Subject: Fwd: Background on Hillary Clinton's upcoming remarks on voting rights in Texas
From: Brian Fallon <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 16:52:53 -0400

It's out to the full list, and Anne got a 10-minute head start. All good?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian Fallon <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 4:47 PM
Subject: Background on Hillary Clinton's upcoming remarks on voting rights
in Texas
To: Brian Fallon <[email-masked]>
Cc: Jesse Ferguson <[email-masked]>, Nick Merrill <
[email-masked]>

The background material below is not embargoed and may be reported
immediately. Thank you...

*[BACKGROUND -- CLINTON AIDE]*

*IN TEXAS SPEECH, CLINTON TO CALL FOR EXPANDED EARLY VOTING IN EVERY STATE*

·         Tomorrow, Hillary Clinton will receive the Barbara Jordan
Public-Private Leadership Award and deliver remarks at Texas Southern
University in Houston.

·         In her remarks, Clinton will lay out her vision for how to expand
access to the ballot box for all Americans and how to defend against
assaults on voting rights.

·         Clinton will urge Congress to move quickly to pass legislation to
repair the damage to the Voting Rights Act done by the Supreme Court in
2013 and will back the recommendations of President Obama’s bipartisan
commission on election reform.

·         *She will also call for a new national standard of no fewer than
20 days of early in-person voting in every state, including opportunities
for weekend and evening voting. *

o   *She will say this standard would reduce long lines and give more
citizens the chance to participate, especially those who have work or
family obligations that make it difficult to get to the polls on Election
Day.  *

o   She will say early voting is more secure, reliable and affordable for
states to implement than absentee voting.

·         A nationwide standard on early voting would boost a popular
method for Americans to exercise their right to vote. According to the
United States Election Project, early voting accounted for more than 20
million cast ballots in the 2014 elections.

o   *Despite this, a third of states still have no early voting at all.*

·         In arguing for expanded early voting periods, Clinton will draw a
sharp contrast with Republicans who have fought to curb early voting.

·         *In particular, she will denounce efforts in states like North
Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and Florida:*

o   *North Carolina*: In 2013, the state passed legislation eliminating
registration during early voting and reducing early voting to ten days.
According to published reports, nearly 95,000 people registered to vote
during early voting in the 2012 general election and cast their ballots the
same day

o   *Texas*: Last year, the state implemented a restrictive voting law that
a federal court had previously blocked for having “discriminatory purpose.”
Among other provisions, the law allows a concealed weapon permit as valid
ID but not a student photo ID.

o   *Wisconsin*: In 2011, the state passed a law reducing early voting and
limiting it to just one weekend. The state later passed a 2014 law
eliminating early voting on weekends altogether.

·         In defending Americans’ voting rights, Hillary Clinton is
continuing a cause she has championed throughout her career.

o   In 1972 she worked to register Latino voters in Texas.

o   As Senator, she introduced the Count Every Vote Act, which was called
the “gold standard” of election reform by the New York Times.  Among other
steps, it would have made Election Day a national holiday; required states
to work to reduce waiting times at polling places and provide early voting
periods; put in place fair and uniform standards for voter registration and
identification, including same-day registration across the country; and,
provide a paper record and improved security measures for electronic voting
machines.