IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 793 
Condemning all efforts to suppress and intimidate voters in the United States 
and reaffirming that the right to vote is a fundamental right of all 
eligible United States citizens. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 22, 2004 
Ms. WATSON (for herself, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. FILNER, 
Ms. ESHOO, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. HOYER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. 
OWENS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. 
MCDERMOTT, Ms. SOLIS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. 
LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. HONDA, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. LEWIS 
of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. WATERS, 
Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. CLYBURN, 
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. RUSH, Mr. WATT, Mr. 
WYNN, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Ms. MAJETTE, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. 
SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, 
Mr. FATTAH, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. DAVIS of 
Illinois, Mr. FORD, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. LEE, 
Mrs. JONES of Ohio, and Mr. CLAY) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 
to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning all efforts to suppress and intimidate voters 
in the United States and reaffirming that the right to 
vote is a fundamental right of all eligible United States 
citizens.
•HRES 793 IH 
Whereas the ratification of the 15th amendment to the Con-
stitution in 1870 affirmed that the right to vote in the 
United States could not be denied to African Americans 
on account of race; 
Whereas widespread violence throughout the southern United 
States in 1877 was accompanied by the Federal Govern-
ment’s abandonment of policies adopted during the Re-
construction era; 
Whereas the African American vote was ruthlessly suppressed 
through violence, intimidation, and corruption during the 
remainder of the 19th century and the first half of the 
20th century; 
Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 stands today as one 
of the signal legislative achievements of modern history, 
and without its passage into law meaningful voting rights 
for African Americans may not have been secured; 
Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discrimina-
tory requirements such as poll taxes and literacy tests in 
many southern States; 
Whereas the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970 ad-
dressed exclusionary tests used to prevent citizens from 
voting in 20 States throughout the Nation; 
Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 led to a great up-
surge in voter registration, voting, and other forms of po-
litical participation by African Americans throughout the 
southern United States and the rest of the Nation; 
Whereas, despite the gains made by African Americans in se-
curing their right to vote, new roadblocks have been suc-
cessfully erected, including diluting the African American 
vote by switching to at-large elections, preventing African 
Americans from becoming candidates or obtaining office,
•HRES 793 IH 
voter fraud, the discriminatory selection of election offi-
cials, denying African Americans access to precinct meet-
ings, and the harassment and outright exclusion of Afri-
can Americans from polling places; 
Whereas voters in the United States, particularly African 
Americans and other minorities, have faced calculated 
and determined efforts at voter intimidation and suppres-
sion in every national election since the Reconstruction 
era; 
Whereas voter intimidation and suppression are not the prov-
ince of a single political party; 
Whereas examples of voter intimidation and suppression dur-
ing the previous 2 decades include challenges and threats 
against individual voters at the polls by armed private 
guards, off-duty law enforcement officers, local creditors, 
fake poll monitors, and poll workers and managers; signs 
posted at polling places warning of penalties for voter 
fraud and non-citizen voting or illegally urging support 
for a candidate; poll workers assisting voters in filling out 
their ballots and instructing them on how to vote; crimi-
nal tampering with voter registration rolls and records; 
fliers and radio advertisements containing false informa-
tion about where, when, and how to vote, voter eligibility, 
and threats of penalties; roadblocks near polling areas 
that intimidate voters; and internal memos from party of-
ficials in which the explicit goal of suppressing African 
American voter turnout is outlined; 
Whereas there were a number of troubling instances of voter 
intimidation in addition to the myriad technical problems 
during the November 2000 Presidential election in Flor-
ida;
•HRES 793 IH 
Whereas the State of Florida attempted to purge its voter 
lists of alleged felons, predominately African Americans, 
in 2001; 
Whereas the State of Florida attempted to purge its voter 
lists again in 2004, but abandoned its efforts after receiv-
ing national criticism; 
Whereas Florida State police officers entered the homes of el-
derly African American voters in Orlando, Florida, in Au-
gust 2004 and interrogated them as part of an investiga-
tion that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly 
volunteers, and stifled some efforts to encourage African 
Americans to vote in 2004; and 
Whereas, in response to the voting irregularities in Florida, 
the Help America Vote Act of 2002 required States to 
upgrade aging voting equipment, create more accurate 
voter rolls, and make efforts to prevent eligible voters 
from being turned away at the polls: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns in the strongest terms all efforts 
to suppress and intimidate voters in the United 
States; 
(2) reaffirms that voting is a fundamental right 
of all eligible United States citizens; 
(3) urges States to replace decades-old election 
machinery with less error-prone equipment before 
the November 2004 national elections; 
(4) calls upon all States to institute a morato-
rium on the erection of roadblocks or identity check-
•HRES 793 IH 
points designed to racially profile or intimidate vot-
ers on Election Day; and 
(5) calls upon the Attorney General to vigor-
ously monitor and investigate all credible allegations 
of voter intimidation and suppression and to expedi-
tiously prosecute all offenders to the full extent of 
the law. 
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