Thread by @grace_panetta

.@SenateRules is holding a hearing on #S1, the Senate version of #HR1, starting in 10 minutes. Witnesses will include @EricHolder, three secretaries of state, @Tiffany_Muller, @thetrevorpotter, @FredWertheimer, and more: rules.senate.gov/hearings/s1-th…

Ranking member @RoyBlunt jokes that every member of Congress thinks they're an expert in two areas: "elections and air travel."

Senator Blunt says it's "never mentioned" that over 700 bills with provisions that would expand voting have been filed in state legislatures (per the @BrennanCenter) — but I wrote about it in depth last week! businessinsider.com/some-states-qu…

.@SenSchumer is here too — he says this hearing on #S1 is the first committee hearing he's attending as majority leader "because I believe this issue is so, so important"

"It's the most despicable thing I've seen in all my years...shame, shame, shame," Schumer says of bills introduced in Arizona that would require notarization for mail ballots and prohibit same day/automatic registration.

Also worth noting that Schumer wrongly characterized the provisions in GA legislators' election bills re: Sunday voting. The two GOP-backed omnibus bills currently alive in the GA legislature would actually expand early voting in most counties

https://twitter.com/srl/status/1374730233325162500

more on that here: gpb.org/news/2021/03/2…

.@LeaderMcConnell speaking now: says #S1 is a "solution in search of a problem...this is clearly an effort by one party to rewrite the rules of our system, and would create an implementation nightmare"

McConnell says the bill is "not ready for primetime and would cause chaos," citing mandates in the bill to implement voting machines that don't exist yet and phone-based registration systems (which don't exist anywhere): "I'm sure prank callers would have a field day with that"

The first panel of witnesses: @EricHolder, @JocelynBenson, @AGToddRokita, @MacWarnerforWV, @mawaldman

WV Secretary of State Mac Warner raises concerns with the provision of the bill that would ban election transmission of ballots, which is used by military service members as an alternative to the mail: "How is this for the people? clearly, it's not."

IN AG Todd Rokita misleadingly says that "tens of millions of mail-in ballots overloaded the processing capacity of the system in many states turning the tabulation of votes into a weekslong process" in 2020 (in reality, election certification always takes days/weeks to complete)

Rokita says if the Senate passes #S1, "The sun won't set in Indiana before we sue"

Blunt reiterates that "politicians all think they're experts on election administration" and that lawmakers in states are introducing tons of bills that are very unlikely to become law (this is true, but the introduction of bills still signals where lawmakers' priorities lie)

Sen. Ted Cruz calls #S1 “the single most dangerous bill this committee has ever considered…a partisan power grab by the democrats," misleadingly adds that it will cause massive voter fraud and illegal voting via AVR — the states currently with AVR do not see that issue

Cruz, claims, without providing evidence, that "criminals and illegal aliens are much, more likely to vote for Democrats"

Sen. Patrick Leahy responds to Cruz, says that Vermont, which allows currently incarcerated folks to vote, overwhelmingly reelected a GOP governor last fall and has had only one Democratic Senator in its history

Maine, the other state that allows all people with felony convictions (including currently incarcerated people) to vote, also reelected GOP Sen. Susan Collins last fall by a wide margin

Another thing to look out for today:

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1374757778527518720

Sen. Deb Fischer, citing no widespread of fraud & record turnout in 2020: "I would just ask us to think about why in the world we would give up state control of our elections to the federal government...I vehemently disagree with that." #S1

Fischer raises concerns about "confusion" and "sloppiness" in the way the bill was written, including conflicting deadlines for certain requirements. "I see chaos in trying to meet requirements for 2022 elections..these machines don't even exist yet."

Sen. Angus King (I-ME), said he's "conflicted" as a big supporter of state's rights, but also someone who believes that "many of the provisions of the bill as an extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act...really what we're talking about here is protecting the right to vote."

Sen. Bill Hagerty (TN) says that Democrats using their majority to pass S. 1. is more like "Maduro's regime" or "Chairman Mao's regime" than the United States' democracy

Hagerty also said that we can debate "whether redistricting is good or bad" 🤔 (maybe he meant gerrymandering?)

.@SenOssoff slams Indiana AG Rokita for "indulging" in "conspiracies" and misinfo

"We're trying to have a constructive debate, you're not adding to it," Rokita responds to Ossoff. "The difference between my opinion and yours is mine has the ability to file lawsuits."

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith also just mangled the details of GA's legislation on Sunday voting, saying it would make sense for GA to ban registration drives and early voting on Sundays (neither of which lawmakers are currently proposing), because Sunday is the Sabbath/a day of rest

*the Christian sabbath, I should say — she specifically referenced Christianity/all the references to God on the US dollar bill, etc

We're now onto our second panel of witnesses: Trevor Potter of @CampaignLegal, Tiffany Muller of @StopBigMoney, Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, and former Republican FEC chairs Lee Goodman and Bradley Smith

Senator Blunt just asked this panel about this @lachlan story, asking if any of them or their organizations were "the memo's author, a prominent voice in the campaign finance reform world" axios.com/fec-biden-camp…

Lee Goodman says some of the donation transparency provisions in the bill feed into "cancel culture" and "deplatforming culture"

my wrap-up of the main takeaways from the voting & election discussion in today's Senate hearing on #S1, in a much more cogent format than these tweets businessinsider.com/senate-hearing…