The Committee on House Administration should conduct oversight of President Trump’s reckless gutting of federal support for election assistance and lawless incursion on states’ duty to oversee election administration, according to a statement for the record submitted by CREW’s Executive Director and Chief Counsel Donald Sherman.
In the past, the Committee has passed bipartisan reforms providing billions of dollars to upgrade voting equipment to make voting more secure and accessible–but today’s hearing could serve as a major departure from this earnest work.
The president’s claims of voter fraud have been widely debunked, but have continued to fuel widespread outrage and political violence. At the same time, the administration has rolled back physical and cyber security aimed at addressing these threats and instead attempted to illegally impose on states’ authority over elections that are administered by state and local officials every year. If Congress is serious about ensuring that we have secure elections, it must conduct robust oversight of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine states’ administration of elections.
Three specific instances highlight Trump’s illegal power grab in elections: first, the January 6th insurrection against the Constitution which Trump incited on the basis of false claims of a “stolen election;” second, Trump’s March 25, 2025 executive order “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” portions of which were blocked in court for violating the Elections Clause and the separation of powers, which unilaterally added new requirements to the voter registration form, among other concerning provisions; and finally, Trump’s encroachment on several states’ election procedures, which recent reports have found include a multi-pronged effort to gather data on voters and voting procedures, sparking concerns of federal election interference.
The Committee—which is responsible for overseeing election reforms to ensure safety and security—should focus on addressing Trump’s attacks on election assistance and alleged incursions on state voter rolls instead of conducting a sham proceeding that ignores his illegal abuses of our election system and gives cover to his conspiracy theories and efforts to undermine at best, or at worst, potentially try to steal future elections.
