Congressman Krishnamoorthi Calls Upon Department of Justice to Immediately Inform Congress of Its Efforts To Protect The Rights of Voters, Willing to Subpoena Documents in a Future Congressional Investigation if DOJ is Uncooperative

SCHAUMBURG, IL – Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi today requested that the Department of Justice's Civil Rights division inform Congress on the steps it is taking to ensure that all lawful voters are able to cast their ballots in the 2018 elections and all others in which they are eligible to participate.

Congressman Krishnamoorthi's signed letter is viewable here and the text follows below.

October 24, 2018

Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband

Civil Rights Division

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Assistant Attorney General Dreiband:

The 2018 midterm election will be the second national election without the full force of the Voting Rights Act protecting the most sacred of American rights.

Following the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder, states that had formerly been subject to VRA Preclearance Requirements chose to enact restrictive anti-voting laws. Polling centers in minority communities were closed, draconian voter ID laws enforced, and lifelong voters were purged from the electoral rolls; all under the guise of preventing voter fraud. As we approach the 2018 election, the Supreme Court chose to let stand North Dakota's law that effectively bars Native Americans from voting, and the Georgia Secretary of State engineered a massive purge of nearly 600,000 voters from the state's voter rolls.

Given the absurdly low rate of election fraud in the United States - one study found 31 instances of fraud in over 1,000,000,000 votes cast, a rate of 0.000031%[1] - one could be forgiven for seeking whether any discriminatory or nefarious intent lies behind these laws.

I respectfully request that the Civil Rights Division immediately inform Congress on the steps it is taking to ensure that all lawful voters are able to cast their ballots in the 2018 election or any other election. As a Member of the Oversight Committee, I look forward to working with you and the entire Civil Rights Division to ensure that no American is wrongfully denied the right to vote.

I will also respectfully remind you that should Democrats win control the House in the 116th Congress, we will have the ability to subpoena testimony and documents to ensure that the Department of Justice is taking care to faithfully execute the law and protect the right to vote for all Americans.

Sincerely,

Raja Krishnamoorthi

Member of Congress