Congresswoman Nikema Williams Denounces Attempt to Undermine Open, Fair, and Accessible Elections
WASHINGTON D.C. – Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) led a letter, along with 31 Congressional colleagues, to the General Council of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to strongly oppose any changes to the national voter registration application that would add documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) or “show your papers” requirements.
The recent petition calling for DPOC, submitted by America First Legal Foundation (AFL), mirrors President Trump’s repeatedly enjoined Executive Order 142482 and the stalled SAVE Act. The petition asks the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to unconstitutionally burden Americans’ fundamental right to vote – especially for senior citizens, women, rural, low-income, minority, and disabled citizens.
The members wrote:
“We fiercely advocate for open, fair, and accessible elections and denounce this latest attempt to erode our democracy and electoral systems.”
“Every citizen, whether born in this country or naturalized, possesses the right to vote. It is guaranteed and protected in the U.S. Constitution. DPOC policies would discard this foundational American right by forcing Americans to pay significant financial, administrative, and personal costs simply to participate in democratic elections, creating a modern day poll tax. When our voting process becomes more complicated, people are less inclined to vote, even if they have the proper credentials.”
“This petition must also be understood in the context of today’s political climate. AFL is not a neutral actor; it is a partisan organization founded by senior officials from the Trump administration, including Stephen Miller, who architected some of the most draconian immigration policies of the last decade. The petition is part of a broader campaign, exemplified by Executive Order 14248 and the so-called SAVE Act, to manufacture disinformation about non-citizen voting as a pretext for shrinking the electorate.”
“Adopting this petition would not only disenfranchise millions of eligible voters but would also weaponize the EAC, an institution dedicated to strengthening election access and integrity, into a partisan tool for voter suppression.”
“Undoubtedly, our election system needs strengthening. To that end we have introduced several reform bills like the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the Expanding the Vote Act, the election Mail Act, and the People over Long Lines (POLL) Act. These measures would keep elections secure, accessible, efficient, and fair. AFL’s DPOC proposal would do the opposite. For these reasons, we strongly urge the EAC to reject this voter suppression petition.”
Read the full letter here.
Cosigners to the letter: Joyce Beatty, Julia Brownley, Shontel Brown, André Carson, Troy Carter, Jasmine Crockett, Danny Davis, Lloyd Doggett, Dwight Evans, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jared Huffman, Jonathan Jackson, Henry Johnson, Julie Johnson, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Summer Lee, Lucy McBath, Jennifer McClellan, Seth Moulton, Kevin Mullin, Eleanor Norton, Delia Ramirez, Mary Gay Scanlon, Robert Scott, Terri Sewell, Bennie Thompson, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Maxine Waters, and Frederica Wilson.