By Kristine Christleib, MFE Senior Correspondent | September 13, 2024
Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), chair of the U.S. Committee on House Administration, opened Wednesday’s hearing on American Confidence in Elections and laid out his prepared priorities in a business-like tone without inciting controversy. But ranking member Joe Morelle (D-NY) came out swinging, drawing the battle lines and signaling that the discussion would likely be heated. And it was.
Morelle played every partisan card he had in his hand complaining about “an election season that continues to be marred by the steady drumbeat of misinformation,” invoking the Russian threat, accusing “domestic actors” of spreading lies about the voting process, then finally whining that elections need more funding. The need for more money became a theme echoed by all the Democrat secretary of state witnesses.
After all the secretaries of state had taken an oath to tell the truth, the Republicans testified first.
In the first round of testimony, Cord Byrd (FL) and Frank LaRose (OH) hit all the basic election integrity (EI) chords. LaRose noted that all secretaries of state want elections to be convenient and secure – “easy to vote; hard to cheat” – and highlighted his state’s achievements in the area of technology and cybersecurity.
LaRose disclosed that his state found nearly 600 non-citizens registered to vote. “We have removed them from the voter rolls, and yes, referred them for prosecution because when an election law, or any law, is not enforced, it’s not a law, it’s a suggestion.”
When LaRose explained the onerous process required to identify non-citizens on the voter rolls, he made the commonsense observation, “We should not have this kind of retroactive, look-back process that we have right now. Citizenship verification should happen on the front end.”
Mac Warner from West Virginia proved one of the most passionate witnesses. He called out the 2020 election interference from 51 intelligence officers who claimed the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian misinformation. “It was a lie, and they knew it was a lie.” He concluded, “The 51 should apologize for lying, for illegally conducting a psyop inside the United States and indelibly tarnishing the CIA’s reputation. Their security clearances should be pulled, and they should never hold a position in government again.”
Maggie Toulouse Oliver, representing New Mexico, like Morelle, used her time to ask for more federal funding and to make sure she mentioned “ideological attempts to discredit elections.”
Michigan Secretary of State Benson launched her testimony expressing concerns about security threats against election officials. She used herself as an example. “People have come to my home. They’ve threatened me, my staff, and many of the hundreds of clerks and local election officials in our state.”
Returning to a favorite theme and using her we-will-come-for-you-voice, Benson warned, “I need you to be on notice. Unsubstantiated allegations and rhetoric without evidence makes our elections less secure.” She drew a bright line of causality between questioning election results and the security threats.
Perhaps the most pointed exchange occurred between Chairman Steil and Benson over Biden’s executive order requiring government agencies to develop a strategic plan for registering voters.
Smirking and answering “yeah” offhandedly to several of Steil’s initial inquiries on the matter, Benson finally said, “I really don’t know why you are barraging me with these questions."
Steil then used the balance of his time to school Benson on why his questioning was important. He pointed out and then emphasized that among the states represented by the witnesses, only the state of Michigan had entered into a contract with a federal agency (the Small Business Administration) to register voters, and that no one, not even Benson, had seen the SBA’s strategic plan.
While Steil mentioned the importance of election preparedness in his opening remarks, nevertheless, one of the most jarring moments came from Democrat Rep. Derrick Kilmer whose first question to the panel was about “our preparedness to ensure the continuity of this institution in the face of the unthinkable happening, if there is a mass casualty event.” He said the Government Accountability Office was preparing a report on the topic.
The overall themes that emerged from the Democrat side of the hearing: misinformation, the security threats that stem from misinformation, and the need for more federal funds.
Republicans were also concerned about security but security for registrations and ballots. Republicans believe greater transparency will lead to fewer questions. When government officials withhold information, misinformation is more likely to follow.
Kristine Christlieb serves as senior correspondent on MFE's communications team. She publishes Trust but Verify on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/trustbutverifyreport/p/voter-registration-blitzkrieg?r=2haa2x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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