Voting Rights

Senate Democrats heard testimony from a number of policy experts on the state of voting rights in the U.S. following the establishment of the Trump administration’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The commission, led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, was created in May 2017 to investigate alleged voter fraud in the 2016 election. Speaking before a panel of Democratic senators organized by Democratic Policy and Communications Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), witnesses questioned the motives behind the establishment of the President Trump’s commission and expressed concern that it could lead to an infringement of voting rights, especially in minority communities. Witnesses also offered their own suggestions as to how federal elections could be run to encourage broader participation in the electoral process. close