Statement by Committee on House Administration Chairman Robert A. Brady on the Oversight Hearing on the Election Assistance Commission

I want to thank Chairwoman Lofgren for convening this important hearing regarding the policies and practices of the Election Assistance Commission. Our committee relies upon her leadership of the Subcommittee on Elections and her diligence and expertise in supporting voting rights for all Americans. 

Today's hearing raises issues that affect fundamental voting rights and could affect the outcome of every federal election. The notion that our nation experiences widespread voter fraud has been repeated regularly by party activists seeking to disenfranchise impoverished and minority voters. We know from investigations by other committees that the obsession with voter fraud infected the Justice Department, with U.S. Attorneys fired in part for their failure to prosecute unfounded voter fraud allegations.

Today we will find out what happened when the Election Assistance Commission commissioned a report to investigate voter fraud. When independent investigators produced a report revealing that voter fraud played little role in U.S. elections, what did the EAC do? Did it provide the information to the public, or did it revise the investigators' conclusions and continue to support the misconception that voter fraud is a major problem with our election system?

In my own district in Philadelphia, we have had more than enough experience with efforts to disenfranchise poor and minority voters. Voter suppression and intimidation is the true election fraud infecting our democracy. These efforts must be stopped.

I am eager to learn how the EAC plans to restore the public's trust and provide research that remains uninfluenced by partisan politics.

I look forward to the findings of this hearing.