CEC Executive Director Testifies at Congressional Committee Hearing

On May 24, 2023, CEC’s Executive Director, Lisa Dixon, testified before the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections in a hearing titled “American Confidence in Elections: Ensuring Every Eligible American has the Opportunity to Vote – and for their Vote to Count According to Law.”

Ms. Dixon informed the Subcommittee that voter confidence is reaching a crisis point, and this is a non-partisan concern. Many voters, both Republicans and Democrats, lacked trust in the administration of the 2022 election cycle and whether it accurately reflected the will of the voters.

Ms. Dixon’s solution? “Restoring voters’ trust in the election system and election process at every step so that voters know that balloting, vote counting, and election results are accurate, and that the winner was legitimately elected.”

There are six principles that States should follow in order to restore voters’ confidence:

  1. The rules governing the election are established well ahead of the election and not changed close to it.
  2. The rules governing the election are clear and designed to address many different situations and eventualities that may occur during the voting process.
  3. The rules governing every aspect of the election system help ensure the fairness of the voting process while ensuring that eligible voters have an ample opportunity to vote.
  4. The rules and processes are super-transparent and well-publicized, and election officials educate the voters on the rules.
  5. All guidance and regulations regarding, and procedures for, running the election are consistent with applicable federal and state statutes and are established according to the governing administrative procedural rules.
  6. Election officials follow the laws, regulations, rules, procedures, and guidance that govern the running of the election.

Each of these principles were violated in previous elections, but Ms. Dixon presented practical solutions that the government could implement in order to increase voter confidence and election accuracy.

You can find Ms. Dixon’s written testimony here.

The Subcommittee’s hearing can be viewed in its entirety here.