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1 Testimony of Michael Waldman, President, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Hearing on Voting Rights and Election Administration in America 1 (2019)

handle is hein.brennan/tstvtngr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: BRENNAN CENTER TIC TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL WALDMAN PRESIDENT, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE AT NYU SCHOOL OF LAW HEARING ON VOTING RIGHTS AND ELECTION ADMINISTRATION IN AMERICA THE COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBCOMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS OCTOBER 17,2019 One year before ballots are cast in November 2020, our election systems are under extraordinary stress. The research conducted by the Brennan Center, bolstered by our experience in the fight for voting rights in states across the country, confirms that there is strong reason for concern. The right to vote is at the heart of democracy. Yet over the past decade, 25 states have put in place new laws making it harder to vote, for the first time since the Jim Crow era.2 Many states continue to disenfranchise people living and working in our communities because they have a past felony conviction.3 Voter roll purges have surged, particularly in states previously covered by the pre-clearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act.' All these obstacles to the ballot hit hardest communities of color, the poor, young, and elderly. Voter suppression remains a potent threat to American democracy, and a bitter challenge to the ideals of equality. And there is a new and unnerving challenge: foreign interference threatens to disrupt and degrade the 2020 election. We all know that Russia intervened in 2016. Progress has been made since then. But next year, several states will still require voters to cast ballots on hackable 1 The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan public policy and law institute that works to reform, revitalize, and defend our country's system of democracy and justice. I have led the Center since 2005. I have authored books on government, the presidency, and the law, including The Fight to Vote (Simon & Schuster, 2016), a history of the struggle to win voting rights for all citizens. I previously served as director of speechwriting for President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1999, and as special assistant to the president for policy coordination from 1993 to 1995. During my government service, I was the senior administration policy aide on political reform. My testimony does not purport to convey the views, if any, of the New York University School of Law. Thank you to Max Feldman and Harold Ekeh for their work on this testimony. 2 Brennan Center for Justice, New Voting Restrictions in America, last accessed Oct. 14, 2019, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/new-voting-restrictions-america. 3 Brennan Center for Justice, Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws Across the United States, last accessed Oct. 14, 2019, https://www.brennancenter.org/criminal-disenfranchisement-laws-across-united-states. I Jonathan Brater et al., Purges: A Growing Threat to the Right to Vote (Brennan Center for Justice 2018), https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Report Purges Growing Threat.pdf. Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law 120 Broadway, Suite 1750 New York, NY10271

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