E26 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks January 7, 2009 

in my Congressional District of northern Illinois, Thomas Middle School, installed a onekilowatt solar array on its roof in November 

2007 with a $10,000 grant from the Illinois 

Clean Energy Community Foundation. The 

photovoltaic panel produced enough energy to 

date to offset more than 730 pounds of carbon 

dioxide. The output so far is equivalent to the 

energy needed to power 6 homes for one day, 

or operate one TV for 2,565 hours. 

Thomas Middle School teachers also use 

the solar array data to help teach students 

about the importance of renewable energy. 

Classes use the information from the solar 

panels in experiments about energy conservation and environmental protection. 

I applaud Thomas Middle School Principal 

Tom O’Rourke and science department chair 

Jay Bingaman for taking such an initiative to 

improve the school, environment and education of their students. 

We are introducing the Green Schools Act 

to encourage schools all around the country to 

follow the example of Thomas Middle School. 

This legislation provides up to $10,000 in 

matching grants for schools to undertake 

green construction and improvement projects. 

The bill would also reauthorize the Qualified 

Zone Academy bonds program, which is used 

to fund renovations and repairs at schools in 

low-income neighborhoods. The bill would require that any improvements or rehabilitations 

be energy efficient. Since its establishment in 

1997, the QZAB program has provided nearly 

$1.7 billion for school improvements projects. 

I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this bill to improve the health and education of our children and provide financial security to schools. 

f 

CAGING PROHIBITION ACT OF 2009 

HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR. OF MICHIGAN

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 

Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, today I 

rise to introduce the Caging Prohibition Act of 

2009, a much needed reform to our election 

system. As the 111th Congress focuses on 

election fixes and greater voter protections, 

this legislation is a critical contribution to such 

efforts. Prohibitions on voter caging will ensure 

that our democracy lives up to the belief that 

every eligible citizen is entitled to the right to 

vote. 

Voter caging, though just recently given 

media attention, is a disenfranchisement tactic 

that has been around for over 50 years. This 

undemocratic tactic often involves sending 

mail to voters at the addresses at which they 

are registered to vote. Should such mail be returned as undeliverable or without a return receipt, voters’ names are placed on a ‘‘caging 

list,’’ that list then being used to challenge voters’’ eligibility. 

Those suggesting that voter caging is necessary to weed out ineligible voters must recognize this practice is unreliable and dangerous for such purposes. Mail may be returned as undeliverable for any number of reasons unrelated to an individual’s eligibility to 

vote. For example, mail is returned due to 

typos, transposed numbers, new street 

names, and improper deliveries. 

Voters in my home State of Michigan have 

been subjected to voter caging controversies 

in the last two Presidential elections. In the 

2008 election, a voter caging strategy meant 

to politically capitalize on the subprime mortgage crisis was identified. Those voters whose 

homes had been subjected to foreclosure 

were targets for caging on the basis that they 

no longer resided at the addresses at which 

they registered to vote. 

During the 2004 election, challengers monitored every single one of Detroit’s 254 polling 

stations. This strategy was consistent with a 

Michigan lawmaker’s effort to ‘‘suppress the 

Detroit vote.’’ It was widely accepted that this 

statement was synonymous with ‘‘suppress 

the Black vote,’’ as Detroit is 83 percent African American. 

Our most vulnerable voters racial minorities, 

language minorities, low-income people, the 

homeless, and college students—always seem 

to be targeted for caging and other voter suppression campaigns. However, all voters are 

susceptible to voter intimidation and suppression. For example, during the 2004 election, 

Ohio and Florida caging lists included the 

names of soldiers whose mail had been returned as undeliverable because they were 

stationed overseas. 

It is because no one is immune to caging 

and other disenfranchisement tactics, that I 

have introducing the Caging Prohibition Act. 

This bill is really quite simple, as it one, requires election officials to corroborate their 

caging documents with independent evidence 

before a voter can be deemed ineligible. And 

two, limits all other challenges that do not 

come from election officials to those based on 

personal, first-hand knowledge. 

By eliminating caging tactics, we restore 

what has been missing from our elections— 

fairness, honesty, and integrity. I ask that my 

colleagues in the Congress join me in supporting the Caging Prohibition Act of 2009. 

Please stand with me in protecting the very 

core of our democracy. 

f 

INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT 

OF COLUMBIA HOUSE VOTING 

RIGHTS ACT OF 2009 

HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today I am 

introducing, I believe for the last time, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, simultaneously with our Senate partners, Senators JOE LIEBERMAN and ORRIN HATCH. The 

bill we introduce today also will add two permanent House seats, the first increase in 96 

years. It therefore carries a triple bonus: the 

first vote for the District of Columbia after 212 

years, an additional seat for Utah, and two 

new permanent seats for the House of Representatives itself. The citizens of the District 

of Columbia are deeply grateful for the persistent partnership and bipartisan dedication 

that Senator LIEBERMAN and Senator HATCH

continue to bring to this bill, and for the continued support of Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. 

Because of the importance to the city of 

achieving the vote after more than two centuries, the D.C. House Voting Rights Act is my 

first bill of the 111th Congress. This year we 

introduce the bill as members of the armed 

services from the District of Columbia are 

again engaged in war abroad. In gratitude for 

the service of our residents serving today, and 

of those who have served since our country 

was founded, I dedicate the bill this year to 

the first soldier from the District to die for his 

country in the Iraq War, 21-year-old D.C. National Guard Specialist Daryl Dent, and to the 

District’s first unknown soldier to die after picking up arms to fight for liberation on the promise of no taxation without representation. Although two centuries apart, the first to die in 

these wars had in common fighting for the 

vote. Our first residents here fought in the War 

for Independence. Specialist Dent gave his life 

ensuring the vote for Iraqi citizens, a right he 

did not live to get for himself. 

Today’s bill is the first in the Free and Equal 

series of bills that I will introduce this session 

to complete the full roster of citizenship rights 

for residents of the Nation’s capital that the 

first soldiers were promised and for which today’s soldiers continue to give their lives and 

their service for our country. There can be no 

doubt that the revolutionaries who invented 

America’s most quoted national slogan did not 

create a new Nation in order to get the vote, 

only to turn around and deny the vote to the 

citizens of their capital. 

This bill was passed by the House in the 

110th Congress, thanks to Speaker NANCY

PELOSI, who has long fought for the rights of 

D.C. residents and personally insisted that this 

legislation go forward as a bill of historic importance; Majority Leader STENY HOYER, my 

long-time regional friend, who has been an especially outspoken champion of this bill; Judiciary Chairman JOHN CONYERS, who gave the 

bill his priority attention, emblematic of the 

strong support he has always brought to our 

rights throughout his long service in Congress; 

and Chairman HENRY WAXMAN, who as ranking member and then as chair of the Oversight 

and Government Reform Committee, also was 

a central figure in ensuring passage; and 

many others among my colleagues in both 

Chambers and both parties, who have made 

special efforts for passage of the D.C. House 

Voting Rights Act. My special thanks to Tom 

Davis, my good friend and a strong partner on 

this bill, who retired at the end of last session. 

It was Tom’s idea to pair the District with Utah 

after Utah narrowly missed getting a seat following the last census. I will always be grateful to Tom for the unfailing bipartisan spirit that 

characterized all his work as chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, especially his consistent respect for home rule 

and for affording me every opportunity to fashion this bill when he was a member of the Republican majority and I was a minority member. I must also thank the two important coalitions of organizations that have led this fight. 

the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 

whose leader, Wade Henderson, also has 

been a close advisor throughout the many 

years of this struggle, and D.C. Vote and its 

leader, Ilir Zherka, who gave our bill a big 

quantum leap in strength it never had before 

through a superior indispensable grassroots 

organization that was born to lead the successful lobbying strategy here and nationwide 

and that singlehandedly raised the funds necessary to make D.C.’s struggle a national 

campaign. 

There is every reason to believe that the 

D.C. bill will finally prevail this year. The bill 

easily passed in the House in 2007, and now 


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January 7, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E27 

has an estimated 64 votes in the Senate, considerably more than the 60 needed. The addition of seven Democratic senators, who replaced seven Republican opponents of the bill, 

together with the eight remaining Republicans 

who supported the bill, should assure that our 

bill will have significantly more than the 57 

Senate votes it received in 2007. We are 

equally encouraged that President-elect 

Barack Obama, who was a co-sponsor of the 

bill in the Senate, will sign the D.C. House 

Voting Rights Act when it reaches his desk. 

My service in Congress has been defined 

by the search for ways to get full representation for the city where my family has lived 

since before the Civil War. That search has 

been guided by the pursuit of the maximum 

that was possible, including the two-day debate followed by the first and only vote on 

statehood more than 10 years ago, the vote I 

won in the Committee of the Whole during my 

second term, and the ‘‘No Taxation Without 

Representation’’ Act for votes in both the 

House and Senate. Our struggle has always 

been driven by what was required but we also 

have insisted on all that was possible, as with 

the District’s first floor vote, the Committee of 

the Whole vote on some but not all matters on 

the House floor and the Home Rule Act, the 

path-breaking bill enacted before I came to 

Congress that gave the city partial self-government. 

The Congress. which has always been divided by regional and parochial concerns, virtually never does all that is required at one 

time, even granting a vote to American citizens who are second per capita in Federal income taxes paid to support their Government 

and served in every war, including the war 

that created our country. However, the people 

of the District of Columbia have never ceased 

demanding the full measure of their rights, 

while insisting on all that is possible for each 

generation. The people of the Nation’s proud 

capital will never give up until achieving their 

full rights as American citizens. Today’s bill is 

another big step to achieve full and equal citizenship. 

f 

INTRODUCTION OF DECEPTIVE 

PRACTICES AND VOTER INTIMIDATION PREVENTION ACT OF 

2009 

HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR. OF MICHIGAN

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 

Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, today I 

rise to introduce the Deceptive Practices and 

Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2009. During our elections, including the 2008 election, 

we have witnessed numerous attempts, some 

of them successful, to disenfranchise our eligible voters. Deceptive practices and voter intimidation, age-old voter disenfranchisement 

tactics, continue to keep voters away from the 

polls today. 

The Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act is a critical effort in ensuring fairness and integrity in our elections. It is 

a direct response to the fraudulent tactics 

used to undermine our elections. Every eligible voter should be able to vote free of intimidation, harassment, and harm. 

Numerous accounts indicate that deceptive 

practices have been employed throughout the 

country in our elections. Voters have been told 

to vote on the wrong day. They have been 

told they could not vote with outstanding parking tickets. Ultimately, they were misled, deceived, and disenfranchised. 

During the 2008 election, a phony flyer circulated in Virginia telling Democratic voters 

that they were to vote on Wednesday instead 

of Tuesday. During the 2006 midterm, Latino 

voters in Orange County, California, were 

threatened with incarceration if they voted and 

African American voters in Prince George’s 

County, Maryland were given fliers with false 

endorsements. As evidenced in California and 

Maryland, our most vulnerable voters—immigrants and minorities—are often those voters 

that are targeted for deceptive practices. 

No matter who is targeted for these tactics, 

however, such actions are despicable and 

those responsible for them must be held accountable. This country’s long history of voter 

suppression must end now. We must protect 

the right to vote for all of our citizens and that 

is what this legislation will enable us to do. 

Under this legislation, those that engage in 

deceptive practices and voter intimidation will 

be held accountable. Deceptive electioneering 

practices are clearly defined and prohibited so 

there is no confusion as to the rights and protections afforded voters. 

Additionally, the Federal Government will be 

held responsible for protecting and advancing 

the right to vote. The Attorney General and 

the Department of Justice are required to 

combat and counteract deceptive practices. 

These measures will ensure that voters are 

not left to fend for themselves when their right 

to vote is threatened. 

If we allow deceptive practices and other 

such behavior to continue, we jeopardize the 

very core of our democracy, the right to vote. 

I ask that my colleagues in the Congress 

stand with me in support of this legislation, so 

that we may begin eliminating barriers to the 

polls. 

f 

INTRODUCTION OF THE VOTING 

OPPORTUNITY AND TECHNOLOGY 

ENHANCEMENT RIGHTS (VOTER) 

ACT OF 2009 

HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR. OF MICHIGAN

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 

Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, today I 

rise to introduce the Voting Opportunity and 

Technology Enhancement Rights or VOTER 

Act of 2009. I introduce this legislation, more 

than 200 years after the founding of our democracy, because we have yet to realize a 

government that is truly representative of the 

principle, ‘‘of the people, by the people.’’ Not 

until every eligible voter has the opportunity to 

cast a ballot and have that ballot counted, will 

we have a proper democracy. 

Though the 2008 Election did not present 

the widespread irregularities and improprieties 

that were witnessed during the 2000 and 2004 

Elections, it was still an election in which voter 

disenfranchisement was attempted and accomplished. Voters’ names are still missing 

from voter rolls. Voter harassment and intimidation continues. 

In fact, over the years, the methods that are 

used to disenfranchise voters have just become more contemporary and sophisticated 

as evidenced during the 2008 Election. For 

example, in my home State of Michigan, in the 

midst of the current subprime mortgage crisis, 

a strategy to challenge a voter’s eligibility 

based on home foreclosure status was devised. In Virginia, a flyer telling Democrats to 

vote on Wednesday November 5, 2008, circulated. 

Anything short of a perfect election system 

is unacceptable. I have introduced VOTER so 

that we may work towards a more perfect system, one that reflects legitimacy, integrity, and 

inclusivity. VOTER will protect and expand 

voting rights in Federal elections, as well as 

ensure the proper administration of Federal 

elections. 

VOTER will: 

(1) provide for a uniform Federal write-in absentee ballot; 

(2) require States to provide for a verified 

audit trail; 

(3) count provisional ballots cast in the proper State; 

(4) properly allocate voting machines and 

poll workers; 

(5) provide for election day voter registration; 

(6) protect against improper purging of registration lists; 

(7) mandate early voting; 

(8) require verification and audit ability for 

punch cards; 

(9) simplify voter registration requirements; 

(10) allow voter identification by written affidavit; 

(11) provide for a study of nonpartisan election boards; 

(12) strengthen the EAC with funding and 

resources; 

(13) require the EAC to (a) enhance training 

for election officials; (b) require the use of 

publicly available open source software; (c) 

provide uniform standards for vote recounts; 

and (d) prohibit voting machine companies 

from engaging in political activities; 

(14) prohibit deceptive practices and intimidation; 

(15) prohibit caging and other questionable 

challenges; 

(16) restore voting rights to former felons; 

and 

(17) treat Election Day as a federal holiday. 

Some of these initiatives have already been 

implemented by States, the success of which 

was observed during the 2008 Election. There 

are 32 States that currently provide early voting, including Florida, a State that witnessed 

over one million voters turn out to the polls the 

weekend before the election. There are also 

28 States that currently provide no-excuse absentee voting. 

Such practices were critical to managing an 

unprecedented voter turnout. More than 130 

million people turned out to vote in the 2008 

Election, the highest turnout in any presidential election. With this many longtime and 

new voters engaged in the 2008 election process, I suspect that voter participation will only 

increase in 2012. 

As such, we must pledge to fight for election 

reform in this Congress. The right to vote and 

to have that vote counted is one of our democracy’s most fundamental principles. It is 

with VOTER that I intend to protect this fundamental principle, and I ask that my colleagues 

in this Congress join me in this fight for fair 

and just elections. 


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