Political Quotes

“In listening to the opposition, the statements against this legislation, it would make it sound like the EAC, the Election Assistance Commission, is a branch of the Justice Department, that it's there to enforce the right to vote. It doesn't do any of that at all. The primary goal for the Election Assistance Commission was, after the Florida recount, the problems there in the 2000 election, that according to the Help America Vote Act, that the States such as Colorado that I was the Secretary of State in, were going to have to have a voter registration system that would be interactive, interactive database, to make sure that there wasn't fraud, that there wasn't duplicative registrations; and that the EAC would be the conduit for Federal resources grants to States to be able to facilitate that, and to make sure that that was carried out by the States. And that was for the 2008 Presidential election, long since done, long accomplished. As to the EAC, which has no ability to mandate anything to States, but as an advisory tool, election officials across this country don't utilize it. There are associations that provide those best practices at every level of elections, from the county clerks to the Secretaries of State. And so this is an agency who's primary purpose is long since over with, and we can transfer the remaining function over to the Federal Elections Commission. And I rise in strong support for H.R. 672 and would urge its passage.”