The Daily Signal - What to Expect at Senate Panel’s Hearing on Election-Integrity Law Cast as ‘Jim Crow’

Starting point is 00:00:06 This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, April 20th. I'm Virginia Allen. Rachel Del Judas is traveling this week. She is at the border conducting several exclusive interviews. So I'm pleased to be co-hosting the show this week with Doug Blair. It is great to be here, Virginia. Glad you're here, Doug. Well, up on today's show, I talk with Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von

Starting point is 00:00:30 Vakowski about the controversy over Georgia's new election law. Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing to discuss election law entitled Jim Crow 2021, the latest assault on the right to vote. Hans unpacks the arguments for and against Georgia's new voting law and argues for why the bill should not be compared to Jim Crow laws. Hans also explains what we can expect to see during today's Senate Judiciary hearing on voter rights. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review.

Starting point is 00:01:04 you or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now, on to our top news. Closing arguments in the Derek Chauvin trial were delivered on Monday. Former Minneapolis police officer Chauvin is on trial for the death of George Floyd. The charges against Chauvin include second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The prosecuting and defense attorneys presented their final arguments to the jury, which then began deliberation. Eric now, Nelson, Derek Chauvin's defense attorney reminded the jurors that Chauvin is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt per NBC News. Take a listen. I would like to address two very crucial points of law, and they were touched on by the state.

Starting point is 00:01:58 The presumption of innocence and what proof beyond a reasonable doubt means. The presumption of innocence, the defendant is presumed innocent. That's the starting point. presumed innocent of these charges and this presumption remains with him throughout the course of the trial the presentation of the evidence throughout the course of your deliberations until and unless the state has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant does not have to prove his innocence we talked about this in jury selection we talked about the starting point The defendant doesn't have to try to catch up.

Starting point is 00:02:46 He starts at the presumption of innocence. Prosecuting attorney Stevens Fleischer reminded the jury that George Floyd is not the one on trial in the case, but Chauvin is. In his closing arguments, Slicer repeatedly argued that Floyd did not resist but complied with the officer's demands per the hill. They tell him to go over to the dragon. He goes over to the Dragon Walk. That's not resistance. That's compliance. They ask him to sit down. He sits down. Not resistance. Compliance. Not trying to escape. Not trying to evade arrest. Not trying to assault anybody, shoot anybody, stab anybody, punch anybody. No. Compliance. Sits down on the ground. They ask him his name. He gives his name. He spells it. That's not resistance. That's compliance. They ask him to get up. He gets up. They ask him to go across the street. He goes across the street. Where's the resistance? House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has issued an ultimatum to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, take action on Maxine Waters, or I Will.

Starting point is 00:03:56 McCarthy's comments are in response to statements bade by Representative Waters of California last Saturday, referencing both the ongoing trial of Officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd and the death of Dante Wright at the hands of a police officer. Here are her statements via Fox News. If nothing does not happen, then we know of that we've got to not only stay in the street, but we've got to fight for justice. We've got to get more confrontational. You've got to make sure that they know that we need business.

Starting point is 00:04:31 Maxine Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis, just as she has incited it in the past, tweeted McCarthy. If Speaker Pelosi doesn't act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed anti-riotting legislation into law. On Monday, DeSantis signed what he is calling the nation's strongest anti-rioting bill. The new law makes it harder for local governments to remove or reduce law enforcement funding in their community. During the bill signing, DeSantis said that we saw last summer some of the local governments were actually telling, not necessarily in Florida, but throughout the country, basically telling people,

Starting point is 00:05:12 police to stand down while cities burned, while businesses were burned, while people were being harmed. The Florida governor added that these areas that defunded part of law enforcement or just turn their backs on law enforcement, they are paying the bill. This law protects Floridians from having that happen. Florida's Republican-led Senate voted 23 to 17 to pass the legislation. The bill has received criticism from those on the left who argue it is in violation of the First Amendment right to peacefully protest. Kara Gross, the legislative director at the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, said, The problem with this bill is that the language is so overbroad and vague, and she added that

Starting point is 00:05:57 protesters who do not engage in any violent conduct under this bill can be arrested and charged with a third-degree felony and face up to five years in prison and loss of voting rights. The whole point of this is to instill fear. in Floridians. The Biden administration has ordered two of America's immigration enforcement agencies, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, to stop using the terms illegal alien and assimilation, according to memos first obtained by the Washington Post.

Starting point is 00:06:29 All references to the word alien will change to non-citizen or migrant, and all references to assimilation will change to integration or civil integration, as reported by Fox News. The move comes on the heels of an immigrant, crisis at the border with nearly 172,000 migrant encounters in March 2021 alone. 15 Senate Republicans have signed a letter committing to keep a ban on legislative earmarks. The earmark ban was first adopted in 2010 and prevents lawmakers from putting additional projects or agenda items into spending bills. In March, the House Republican Conference

Starting point is 00:07:08 voted to lift the earmark ban. GOP senators are expected. elected to cast their votes on the issue by secret ballot on Wednesday. Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah and 14 other GOP senators said in the letter to the Republican colleagues that they will not participate in an inherently wasteful spending practice that is prone to serious abuse. A new study by the Media Research Center finds that broadcast evening newscasts have radically shifted their tone and coverage to support the Biden administration. The study, conducted by reviewing all ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news coverage of President Biden from January 20th through April 9th, showed newscasts provided Biden with 59% positive press. The same programs provided President Trump with 89% negative press.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Additionally, around 90% of network news coverage of the Biden administration was spent on policy issues compared to 45% of Trump administration coverage during the same period. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakoski, as we discuss today's Senate Judiciary Hearing on Election Law and Voter Rights. Never has it been more important for us to fight for America. Each day we see the penalties of progressive policies across our nation. Our elections are under assault. Our economic freedom is on the decline. And our culture is turning its back on the founding principles that have made us the freest,

Starting point is 00:08:44 most prosperous nation in history. That's why the Heritage Foundation developed a plan to take on the left and take back our country. The Citizens Guide to Fight for America provides a series of heritage recommended action items delivered on a regular basis to your inbox. Make an impact in your community and in our country. Sign up for the Citizens Guide at heritage.org slash citizens guide and join in the fight for America today.

Starting point is 00:09:19 We are joined by Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow in the Meath Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Hans, thank you so much for being here. Sure. Thanks for having me on. Several weeks ago, President Joe Biden called Georgia's new election law Jim Crow of the 21st century. Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday entitled Jim Crow 2021, the latest assault on the right to vote. So, Hans, would you... explain, is this Georgia new election bill, is it an assault on the right to vote? No, not at all. And in fact, what really seems to be going on is a propaganda movement by

Starting point is 00:10:03 Joe Biden and Dick Durbin and others. It has totally unconnected to the facts. I mean, if you actually read the Georgia election reform bill, it actually, Georgia actually has better laws than Delaware, which is Senator Biden's home state, and in some respects, better laws than Illinois, which is Dick Durbin's home state. And he's, of course, chairing the Judiciary Committee hearing that's coming up. I mean, just a quick example of this is that, look, Georgia has 17 days of early voting, including days on two weekends before an election. Biden's home state of Delaware has no early voting. Now, they've just passed a law, so Early voting will start in 2022, but in last year's election, there was no early voting in Delaware.

Starting point is 00:10:54 There was in Georgia. And even with the new law, Delaware will only have about half of the number of early voting days as Georgia. So Joe Biden's wrath ought to be directed perhaps at his home state. So then where is this outrage coming from? What's driving this if a state like Georgia isn't as strict as President Biden's home state? Well, like I said, I really think this is a propaganda effort. For years now, liberal left-wing advocacy groups have been pushing the idea, well, two ideas. One, there's no election fraud in the U.S., so we don't need to worry about it, and two, that any

Starting point is 00:11:33 measures that states take to try to secure the integrity of the election process, like requiring an ID to vote, very basic requirement, that that is not needed because there is no fraud. that ever happens and therefore any kind of remedies like that are simply an attempt to suppress votes and of course none of that is true we do have fraud in this country and we should take basic security measures they don't prevent people from voting but but this is all an effort to frankly i i think make it easier to cheat and easier to manipulate election results well some of the common claims that we're hearing about this Georgia bill is that, you know, it makes it harder for people to vote, especially for minorities. It prohibits water and food from being handed out at

Starting point is 00:12:24 polling places. It restricts voting by mail. Are these claims accurate? Are they founded in any way? No. Again, they're totally wrong. Again, comparing it to Delaware, Georgia has no fault absentee balloting. That's not the case in Delaware where you have to have an excuse before you're allowed to vote by absentee ballots. The claim about not giving water to voters is really one of the most ridiculous claims that we've seen in all of this. Let me tell you what the situation is. Look, every state has laws, thank goodness, that prevent electioneering at polling places. In other words, you know, campaigns and candidates can't show up and start haranguing voters who are waiting in line to vote.

Starting point is 00:13:12 They can't campaign inside a polling place within a certain distance of voters standing in line in Georgia's 25 feet or within 150 feet of the polling place. A number of states like Georgia, like New York, a very blue state, also have provisions saying, you know, not only is there no campaigning allowed, But candidates and others cannot provide money, gifts, food, drinks to voters in line. Because obviously the idea there is that they may be trying to influence voters. And when they're doing that, they're really engaged in campaigning. Georgia added a provision to its electioneering law that basically says, as I said, you can give no money or gifts, including but not limited to food and grocery. drink to any elector within those distances that electioneering is prohibited.

Starting point is 00:14:12 That's almost identical to New York's law, which nobody's complained about. New York says you can't give any meat, drink, tobacco refreshment or other provisions to voters waiting in line. Nothing prevents the voters from bringing their own water or snacks. Nothing prevents election officials themselves from providing water or snacks. suggest that they don't want people campaigning close to voters. So there's nothing unusual about this provision. Like I said, many other states have similar provisions just like this. Interesting. Well, Hans, you're very familiar with the subject of voter fraud. You oversee

Starting point is 00:14:53 Heritage Foundation's voter fraud database. And one thing that we're hearing conservatives say about this new Georgia bill is that it simply makes it harder for people to cheat. So could you just to explain a little bit about how George's new election bill increases election security. Sure. If you look at the election fraud database that we maintain the Heritage Foundation, but by the way, it's the only one in the country, you'll see that there are many, many cases involving absentee ballots. That's because they're the easiest ballots to steal or alter or to pressure voters to vote a particular way, because they're the only ballots, again, that are voted outside the supervision of election officials and outside the observation of

Starting point is 00:15:35 poll watchers. So one of the things that Georgia did was they extended their very good voter ID law to absentee ballots. Georgia's had a voter ID law in place for more than a decade. They've had no problems with it all. No one's been prevented from voting. Remember that's the big claim made against voter ID laws, but it only applied to in-person voting. So they've extended it to absentee ballot. You either submit a photocopy of your ID when you request your absentee ballot or you simply write in the serial number of your Georgia driver's license or the free photo ID that the state will issue to anyone who doesn't already have an ID. That is a great way of trying to ensure that when absentee ballots come in, it's really

Starting point is 00:16:27 really the registered voter who filled it out, signed it and sent it in. And that's one of the ways it's it has made, uh, increased the security election process in, in Georgia. Hmm. Let's talk a little bit about the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that's happening today, Tuesday. The hearing is entitled Jim Crow 2021, the latest assault on the right to vote. And, um, it is, you know, discussing Georgia's new election bill and, uh, presumably other states that are maybe adopting or have implemented similar legislation. What do you expect to see during this hearing? Again, I mean, I hate to keep using the word, but that's really what is going on here.

Starting point is 00:17:07 I expect to see a propaganda effort by the Democratic senators who are on this committee and their witnesses. Because really, when you compare Georgia's election laws to the 50 states in the District of Columbia, nothing it's doing is out of the ordinary. It has, many of its provisions are the same as many other states. But they are trying to paint this picture as if it's Jim Crow. That, of course, is an absurd and actually an offensive claim to say, for example, they're requiring somebody to provide an ID when they vote, particularly when the state provides a free ID to anyone who doesn't have one,

Starting point is 00:17:51 that that's the same as banning black Americans from restaurants and drinking fountains. That is patronizingly racist, I believe, and frankly, highly offensive to people who really suffered. But what's happening here is I think this is actually a ploy to try to undergird support for HR1. H.R.1 is the bill passed in the House, now sitting in the Senate. It's basically a complete federal takeover of the administration of election. across the country, it would do things like void all state voter ID laws. And I think what's, what they want to try to do here is paint this picture of, oh, look at what Georgia is doing. It's so terrible. That's why we need to pass HR1, even though that's just a completely false

Starting point is 00:18:42 claim. So ultimately, you believe that this attack on Georgia and really, you know, speaking out about Georgia's new election law, ultimately what the left is trying to do here is, build support for really the federal takeover of elections in this bill known as HR1. Is that right? Yes, that's exactly right because they can then use that, like I said, to basically get rid of all of the safety and security protocols that states have been putting in place. Wow. So then during the hearing Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Hearing, what are you going to be looking for? Are there individuals that you're going to be watching closely? We believe that Stacey Abrams and Georgia Democratic Senator Ralph Warnock are likely to testify.

Starting point is 00:19:30 What are you expecting to see from some of these individuals, given this sort of agenda that they likely have in mind? Well, frankly, I expect Stacey Abrams to make one misleading statement after another. If you look at all the claims that she has made since she lost her race for the governor, they have all turned out to be totally untrue. You know, she's made this whole general claim that votes have been. been suppressed in Georgia because of things like the voter ID law. The evidence shows that's totally untrue. Just a quick example of this is, look, the ID law in Georgia for in-person voting

Starting point is 00:20:08 when it went in place in 2008. Since then, not only has turnout not gone down, turnout has increased dramatically in the state, including for black and Hispanic voters, minority voters. So the evidence actually shows that all the claims she's been making to try to explain her defeat in her race for governor just simply aren't true at all. But I expect we'll hear exactly the same kind of misleading and false claims again in her testimony. And what about members of the committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee? Are there any individuals that you're going to be watching closely? Well, I'm going to be interested to see how Dick Durbin, who's the chair, threads the needle here. And again, I'll give you a quick example of this. You know, we talked about

Starting point is 00:20:57 how Georgia extended its ID requirement to absentee ballots. Well, one of the things they did was they put in this basically escape clause that says, look, if you don't have a photo ID and you haven't gotten the free ID that the state will provide you, well, you can satisfy it by providing a photocopy of a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or a, or a, you can satisfy it by providing a photocopy of a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or other government document with your name and address on it. Well, the Georgia legislature got that language from federal law. That is exactly a provision that's in federal law. In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, and it actually put in a requirement that says that if the first time you vote in a federal election, if you registered by mail, you have to provide either a photo ID or a

Starting point is 00:21:50 copy of a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or a government document with your name and address on it. Guess who voted for that bill and that federal provision, which Georgia just copied and which is supposedly Jim Crow, in 2002 when they helped America vote act, passed the Senate, why Dick Durbin, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. So I think he's going to have a bit of a hard time saying that the ID requirement in Georgia is Jim Crow when he voted for a similar provision. Wow. Interesting. So what do you expect to come after this hearing? What happens next is obviously there's a lot of a lot of continuing debate. I think a lot of frustration on both sides of the aisle. What can we expect to see from Congress? Well, there's been a lot of focus. Like I said, this bill, HR1, passed through the House on a party line vote. There was only one Democrat who voted against it, Representative Benny Thompson, of Mississippi. who said his constituents didn't like certain provisions in the bill.

Starting point is 00:22:54 The House passed it without hearings. So actually, it's a bit unusual that the Senate actually seems to be holding hearings on H.R. 1 and these voting issues. It's all going to boil down to one or two Democratic senators. I think you're again going to see a party-line vote. The focus is on folks like Joe Manchin trying to convince him that he should not vote for this bill. and if necessary, I think Senator McConnell has already promised that he's going to filibuster this bill, which will then lead to a fight over whether the filibuster remains or whether Democrats try to get rid of it.

Starting point is 00:23:32 So we're really potentially looking here at a much larger and longer debate that could kind of open a lot of other debates, including the controversy over the filibuster in the coming days and weeks. No, that's exactly right. Well, Hans, we really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. Sure. Thanks for having me. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and High Heart Radio.

Starting point is 00:24:05 Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening, and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a month. million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailysignal.com.

The Daily Signal - What to Expect at Senate Panel’s Hearing on Election-Integrity Law Cast as ‘Jim Crow’

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