Thread by @grace_panetta

Good afternoon from the House administration committee, where, in non-infrastructure news, a hearing on election subversion is kicking off

Committee chairwoman @RepZoeLofgren kicking off her opening statement discussing increased threats against election officials, says they've been "failed" by political leaders

@RepZoeLofgren After a brief back-and-forth with Lofgren over the scheduling for this hearing, ranking member @RodneyDavis is speaking now, criticizing Dems: "there's a lot of election misinformation going on right now, and it's coming from the other side of the aisle'

@RepZoeLofgren @RodneyDavis First panel of witnesses are @RepSarbanes and @RepNikema, the lead sponsor and a co-sponsor of the Preventing Election Subversion Act of 2021, which would ban local election officials from being fired w/o cause and add protections against harrasment congress.gov/bill/117th-con…

Sarbanes says election subversion “is voter suppression in new clothes”

Another aspect of HR 4064 (the Preventing Election Subversion Act of 2021) — it would create a "buffer zone" prohibiting poll watchers from coming within 8 feet of a voter

.@RepBurgessOwens just spoke, citing his experiences with discrimination growing up in Tallahassee in the 1960s and said today's voting laws don't compare, added that Dem criticisms that GOP-backed voting laws are racially discriminatory reflect the "bigotry of low expectations"

@RepBurgessOwens .@RepNikema speaking now, saying that "Election subversion is not some far-off hypothetical" in citing GOP efforts to suspend/remove local election officials in Fulton County (her district) — read more background on that from @markniesse ajc.com/politics/takeo…

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse Rep. Williams: "To anyone who wonders what they would have done during the civil rights movement, now is your time to find out"

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse .@GKButterfield just said he wants to move to strike Rep. Owens' testimony from the record if he didn't stay to hear Rep. Williams' testimony (Owens testified at the hearing remotely)

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield Committee is back after recessing for votes, next panel of witnesses are Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey and former Maricopa County, AZ recorder & Secretary of State candidate @Adrian_Fontes — both here in person

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes Witnesses testifying remotely on this panel are
@GRamachandran03 of the @BrennanCenter
and @KenCuccinelli

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli .@Adrian_Fontes tells the committee: "We need your help. We need your protection."

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli Clerk Winfrey recounting the harassment and disruption her staff experienced at the TCF Center, and then having to appear to testify in-person while sick with COVID-19 in order for the Wayne Co. Board of Elections to certify the 2020 election with lots of harassment to follow

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli Winfrey recalls being harrassed in person in her own neighborhood by a man accusing her of rigging the election, etc. She responded: "I have COVID-19 and I'll spit on you"

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli Cuccinelli argues that the Preventing Election Subversion Act seeks to "invade state and local perogatives" and could violate the 10th Amendment

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli .@RepBryanSteil asks Clerk Winfrey if she supports voter ID.

She responds: "I do. It's the law."

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli @RepBryanSteil Fmr Recorder Fontes on threats against election official: "Reasonable people need to stand up and say 'enough is enough'"

Clerk Winfrey: "If it weren't for the work of local election officials, none of you would be here in this room..we just want to protect democracy"

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli @RepBryanSteil And while I'm in this election subversion hearing...@mikedebonis reports that on the other side of the Capitol, a group of Dem senators met in Schumer's office on a revised version of the For the People Act that could include provisions on subversion washingtonpost.com/politics/democ…

@RepBurgessOwens @RepNikema @markniesse @GKButterfield @Adrian_Fontes @GRamachandran03 @BrennanCenter @KenCuccinelli @RepBryanSteil @mikedebonis Fmr. recorder Fontes says of elected officials actively undermining election results: "It is a horrible new place that we find ourselves in, and we have to end in...we are in dangerous new territory in my view"