Voting Rights

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, in response to the minority leader's statement about the changes in voting laws across America, the record speaks for itself. I believe the number is 17--17 States which have set out to specifically limit previous opportunities under law to vote.

Is it a coincidence that 17 States would do these things? I don't think so. I think it is by design. That is why the Senate Rules Committee was in Georgia today, to talk specifically about the measures that they took after the last election.

Remember, this is all being done in the context of a former President, the sorest loser in the history of the United States, and his Big Lie about what was wrong with the last election. Well, I can tell you what was not wrong with the last election. In many States, the turnout broke records. More Americans eligible to vote turned up to vote, and that is a good thing in a democracy.

When it comes to allegations of fraud, all of the money that has been spent on lawsuits, all of the allegations of voter fraud that have been investigated, it turns out to be a handful of cases, maybe a dozen out of millions of votes cast in the United States. So there is no argument for changing election voting laws based on fraud. There certainly is no argument when it comes to the outcome of the election. That was clear, and it has been to everyone except one former President for a long time. Yet the Republicans, when in control of State legislatures, are by design trying to make it more difficult for some people to vote. Why? The answer is very simple: The demographics of America are not on the side of the Republican Party.

The new voters in this country are moving away from them, away from Donald Trump, away from their party creed that they preach. Instead, they are moving to be Independents or even vote on the other side. To argue and fight against that, the Republicans in legislative settings are reducing and restricting the opportunity to vote. That is what it is all about.

The Senator from Kentucky attributes it to hysteria. It is not. It is a genuine concern over whether in this country, where democracy is our creed and our goal in every election, we have the most participation, fair participation, by eligible voters that we have ever had, and we continue to build on that.

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