Paul Tonko: “Thank you, Representative Fudge, for bringing us together this evening on a very important discussion, one that focuses…”

“Thank you, Representative Fudge, for bringing us together this evening on a very important discussion, one that focuses on the fundamental underpinnings of this democracy, the ability to vote, right to vote, and encouraging voters to come to the polls. This sort of effort that is being taken seriously by far too many as a form of reform is discouraging. This is an attempt, I believe, to discourage folks from voting across this country, from an effort that is somewhat presented in this description of going after voter impersonation fraud which, obviously, is something that everyone would be concerned about. But the element here is not to do that. No one can point to this overwhelming evidence that there is this voter impersonation fraud that gets addressed by this sort of approach. What we have here is denial. It's a denial that may impact as many as 5 million Americans. At a time when we should encourage a thoughtful democracy, encourage participation, this focuses on many who would be disenfranchised. Those who are of lower socioeconomic strata, those who are persons with disabilities, the minority community, the elderly community, those are the targeted forces here. And it is an outright attempt, I believe, to dissuade those who are eligible from voting.…”