Mr./Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the covert voter suppression effort underway in the United States. This effort might have begun as a stealth operation; but my colleagues, organizations across this nation and I will ensure that Americans are informed and protected, such that voters are well-prepared for the gimmicks underway to keep them from casting their ballots in 2012.

During 2011, thirty-four states introduced legislation that would require voters to show a photo ID to cast a ballot.

Approximately thirteen states introduced bills to end Election Day and same-day voter registration. As many as nine states introduced bills to reduce early voting and four proposed draconian reductions in absentee voting opportunities.
Two states, took steps backward by reversing prior executive actions that made it easier for citizens with past felony convictions to restore their voting rights.

For many years, America has been described as a beacon of light for the world; the model of democracy and the home of fair elections. As a nation, we reject voter intimidation at polling places in foreign countries. We frown upon nations that limit the right of its citizens to vote.
Yet we now face the same issues that fall disproportionately on the same class of voter suppression tactics. These laws were designed to protect.

I will not stand by and watch as state legislatures attempt to compromise the right of citizens to vote. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and my Democratic colleagues stand with me. We will not stand idly by as decades of struggle for equal voting rights are trampled upon. We will not turn our backs on voters who now face the erosion of the very premise upon which our nation is built; the right to vote.

I am proud to report 2012 is looking much better than 2011. Connecticut's Secretary of State and Governor introduced a package to streamline voter registration and increase access to absentee voting.

In Florida, a bill was proposed to repeal legislation that shortened early voting periods and restricted voter registration drives. A bill introduced in Nebraska, that would require a photo ID to vote, was removed from the legislature's agenda. In Washington, a bi-partisan bill was introduced that would allow sixteen year-olds to pre-register to vote. The Department of Justice rejected South Carolina's photo ID law; and just last week, a Circuit Court in Wisconsin heard a case against Wisconsin's voter ID law.

These attempts to restrict voting are especially hard on young voters. More than one million students attend colleges, universities and technical schools in Texas alone. But because of the state's new voter ID law, none will be allowed to use their student ID cards to cast a ballot. Texans can show a gun permit and be allowed to vote, but a college student attempting to use their school issued ID will be denied.

Earlier this month, Bill O'Reilly vehemently defended laws like the one in Texas. He said if students don't know they can vote absentee, they're "too stupid" to vote. You are in college, but you are "too stupid" to vote? What an insult.

During the Jim Crow era, people said African-Americans were "too stupid" to vote. If you were Black, and you couldn't count the number of jelly beans in a jar or tell the person at the ballot box how many soap bubbles were in a bar of soap, you were "too stupid" to vote. We refuse to return to those days.

Stand with us. Protect the franchise. Protect the right to vote.