To revise and extend their remarks and that any written statement be made part of the record. Hearing no objection so ordered. We are here today to examine a state of Voting Rights and election and administration in america. The right for to vote is sacred. We take our responsibility to protect access to the ballot seriously. The subcommittee, our committee as a whole, is charged with overseeing the administration of federal elections. This country has a long history of failing to ensure equal and unencumbered access to the ballot for all citizens. While states and localities have a significant role in carrying out elections, congress cannot abdicate these Critical Response abilities to ensure every eligible american can access the ballot box. Cast to the ballot free from disconnection and suppression and has a steadfast space in our democratic process that there ballot will be counted as cast. Since the beginning of the 100 16th congress the subcommittee has been Holding Hearings across the country convening forums to hear from voting election advocates, experts, community leaders, litigators and voters but the state of Voting Rights and the Election Administration in their communities. We have listen closely closely and collect testimony and evidence regarding the wide range of methods of Voter Suppression and dissemination being deployed across the nation. Throughout our our hearings in texas, Atlanta GeorgiaStanding Rock sioux, north dakota, halifax, halifax, north carolina, cleveland, ohio, birmingham, alabama the subcommittee has heard testimony on barriers new and old. We have heard testimony about how polling place closures consolidations and movements cause confusion for voters and lead to long lines in late wait times that are unacceptable for the integrity of our democracy. How are sections and cutbacks to early voting is a franchise voters, especially those with limited transportation, options or in Flexible Work hours. Strict strict voter id requirements they can be overly burdensome on the poor and minority voters and create a modernday pole fest. Discriminatory practices can disproportionately impact otherwise eligible minority voters. Denying the rights incarcerated individuals fundamentally undermines our legacy continues to deny citizens their constitutional rights. How native American Communities have faced more than 200 years of determination, disenfranchisement and Voter Suppression which continues to this day and is exacerbated when tribes are not consulted when they craft voting laws. Lack of adequate access to properly translate materials, language assistance to some practices protected voters and how litigation section two of voting right ask remains a critical tool protecting the spirit franchise that is not an adequate remedy to enforce such a fundamental right. Todays hearing will expand upon these issues providing us with a National Scope and stories from states the subcommittees have yet to visit. We will hear from experts advocates, litigators and leaders that worked for years to ensure every american can exercise his or her right to vote. Your testimony will help guide this committee as we seek to understand what needs be done to safeguard our elections and guarantee access to the ballot box. Nearly six years after the Supreme Court decided Shelby County beholder we are doing this work is because voters oppression and dissemination still exist. It is our duty as elected members of congress to uphold and defend the constitution and protect the rights of the voter. Chief Justice Roberts himself said voting dissemination still exists and no one doubt that. It is Critical Congress continually examine the state of voting and build a true and contemporaneous record of ongoing dissemination and barriers to vote. That is why were here here today in america is great because the ability to repair her polls. It is the time to set the right example as a democracy and encourage people to vote rather than continuing to erect barriers that seek to suppress the vote in the voices of our communities. There is much work to be done. I will now yield to the remember for your opening statement. Thank you, madam chair. The committee has the extremely important task to conduct oversight of federal elections. Throughout the committees existence for public incentive gets have worked across the aisle to crates in the election policies that widely impact this nation, including legislation to a laminate laminate the poll tax, legislation to great either access to members of the military voting overseas and help america vote act of 2002 piece of legislation that took substantial steps to remedy the problem during the 2000 president ial election. The. The subcommittee was great for the primary purpose to be the extension of passive medication to any of the committees oversight keep abilities of federal elections and how they are administered. Chairman has been leading the subcommittee with the intention to invest it for the right issues in order to create a new formula that will reauthorize section five of the Voting Rights act. Ive been proud to travel to a few of the stops this election subcommittee has participated in throughout the nation and its been an educational experience each and every time. Its a great opportunity for everyone to see how we hear on the side of the dais can Work Together to get things done. Thank you, mdm. Chair for your diligence and thank you for your willingness to talk about these issues not just here in washington dc. Voting rights act enacted in 1965 for the purpose of renewing racial determinations has been a bipartisan effort. It was most recently authorized under public and president and congress and in 2013 the Supreme Court determine section four of the [inaudible] to [inaudible] chief Justice Roberts at the voting right after my five employed extra dairy measures to address extraordinary problem. The court did not weigh in on whether there still is the next ordinary problem the Supreme Court did hold that what made sense at one time may have lost its relevance but noted that nearly 50 years later things have changed dramatically and the ra primary gives the jurisdiction to the house judy at the House Immigration Committee as a navigation to review how elections are administered and recommends any issue should be elevated to a federal level which is what we all hope to do here today. The subcommittee is held and i alluded to his helped seven field hearings and one listening session across the country in an effort to reveal widespread voter dissemination though the subcommittee has yet to find a single citizen who wanted to vote but was unable to cast a vote we still have a duty to the American People to protect and defend everyones right to vote. As i said since coming into my role as Ranking Member of House Admin Committee and the loan number on our side of the aisle, the cassette to our election system is partisanship in the administrative of elections. If theres clear evidence of widespread voter dissemination progress and should steps to remedy that bipartisan manner. Must commit to diligently review the facts and the numbers carefully as well as hear all relevant stakeholders. We should know that trends in the voter turnout trends. Its essential essential for congress to make informed decisions and understanding our role as a system while not overpowering them. The voting is a fun mental right for every single american citizen. To protect that right is responsibly that i and everyone i serve with on my side of the aisle take very seriously. Today im here to listen and learn more from our witnesses about Voting Rights and election in administration and i look forward to hearing from all of you who have agreed to share their testimony with all of you and mdm. Chair, i. E. A back. I think my friend the remember for participating in understanding that our goal is to get to the truth. I appreciate that and thank you. Now i will i will introduce our panel but as i prepare to do that let me give you housekeeping. Each of you will be revised for five minutes and i will remind our witnesses that their entire written statements will be made part of the record and that the record will remain open for five days for additional materials to be submitted. The system which you have in front of it which will tell you how many you have remaining. You will have five minutes. Yellow medium one minute left, red means please wrap up your statement. Our first panel you will hear from christian clark, welcome. As president and executive director and they seek to promote fair housing and community development, economic justice, justice, Voting Rights, equal educational opportunity, criminal justice reform, Judicial Diversity and more. He previously served as the new York State AttorneyGenerals Office and has spent several years at the naacp Legal Defense and Educational Fund and worked as the last apartment of justice at the u. S. To permit of justice for the civil rights division. Welcome. The director of aclu Voting Rights project and im sorry, its been a top tapered director of the aclu Voting Rights project and supervisors this is because it was written on. Supervise the aclu Voting Rights litigation and advocacy work nationwide. Active cases in over a dozen spaces throughout the country and is also an adjunct professor of law at nyu school of law. Prior to joining the aclu there will deal with assisting counsel at the naacp Legal Defense fund and an associate freed Frank Harris Shriver and gibson llp and judicial law clerk. Thank you. Welcome. Dwell ross. Serves a single counsel at naacp Educational Fund and in that capacity mr. Ross use of litigation Public Education and other Advocacy Strategies to ensure that black people have equal access to the pluto process into educational opportunities. Among his ongoing cases mr. Ross lead counsel in greater birmingham administrators and ongoing Voting Rights act lawsuit that challenges alabamas recently discovered tory voter id law. He was a member of the trial team that has coauthored the appellate briefs in dc and the successful challenge to the texas unconstitutional photo id law. Mr. Ross is also an adult professor at the anniversary of Pennsylvania Law School where he teaches a seminar course on the Voting Rights act. Welcome, all. We have been joined by the chair of the committee and the whole committee. Would you like to make thank you. This committee is charged with overseeing the administration of federal elections and in recognition of that response ability we established the subcommittee on elections. The subcommittee has been led by its outstanding chairwoman and has held eight hearings that the country giving voice to many not generally heard in washington dc and convening this hearing today. There are too Many Americans who view themselves as shut out of our representative system and others can participate because of election and Administration Procedures that fail to consider how americans live and work in the 21st century and some of these barriers to participation make it harder for certain populations including communities of color and other underrepresented and this is especially the case after the Supreme Court gutted corporate visions of a Voting Rights act in shelby counsel versus holder. Additionally we know now that foreign agents specifically the russians attempted to interfere in american elections from 2016 and as we interact discuss the full Committee Hearing no single group has been targeted more with this information in africanamericans. That is the Voter Suppression tactics. We do know that for years the house has failed to adequately protect the right to vote in the house allowed to ministry loss to be an active documentary and laws so discriminatory they targeted africanamericans and this is from a court case with surgical precision. The work of the subcommittee on elections is critical to achieving the principle that every american has the right to vote in the right free from dissemination and from and ministry the barriers so cumbersome they suppress the vote. We know it is time for congress to act to ensure equal access to the ballot for every american and i look forward to the test money today and once again i want to thank the chairman and the others on the election subcommittee who worked so hard to gather information throughout the United States for their outstanding work that serves our country so well. With that, i yield back. Thank you for your support if we. We cannot have babies hearings work without you so we appreciate it. Ms. Clark, you are now organized for five minutes. Chairwoman fudge, Ranking Member david, members of the subcommittee on elections, my name is Kristen Clark and i service the president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for summer rights under law. They give for the opportunity to testify today on issues that are confidential to the state fate of american democracy. The Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law has been at the forefront of our nations battle for equal rights and created in 1963 at the request of pres. Kennedy to enlist the private bar in the fight to combat racial discrimination. Our work to safeguard Voting Rights and to fight for his passion has been central to this mission. The Lawyers Committee has been a leader in the core Voting Rights cases over the last several decades and stands at the forefront of current efforts to ensure that our laws safeguard, not restrict, access to to the franchise. The Lawyers Committee also leads the longest running nonpartisan Voter Protection program. In Shelby County beholder chief Justice Roberts observed that quote that things have changed dramatically in the south and since passage of the Voting Rights act and thats blatantly discovered tory evasion the federal degrees are rare. Our experience and the record shows that this percolation was not true in 2013 and remains unto today and they are proliferated moreover the shelby decision opened the gates to dissemination and Voter Suppression and no doubt nation is currently in a period of retrenchment concerning access to the franchise. Since shelby the Lawyers Committee has been involved in 41 cases relating to discovered tory billing practices or policies that have had an adverse effect on the rights of African Americans and other minority voters. These instances are summarized in light written testimony. Twentyfour of these actions were filed since january of 2017 and sadly doj have held no such case in this time frame. All we have achieved substantial success in about three quarters of these 24 cases this is the tip of the iceberg of potential putting Rights Violations that could be challenged by doj where they actively enforce the law in a restored section five. Without the prophylactic protections of section five and given that parts of our country are becoming more racially diverse we have seen Voter Suppression efforts intensify. Examples of the ways in which officials are working to undermine minority Voting Rights are outlined in my testimony and clued barriers to Voter Registration. Draconian draconian requirements imposed on groups that are working to register people to vote perched programs restrictive mandatory photo id laws, polling place closures, polling place moved to hospital locations ineffective languages assistance for lap voters, lines of polling sites due to staffing or machine issues, mass rejection of absentee ballots and Faulty Technology that risks votes not properly counted and systems subject to hacking. Cuts on early voting opportuni opportunity, vote delusion and racially gerrymandered maps. Casebycase litigation is not enough to coun