Candice S. Miller: “certainly the fundamental building block of our democracy for the last 208 years has been a constitutionally guaranteed…”

“certainly the fundamental building block of our democracy for the last 208 years has been a constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. Prior to my service in Congress here, I had the great honor and privilege to serve as my State of Michigan's chief election officer and the secretary of State. In that role I viewed it as my duty to ensure the integrity of our elections process, to ensure that every eligible voter had an opportunity to vote, to ensure that every registered voter would turn out on election day, and to root out any fraud, any type of fraud in our elections process, and to ensure that every vote that was cast was properly counted. I would like to think that I do have a deep understanding and certainly a respect for our Nation's electoral process, and not from a partisan tint. In fact, after the 2000 elections, the NAACP gave my administration the Nation's highest grade of any of the secretaries of State in the entire Nation for election reform. Mr. Speaker, since the 2000 election, this Congress has also taken action to improve the process through the Help America Vote Act, that they authorized and appropriated millions and millions and millions of dollars for, which has improved the quality of our voting equipment and improved the registration voter list throughout the Nation. Now, today, we have another positive electoral initiative that will help ensure the integrity of our process. H.R.…”