Liz Saville Roberts: “what we have before us is an amendment to the election reform bill that is now pending that would basically eliminate…”

“what we have before us is an amendment to the election reform bill that is now pending that would basically eliminate the mass mailing requirement to give local and State election officials more time and resources to improve the overall election management and to register voters and to comply with the newly enacted mandates of this bill. This is an unfunded mandate. This amendment is supported by the National Association of Secretaries of State. It is cosponsored by the distinguished Senator from Kentucky, Mr. McConnell, and Senators Feinstein and Levin. Why? Because the secretaries of state and county election officers have indicated there is no need to put in a mandate to make sure that your voters who are provisional voters must be notified by mail within 30 days. There are other ways you can do this. Our amendment says to States, if you want to do a mass mailing, you can do that. But at least there is an option here to use a Web site and toll-free numbers and other means of communication that will actually allow a provisional voter to know much faster than the mass mailing whether or not they are properly registered and their vote counted. As a matter of fact, it will enable local county officials and others to make sure a provisional voter is registered, so you can actually make the argument that we will make more progress. I urge support of the amendment.”