Norton Vows to Defeat Anti-Home-Rule Bill Making Voting and Election Administration Harder in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she would defeat a bill recently introduced by Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-IL) that would make it more difficult to vote and administer elections in the District of Columbia. The American Confidence in Elections: District of Columbia Election Integrity and Voter Confidence Act would, among other things, require photo identification or Social Security number to vote, require photos in poll books, prohibit same-day registration, prohibit automatically mailing ballots to voters, require ballot drop boxes to be located within a D.C. government building and monitored through 24-hour remote or electronic surveillance, require the removal of names from voting rolls, prohibit, with limited exceptions, a person from collecting a mail ballot completed by another person, require mail ballots to be received by the close of the polls, require election results to be announced by 10 a.m. the day after the election, prohibit non-citizens from voting, give partisan poll watchers virtually unfettered access to polling sites and permit them to challenge ballots and tabulations, and allow the public to observe the testing of election equipment.

"It is ironic that Republicans are abusing their undemocratic power over D.C. to try to make voting harder in a jurisdiction that is denied voting representation in Congress," Norton said. "While I will defeat this bill, this bill is the latest indication of the wide-ranging home-rule attacks D.C. will face if Republicans take over the House next Congress."

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