Date: 2011-11-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. Im delighted to join my colleague. Congressman CLAY. And before I do that. let me rise as well to express my support for the Gabe Zimmerman legislation that we will address today and pay tribute to his bravery and certainly his loss. We come to the floor today as partners with many in this Congress against voter intimidation and to speak on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus. to collaborate with our many friends across the caucuses and across the interests in the Democratic Caucus. and certainly we hope to include our friends on the other side of the aisle. Since the 2010 election. over 40 States have implemented voter ID. voter suppression laws. Madam Speaker. we are not against knowing who is voting. but we are against turning back the clock of what the Voting Rights Act attempted to do some 40plus years ago when before that time a poll tax was utilized. or asking those from the African American community how many jelly beans were in a jar. Just recently. I sent a letter to the U.S. Attorneys Office regarding voter intimidation and voter oppression. We rise today to say that we will stand against such oppression and ask the Justice Department to not clear voter ID laws. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the need to protect democracy. to protect the voice of the American people. and to ensure the right to vote continues to be treated as a right under the Constitution rather than being treated as privilege. I am joined by my colleagues here today to call on all Americans of good faith to reject and denounce tactics that have absolutely no place in our democracy. We call on AfricanAmericans. Hispanic and Latin Americans. and AsianAmerican voters to stand strong and learn their voting rights granted by law and the Constitution. We call on these citizens to stand against harassment and intimidation. to vote in the face of such adversity. The most effective way to curb tactics of intimidation and harassment is to vote. Is to stand together to fight against any measures that would have the effect of preventing every eligible citizen from being able to vote. Voting ensures active participation in democracy. Instances of voter intimidation are not long ago and far away. Just last year I sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to draw his attention to several disturbing instances of voter intimidation that had taken place in Houston. In a single week there were at least 15 reports of abuse of voter rights throughout the city of Houston. As a Senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee. I called for an immediate investigation of these instances. Many of these incidents of voter intimidation were occurring in predominately minority neighborhoods and have been directed at AfricanAmericans and Latinos. It is unconscionable to think that anyone would deliberately employ the use of such forceful and intimidating tactics to undermine the fundamental. Constitutional right to vote. However. such conduct has regrettably occurred in Houston. and I urge you to take appropriate action to ensure that it does not recur. I am here today in the name of freedom. patriotism. and democracy. I am here to demand that the long hardfought right to vote continues to be protected A long. bitter. and bloody struggle was fought for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 so that all Americans could enjoy the right to vote. regardless of race. ethnicity. or national origin. Americans died in that fight so that others could achieve what they had been forcefully deprived of for centuriesthe ability to walk freely and without fear into the polling place and cast a voting ballot. Efforts to keep minorities from fully exercising that franchise. however. continue. Indeed. in the past thirty years. we have witnessed a pattern of efforts to intimidate and harass minority voters including efforts that were deemed "Ballot Security" programs that include the mailing of threatening notices to AfricanAmerican voters. the carrying of video cameras to monitor polls. the systematic challenging of minority voters at the polls on unlawful grounds. and the hiring of guards and offduty police officers to intimidate and frighten voters at the polls. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have a particularly poor track record when it comes to documented acts of voter intimidation. In 1982. a Federal Court in New Jersey provided a consent order that forbids the Republican National Committee from undertaking any ballot security activities in a polling place or election district where race or ethnic composition is a factor in the decision to conduct such activities and where a purpose or significant effect is to deter qualified voters from voting. These reprehensible practices continue to plague our Nations minority voters.