House Democrats Hold ‘Shadow Hearing’ in San Francisco to Defend Elections

House Democrats raised alarms about what they call President Donald Trump’s attempts to undermine the November elections in San Francisco on Thursday — while simultaneously reassuring voters that there will be free and fair elections this fall.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, along with four other Democratic members of Congress, held a “shadow” hearing with experts to push their message that Americans should trust local and state election officials and the electoral system in general. They also encouraged Americans to vote as early as possible this fall.

“As I travel the country, what I hear the most from people, ‘Is there going to be an election?’” Pelosi said after the 90-minute hearing. “Of course, there’s going to be an election. There’s always been an election, even during the Civil War. But we anticipate a set of challenges now.”

Pelosi and New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, said they are worried by both Trump’s rhetoric and his actions: His ongoing, debunked claims of widespread election fraud and his threats to send immigration and other federal law enforcement to polling locations; his recent executive orders seeking to eliminate or curb voting by mail and; his support for legislation that would make it more difficult to register to vote; and his administration’s recent attempts to interfere with state voter rolls and seize election records.

Thursday’s hearing followed a similar forum on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The events are considered “shadow” hearings because they are being held by the minority party on issues that Republicans won’t schedule.

The panel said they believe most of Trump’s attempts to seize control of election administration from the states or change the rules governing voting are illegal, but still stand to confuse and intimidate voters. They noted that voter fraud is exceedingly rare and that American elections are considered incredibly secure.

“We take these threats seriously,” Morelle said. “Our job here isn’t to tip the scales for the Democrats. Our job is to make sure that the American people have their voice heard.

The problem is the president is unwilling and is afraid of the verdict that’s going to be delivered. … and that’s why he’s trying to change the rules to stop so many people from casting their ballot and exercising their franchise.”

The San Francisco event, held at UC Law San Francisco, included Bay Area Reps. Mark DeSaulnier, Kevin Mullin and Mike Thompson and experts including UC Law professor Rory Little, former California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley and Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, a union representing U.S. Postal Service workers.

Renfroe discussed the difficult position his members are facing after Trump’s recent executive order, which directs the service to effectively take control of voting by mail by designing new envelopes for ballots and refusing to deliver those unless voters appear on a federally created list of eligible voters.

The order is currently on hold while it is challenged in court.

“Operationally, we’re not even sure how this could be done,” Renfroe said. “It is very concerning — to attempt to invoke a beloved agency that has always been free of any sort of partisan political activity that the American people trust to do something such as verify voter eligibility.”

Little, the law professor, took aim at legislation championed by Trump and House Republicans, which would require voters to prove citizenship in person when they register and require states to submit their voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security.

He said the measure, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or SAVE Act, would do nothing to promote election security but would disenfranchise voters —particularly those without birth certificates or whose birth certificates don’t match their current name.

“The current sponsors of the so-called Save America Act should be constitutionally ashamed,” he said. “There’s no demonstrated problem of noncitizen voting in this country. Another fact, there’s no demonstrated problem of mail and ballot fraud in America. And here’s another fact — women who have changed their names upon marriage, often Republican women we might know, are going to be surprised to learn that now they have to travel far to understaffed election offices to re-register in person to secure their right to vote.”