Senate Committee on Rules and
Administration Hearing
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Feb. 12, 2014 - The co-chairs of
the Presidential Commission on
Election Administration discussed the findings of their work at a
U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration hearing today. The
Commission, established by President Obama following the 2012 election
in part to address the problem of long lines at the polls, first
presented
its report
and
recommendations to the president at the White House three weeks
ago on Jan. 22. |
In his opening statement
Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) described the
commission’s report as "an outstanding piece
of work,
a valuable roadmap for improving election administration in this
country." "While the commission’s charge did not include
recommendations for federal legislation, the report
makes it clear there are areas of existing law and its enforcement
[that] must be improved," Schumer said.
In his opening statement Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), ranking member
of the Committee, noted, "The
Commission was charged with making best practice recommendations rather
than legislative recommendations, and that is what the report has
done.
It recognizes that elections are carried out at the state and local
level and that is where we must focus our attention."
|
After the hearing Commission
co-chairs Bob Bauer (left) and Ben Ginsberg (right) talk with R. Doug
Lewis, executive director of the National Association of Election
Officials. |
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Bob Bauer share a laugh; behind them Ben Ginsberg (not visible, behind Klobuchar) talks with Jim Dickson, the indefatiguable vice president for organizing and civic engagement at The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). |
Links U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Presidential Commission on Election Administration |
The Committee was to hold an
executive business meeting to consider the nominations of Thomas Hicks
and Myrna Perez to be members of the U.S. Election Assistance
Commission but a quorum was not present. Their nominations have
been in limbo; Hicks (recommended by Pelosi) was nominated by President
Obama in March 2010 and Perez (recommended by Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid in March 2011. |
EAC nominee Thomas Hicks' experience includes senior Democratic elections counsel for the Committee on House Administration. |
Myrna Pérez, the second Democratic EAC nominee, is deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice. The Republican National Lawyers Association opposes her nomination. In this Feb. 12 letter, RNLA President Craig Burkhardt writes "her views are so far outside the mainstream as to be objectionable to reasonable people on the right and the left and...she has demonstrated a willingness to manufacture fact to support her views when the real facts do not do so." Specifically the letter refers to Pérez' views on list maintenence and voter ID. |
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