Title: Calling upon all candidates for Federal office to respect the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power and reject any efforts to prevent people from exercising their right to vote.
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
This resolution calls upon all candidates for federal office to respect the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power. It also rejects efforts to prevent people from exercising their right to vote.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1159 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1159

Calling upon all candidates for Federal office to respect the American 
 tradition of the peaceful transfer of power and reject any efforts to 
          prevent people from exercising their right to vote.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2020

Mr. Payne (for himself, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Welch, Mr. Takano, Mr. Huffman, 
 Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Meeks, Ms. 
  Norton, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Bass, Mr. Rush, Ms. Judy Chu of 
 California, and Ms. Speier) submitted the following resolution; which 
             was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling upon all candidates for Federal office to respect the American 
 tradition of the peaceful transfer of power and reject any efforts to 
          prevent people from exercising their right to vote.

Whereas the 15th Amendment guarantees the right to vote shall not be denied on 
        account of race or color;
Whereas the 19th Amendment guarantees the right to vote shall not be denied on 
        account of sex;
Whereas, in 1964, the Supreme Court of the United States held that ``The right 
        to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence of a 
        democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the 
        heart of representative government.'';
Whereas the 20th Amendment states that the term of the President ends at noon on 
        the 20th day of January;
Whereas since George Washington left office in 1797, every transfer between 
        Presidential administrations has been peaceful;
Whereas the 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016 elections featured the winner of the 
        popular vote losing the electoral college, but still resulted in a 
        peaceful transfer of power;
Whereas, on September 23, 2020, in response to the question ``Win, lose, or draw 
        in this election, will you commit here, today, for a peaceful transferal 
        of power after the election?'' President Trump responded ``Well, we're 
        going to have to see what happens. You know that. I've been complaining 
        very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster.''; and
Whereas when given the opportunity to clarify his statement, President Trump 
        stated that ``We want to have--get rid of the ballots and you'll have a 
        very trans--we'll have a very peaceful--there won't be a transfer, 
        frankly; there'll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You 
        know it.'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls upon all candidates for Federal office to respect 
        the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power; and
            (2) firmly rejects any effort to ``get rid of the ballots'' 
        or in any way prevent people from exercising their right to 
        vote.
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