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.

Bill: 116-hres-1159
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Payne, Donald M., Jr. [D-NJ-10]
Introduced: 2020-09-29
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Elections, voting, political campaign regulation

Voting rights
Latest action: action_date: 2020-09-29
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-09-29
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>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.</p>

tv_txt: IV 116th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1159 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

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.