José E. Serrano: “Mr. Chairman, I think what some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have to try to understand is the process…”

“Mr. Chairman, I think what some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have to try to understand is the process which has been used in dealing with this issue. No one argues with the fact that if one party feels aggrieved in any way, they can bring up an issue, and that is what we have the court system for and we have rules of the House. But I can tell the Members that I have been on the short side of a couple of elections in my life where I thought there had been some problems on the other side, and there were different communities involved in that vote, not only different regions of a county, but certain different ethnic groups and political persuasions. I do not recall that anyone on my side ever suggested that the way to deal with this issue was to single out one particular group and to target those surnames and to go through the books and just make a mockery of the whole system. Mr. Chairman, let me also say that if you are a member of the Hispanic community and are involved in the political process, you know that for the last 25 or 30 years, 40 years, you have been working hard to try to get people registered to vote, to get people interested in the political system, and in the cases of immigrants, to get them to understand in this country you can participate and not be afraid that someone is going to do a number on you.”