Leahy Schedules Judiciary
Committee Hearing On The Right To Vote
WASHINGTON (Tuesday, May 13, 2008)
–Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has
scheduled a hearing to examine the constitutional underpinnings
of voting rights and to investigate obstacles that impede access
to the ballot box for all Americans.
Several states are currently
considering policies that could erect barriers between eligible
voters and their constitutional right to vote. Recent reports
from the May 6 primary in Indiana, including reports that a nun
who volunteered as a poll worker had to turn away her fellow
sisters from the polls for lack of state-approved photo
identification, have raised concerns on Capitol Hill and
elsewhere that unnecessary obstacles will keep Americans from
the voting booth in the November election. Twenty states are
also considering new laws to require proof of citizenship before
granting voters access to the ballot box.
“Open and fair elections are
fundamental to our democracy,” said Leahy. “Every American
citizen deserves to have their voice heard in their government.
It is the government’s responsibility to protect eligible voters
from those partisans who seek to obstruct the path to ballot box
for political gain.”
Last month, a fractured Supreme
Court denied a facial challenge to a restrictive Indiana law
requiring specific types of photo identification before eligible
voters are allowed to cast their ballot. In reaction to the
Court’s decision failing to protect voters in Indiana, Leahy
said, “the impact of the Court’s divided holding could embolden
those partisans determined to use restrictive voter
identification laws to elevate politics over fairness and
inclusion.”
On May 2, Leahy and other members
of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney
General Michael Mukasey urging the Department of Justice to
enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and to ensure that photo
identification requirements in Indiana and elsewhere complied
with the Act. Two years ago, Leahy and others worked to
reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, which paved the way for
thousands of Americans to exercise their constitutional right to
vote. Despite reauthorizing the Justice Department’s broad
powers to prevent and punish voter disenfranchisement, there
have been continued reports of race-based disparities in voter
access, voter intimidation, and confusion. The upcoming
election will be a test of whether the constitutional right to
vote is ensured for all Americans.
Among other witnesses, the
following voting rights experts are expected to testify: John
Payton, President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc.; Pam S. Karlan, Professor, Stanford Law
School; and Jonah H. Goldman, Director of the National Campaign
for Fair Elections at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
The hearing, “Protecting
the Constitutional Right to Vote for All Americans” will be
held May 20, at 2:30 p.m. in room 226 of the Dirksen Senate
Office Building.
# # # # #
May
13, 2008
NOTICE OF
COMMITTEE HEARING
The Senate Committee on the
Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on
“Protecting the Constitutional
Right to Vote for all Americans” for Tuesday, May 20,
2008 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office
Building.
By order of the Chairman