Yesterday, several of our interns attended a hearing in the Senate about an important voting rights issue; I've asked them to share their observations here. - Kirstin

Yesterday the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a subcommittee hearing to examine S. 453, to prohibit deceptive practices in federal elections. The sponsor of 'Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2007,' Senator Obama (D-IL), offered testimony in addition to Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Feingold (D-WI). These three proponents addressed the "shameful amount" of "despicable" deceptive acts that plague campaigns and elections, specifically targeting minorities, and the need for strong penalties to prevent this form of voter intimidation, fraud and deception. Currently, there is no statute on the books that makes it a crime to offer misinformation as a means to alter a voter's conduct and such trickery exists as a dirty yet effective political tactic.

Witnesses testified before the committee, and some of them gave first-hand accounts of voter intimidation and suppression. Maryland County Executive Jack Johnson and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler both endorsed this legislation because "the health of our democratic system depends on our ability to ensure that all citizens entitled to vote may do so."

Hey everyone - I'm Matt, a Common Cause intern. I wanted to blog today about a hearing I attended at the Senate.

This morning I attended the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding the renewal of section 203 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA). Most of the VRA is permanent, with sections 5 and 203 expiring in August 2007. Section 203 of the VRA requires that regions with high levels of foreign language speaking citizens provide bilingual ballots.

The hearing panel included political activists that support or oppose the renewal of section 203. The most interesting panel member was Deborah Wright of the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorders office, who offered neither recommendation nor opposition for renewal; however, she testified that section 203 is effective and that the costs of multi-lingual ballots are reasonable. Linda Chavez, a political activist and frequent guest on Fox News, opposed renewal by tying section 203 to the immigration debate. She inferred that a bilingual ballot aids illegal immigrants. Senator Cornyn (R-TX) echoed this sentiment. Chavez also claimed that section 203 is not constitutional though she did not provide why, exactly, section 203 is unconstitutional. Senator Specter (R-PA), the committee chairman, closed the hearing by promising that the issue will be resolved soon.