vote, because i was on the ballot, and the state of alabama had initiated a voter i. D. Law after the shelby that no longer let him go vote with a valid issued i. D. Card Social Security card. Instead the state of alabama has a special voter card. And the fact that it took my family a couple of hours to get my dad ready dressed to go to the county courthouse, and that county courthouse happened to be grandfathered into the american d disability act so it didnt have to have a ramp. Helped my dad up the steps only to find out that the voting registration office, which is on the second floor, the one elevator in the small county courthouse, was out of order. By the time they got someone to fix it, because they were highly motivated to help my dad get to his photo i. D. , the person was out to lunch. Its not about counting how much marbles are in a jar anymore, b but these are modern day barriers that are just as dangerous that stop americans from exercising their right to vote. So i think this commission will, we will be watching, but america should be watching as well. And there is lots that we can be doing to make sure that we protect Election Integrity. But this sham of commission is not one of them. Others . Can i try one more . Sure. The president made that claim on twitter millions of people voted. I know you reject that. Do you have a rough estimate of what the true figure is . Talking tens or hundreds of thousands . You can look at kansas, the person leading this commission, not this one, but the other commission, is secretary of state covac from kansas who spent just tons of dollars, kansas taxpayer dollars to try and prove the idea that there was all sorts of illegal voting going on. I think they ended up in 11. 7 million ballots, i think they found 9 cases and it wasnt necessarily what the president was describing. Look, this is a lie. I mean, hes the president , and we are americans, so we would really prefer to be polite. Right. Not just us, but as a country, thats our reaction. When the president tells the biggest lie that a president has ever told, our natural inclination, goodhearted inclination is to try to give the benefit of the doubt we possibly can. But there is no word you can use to describe this other than it is a lie. Its a lie. And as secretary of state as veg convened recently with colleagues across the country, hears the president s lies in content. First, no truth to the claims, not a shred of evidence. But what he does is calls into integrity, not just every secretary of state or chief elections officer in the country, but the county elections directors across the land, both republican and democrat, and the countless volunteers who give of their time to serve the nation as poll workers, to suggest there is massive voter fraud is to impugn the integrity of so many people who work so hard for the right to vote, to defend the right to vote, and for those who facilitate americans exercising the right to vote. And what does the president do . He ignores what the russians did in 2016 and chooses to investigate americans . Thats wrong. And thats un democratic and un american. Anybody else . Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. We are going to take a group picture. My camera person is right here. We are looking right here. One, two, three. All right. Thank you. On friday Sara Huckabee sanders will discuss her involvement in politics as daughter. Why she joined the trump campaign. And her approach to the job as deputy secretary. Watch it 8 00 p. M. Eastern on c span 3. You can also watch on. Organize or the app. Heres a preview. So walk us through a typical day for Sarah Huckabee sanders. I dont know if there is a typical day but usually starts around 5 00 a. M. I have only one early riser, so my 3yearold spend time with him before i leave, and get to the office earlier enough to read through and catch up on any news that took place before i went to bed. Then we start with the series of Staff Meetings around 7 15 talking about the news of the day, prepping for what we want the message of the day to look like, and responding to any stories that may be coming up. And, you know, from there every day is a little different than the one before, which is one of the reasons i love what we do, is that no two days are alike, and every day presents new challenges and gives us a new way to be part of the administration. And you get home when . It varies, but usually anywhere between, you know, it could be 7 00 to 10 00 at night. How do you approach the media in general . I think the same way relations with media, the way i approach it is the same way i approach any other relationship. I grew up in the south so being hospital ability is something i think was ingrained in me at an early age, try to take in my workplace, and everything that i do there. So i try, even though when i disagree, i try to be diplomatic and gracious about it. But sometimes we have to be pretty aggressive and push back, but i trooy to do that in a way that is polite but also strong and not weak. C span washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up thursday morning, South Carolina discusses his call for civil ill at this and talks about the nully National Task force. Be sure to watch c span live on thursday morning. Join the discussion. Sunday night on afterwards, journalist says smear tactics in Public Opinion in the book the smear how fake news control what you see, think, and how you vote. Interviewed by Washington Post. So you dont stick up for mccain, you hammer the watch po Washington Post who you feel has not reported. As opposed to donald trump why are you smeearing him . But, number two, im not here to cheer on or defend them. I think the media behavior, and people do mistake when you criticize media behavior, or when i do criticize how it does trump. Its not that im cheering him on. I see them as separate things. But it is misread often as you must be supporting him or not like dpchlt or y because you said this. And it has nothing to do with that. Its looking at what i see is fair or accurate Media Coverage about the can dit and i have spoken out pretty freely. Watch afterwards sunday night
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