WATCH: Padilla Leads Charge on Stopping Trump’s Attempts to “Take Over” Federal Elections

“It is not a voter ID bill; it is very much a voter suppression bill. It is very much a voter purge bill, and has so much more in that piece of legislation that should concern people.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and California’s former Secretary of State, convened a Rules Committee Democrats spotlight forum titled “Protecting the Future of American Democracy: Stopping the Trump Administration’s Attempted ‘Takeover’ of Elections.”
In his opening remarks, Padilla blasted Trump’s escalating threats — echoed last night during his State of the Union Address — to assert control over elections and push for the passage of voter suppression legislation like theSAVE America Act. Trump has continued to base his election-rigging efforts on disproven conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud. The President has alsocalled onRepublicans to “take over the voting” and attempted to implement his unconstitutional electionexecutive order, among other anti-voter actions. Padilladelivered the Democratic Spanish language responseto Trump’s State of the Union Address last night, pushing back on his relentless attacks against the right to vote.
Padilla also raised the alarm on Trump and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ)pressure campaignto seize unredacted voter registration lists from all 50 states, including sensitive personal information like their social security numbers, party affiliation, and voting history. He warned about DOJ’s possible coordination with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) insufficiently tested and faultySystematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Programtopotentially purge votersfrom the rolls. Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondisent a letterto Minnesota Governor Tim Walz pushing him to hand over the state’s voter rolls as part of an exchange for the Administration calling off its dangerous deployment of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agents to Minneapolis.
Padilla also blasted Republicans in Congress for refusing to push back more forcefully on the Trump Administration’s attacks on our democracy and the administration of elections. He emphasized that in the face of Republicans’ voter suppression efforts, Democrats need to keep up the fight to make it easier, not harder for eligible Americans to register and cast their ballots.
Video of Senator Padilla’s full opening remarks is availablehere.
The panelists at today’s forum include Mo Ivory, a Fulton County, Georgia Commissioner; Rob Bonta, California’s Attorney General; Norm Eisen, Founder of Democracy Defenders and Former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic; and Stephen Richer, Former Maricopa County, Arizona Recorder, Fellow at the CATO Institute, and CEO of Republic Affairs.
Read Fulton County Commissioner Ivory’s opening testimony, as prepared for delivery,here.
Read California Attorney General Bonta’s opening testimony, as prepared for delivery,here.
Read Democracy Defenders Founder and Former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Norm Eisen’s opening testimony, as prepared for delivery,here.
Read Former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer’s opening testimony, as prepared for delivery,here.
The Rules Committee Democrats’ spotlight forum series continues to underscore the dangers of the Trump Administration’s unprecedented attacks on election security, integrity, and funding required to smoothly administer elections and protect American democracy. The firstspotlightforumlast May focused on Congressional Republicans’Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Actand Trump’s illegal anti-voter executive order, both of which threaten to disenfranchise millions of eligible American citizens. Thesecond forumlast Julyfocusedon Trump’s disturbing voter suppression tactics.
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