Congressional Lawmakers Clash Over DC Election Reform, Statehood

The U.S. flag at the dome of the U.S. Capitol on May 12, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

House Republicans don’t like how municipal officials run elections in the nation’s capital and are seeking to do something about it.

The Republican-controlled House is pushing a reform proposal called the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act, which would ban Washington’s practice of automatically mailing actual ballots to every registered voter, the use of mail-in ballot drop-boxes, ballot harvesting, same-day voter registration, and noncitizens voting in city elections.

The measure would require a photo ID to vote or request an absentee ballot, as well as regular maintenance of voter registration rolls.

At a June 7 joint hearing of the House Committee on Administration and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Republicans laid out their case for reform while Democrats denied that there are any problems with the existing system.

The intense and, at times, heated hearing lasted four hours with only one 10-minute break.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, delivers remarks during a committee meeting in Washington on Jan. 31, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

In his opening remarks, Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) called the ACE-mandated changes “essential reforms.”

Poor Practices Highlighted

Steil cited Washington’s unsolicited mass mailings of ballots to names on what he called “an unverified, unmaintained” voter registration list as one example of practices that undermine people’s confidence in their elections.

According to Steil, in the 2022 general election, Washington mailed out 508,000 unsolicited ballots, 90,000 of which came back undeliverable, indicating a problem with the addresses of nearly 18 percent of the electorate.

He also noted that in 2015, not one of the Washington voters who died in the prior year was removed from the voter list as evidence of poor roll maintenance—something the ACE Act seeks to improve.

Foreign Nationals Can Vote in DC

Later in the hearing, Steil criticized Washington’s idea to allow foreigners to vote in local elections, saying Russian or Chinese nationals working at their Washington embassies could, after establishing residence in the city for 30 days, participate in electing the municipal leadership of the capital.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the Oversight Committee, said a “lack of safeguards” causes delays in the reporting of election results which creates uncertainty about the validity of an election.

Comer said the ACE Act set forth a list of “best practices” for the administration of elections which would promote “transparency and certainty, not confusion and doubt.”

Republicans at the hearing held up the ACE Act reforms as a model for the states to voluntarily implement.

Ban Election Night Count Pauses

Some Republicans have suggested that states ban mid-count pauses, a practice they say undermines voter confidence.

Ranking Democratic member of the Administration Committee Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), called Republican members’ attitudes about widespread voter fraud “cynical” and the series of election integrity hearings conducted in the House “tedious” and “redundant.”

Republicans are fixated on an “unproven lack of integrity” that they “claim exists,” according to Morelle.

‘Most Secure’ Elections in History

“Our elections are secure. D.C. elections are among the most secure,” Morelle said.

He said the GOP is proposing “extreme restrictions” in order to help Republicans win elections, saying their candidates for president haven’t won the popular vote since 1988.

He extolled what he called the Democrats’ “aspirational and optimistic” approach to election administration and invited Republicans to join them as they continue to walk the “long and righteous path.”

A ‘Sledgehammer’ Approach

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking Democratic member on the Oversight Committee, called on Republicans to “stop the assault on voting rights.”

He accused Republicans of taking a “sledgehammer” to local elections in Washington as they attempt to make it “more difficult” for city residents to register to vote because of the proposed photo ID requirement.

Citing a survey by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Raskin said there has been “no election fraud in D.C. in 44 years.”

He described the legislation that Republicans are proposing as “unnecessary, unfair, and undemocratic.”

DC Elections ‘Sloppy’

Witness Ken Cuccinelli, chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative and a former official in the Trump administration, described the election system in Washington as being in “profound disarray” and “poorly administered.”

Addressing Raskin’s assertion of zero fraud, Cuccinelli told the hearing that Heritage’s election fraud database lists no fraud probably because Washington’s election administration is “so sloppy” that it doesn’t even have the measures in place to detect it.

“And even if it did, prosecutors wouldn’t bring a case,” Cuccinelli said.

False Claims of Fraud Are Dangerous

Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice, told the hearing that the American election system is facing unprecedented threats from people making false claims about election fraud and people denying the validity of the results of elections.

She said the greatest increase in threats to election officials occurred in “communities of color.”

Weiser strongly opposes the ACE Act, saying it would “roll back” advances in voting rights and put election officials at increased risk by “empowering” poll watchers.

Raskin called the situation “a dagger pointed at the throat” of democracy in America.

Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ Led to Insurrection

Raskin alleged that the attempt by a sitting president to overturn the results of a presidential election led to our experiencing a violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

Weiser said 20 states have since passed 33 laws that restrict access to voting and are primarily directed at people of color.

Witness Charles Spies testified that recent election integrity reforms in Florida and Georgia increased voter confidence and improved the voting experience among all demographic groups.

“Increased confidence brings about higher voter participation,” Spies said.

Despite reports of record turnouts in many states, Weiser said her statistics indicate that voters of color are still “disproportionately voting at lower rates right now.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) arrives to hear Michael Cohen, attorney for President Donald Trump, testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Capitol Hill on February 27, 2019. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Is DC Statehood the Answer?

Weiser said she favors statehood for the District of Columbia and prefers that Congress keep its hands off of it.

The people of Washington “deserve political self-determination,” she said.

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) said Republicans view the residents of Washington “as incapable of self-government.”

“They are not even trying to play down the dog whistles,” she said.

Lee also accused lawmakers of “colonialism and paternalism” toward U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) told the hearing that statehood is “about freedom” and “overcoming white supremacist violence.”

“Stop holding D.C. hostage,” she said.

A Racial Crisis

“The other side of the aisle is afraid of free and fair elections,“ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said. ”They want to disenfranchise predominantly black voters.

“There is not an election integrity crisis. This is a racial crisis.”

The push for statehood for the District of Columbia and U.S. territories is generally disfavored among Republicans, who view the effort as a ruse by Democrats to add senators to their caucus.