CBC Hour: Voter Identification Laws

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. I want to thank Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, a leadership Congresswoman from Ohio, for bringing us together this evening on the important question of voter suppression. And I would like to say for the record that the stability of each of our communities and our Nation rests on the fragile reed of trust, trust of the people, that trust enshrined in our right to vote, and our obligation to do so.

Today, in fact, we passed a resolution that is stated over the Speaker's rostrum: ``In God We Trust.'' Yes, trust. And John F. Kennedy reminded us that here on Earth God's work must truly be our own.

Trying to prevent voter suppression is our work. In Ohio, we see new forms of voter suppression in the works as we watch the redistricting process unfold, the districts in which we will run as Members of the House and Senate in Ohio, whether it's for Congress or our legislature, Ohio, a home-rule State that values community, that values where people live. We call it a home-rule State. Where we live matters.

And yet we see in the redistricting what's happened in Ohio, a State losing population. The population hasn't grown as fast as other States. Of 88 counties in Ohio, 62 county lines completely violated.

What does that do? It moves people around in a district that has no bearing to their community. Hundreds and hundreds of precincts cracked. You go in to vote, as Congressman Davis said, you think you're in one precinct, well, gosh, you might even be in the wrong school. Who's going to let you know, especially if you've lost your job and you aren't living where you were before?

We see entire towns in Ohio's redistricting that's proposed by the Republican Party of Ohio hacked apart for no reason, for no sensible reason. Canton, Ohio, is a shadow of its former self. Akron, Ohio; Toledo Ohio--the list goes on.

Let me say that voter suppression discourages voters, especially during this time of economic recession when so many foreclosures have made it more difficult for people to have a home base.

So I would say to the congresswoman, thank you so much this evening for giving us this time to prepare us for the elections of 2012 so that we can in fact prepare to avoid voter suppression in every form that it existed before and in every new form that is being created today. Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, for your leadership on this important issue of giving every American their full rights so we can restore trust in the government of the United States.

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