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. 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with REMARKS