“As I travel across the country, I hear from people who are concerned about rolling back hard-fought rights to the ballot box. In the past year, more than a dozen states have made it more difficult for citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Everywhere I go, people are expressing great concern and are asking whether or not their access to the ballot and ballot box are going to remain unfettered.
“Working with John Lewis, Marcia Fudge, Whip Hoyer and the other Members present here today, we brought together several bills that had been under development for some time. We convened a legislative summit more than two months ago with dozens of Members and representatives from scores of advocacy organizations. Working extensively with Ranking Members Brady and Conyers, we formulated this comprehensive bill.
“The Voter Empowerment Act contains three main parts: improving access, protecting integrity, and ensuring accountability. If adopted, it will go a long way toward making our nation a more perfect Union.”