The Committee on House Administration held a hearing titled "Make Elections Great Again: How to Restore Trust and Integrity in Federal Elections," focusing on election security, voter confidence, and the management of voter rolls.
Chairman Bryan Steil asked Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray about the effects of implementing citizenship verification in Wyoming elections. Gray responded, "Well thank you, Chairman Steil, for that question. And we had a very clean bond election last year under the documentary proof of citizenship requirement. It was very clean, no issues, no complaints. It was just very well run and people were excited that we implemented this commonsense measure." Steil followed up by noting that concerns about cost or disenfranchisement did not occur in Wyoming’s experience: "So the fearmongering that we’re hearing today didn’t materialize in the state of Wyoming from a cost standpoint, from a disenfranchisement standpoint, what you ended up with was a good, solid, clean election."
The committee also discussed timely reporting of election results. Vice Chair Laurel Lee referenced concerns about delayed ballot deadlines and their impact on public trust. T. Russ Nobile from Judicial Watch stated, "Yeah, it's not just us. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that. So, we've been litigating this for five years. When Congress enacted the first election integrity provision in the history of Article II, it enacted election day. And in all times, election day ended on election day. But in the last 15 years, there's been this activist effort to get state legislators to extend ballot receipt deadlines in a way that, frankly, makes elections disorderly and unreliable and suspicious. And it's radically reduced public trust in elections... They need to know how many ballots are left to be counted... It's just, frankly, radically undermining elections."
Rep. Morgan Griffith addressed historical comparisons between current legislation and Jim Crow laws: "I agree with my colleagues. All American citizens should have the right to vote... Having been a child during the Jim Crow era, I can assure you that the Make Elections Great Again bill is not Jim Crow." He recounted Virginia's past practices designed to disenfranchise African Americans and poor white voters: "It was done to take them out of the voting rolls... It was the federal government interfering... telling them you can't continue to run your elections with poll taxes... making sure that people understood what was going on in the election that broke that up in the mid 60s." He concluded by supporting efforts ensuring citizens’ voting rights.
The issue of maintaining accurate voter rolls was raised by Rep. Mary Miller who questioned Michigan State Representative Ann Bollin about congressional steps for ensuring compliance with federal law regarding voter lists. Bollin suggested resetting base standards and tying funding to compliance: "One is I do think we need to establish... these universal base standards... post-election audits would help in this regard... if there is funding, I think the funding should be tied to compliance... These are common sense reforms... We should all be on board trying to allow people to vote."
The House Administration Committee oversees federal elections and congressional contests nationwide according to its official website. The committee is responsible for oversight of House operations including Capitol security measures—enhanced after events like September 11th and January 6th—and plays an administrative role within Congress (source). In 2002 it played a central part in passing legislation such as the Help America Vote Act which aimed at improving voting systems (source).
