On Wednesday, The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Elections held a hearing, American Confidence in Elections: Ensuring Every Eligible Vote Counts. During the hearing, state witnesses offered testimony explaining the challenges and victories experienced by election administrators throughout the nation in recent elections. Notably, Georgia was once again used as a model for national reform.

Following the 2022 midterm elections, the University of Georgia released the Georgia Post-Election Survey, which showed that 99% of Georgia Voters reported no issues casting a ballot, with 92.2% saying that SB202 either didn’t affect or made it easier to vote. During the hearing, this survey was entered into the Congressional Record.

“Congress finally recognizes that casting a ballot in Georgia is easy and more secure than ever before,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “It’s time for Congress to untie the hands of state election administrators, allow for meaningful election reform, and eliminate the 90 day blackout period than prevents meaningful list maintenance.”

Also discussed was the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE), proposed legislation that would implement several reforms supported by Secretary Raffensperger. Earlier this Spring, Secretary Raffensperger sent a letter to Speaker McCarthy outlining five policy proposals to increase election integrity and public confidence in election results. ACE incorporated four out of five proposals, including strengthening voter ID provisions, preventing non-citizen voting, strengthening list maintenance, and banning ballot harvesting. Secretary Raffensperger hopes for Congress to evaluate better list maintenance proposals, including ending the 90-day federal blackout period for conducting list maintenance.