Skip to main content

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Statement Regarding Presidential Vote Recounts in the Several States

November 29, 2016

Image
PRESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Glenn Rushing

November 28, 2016 202-225-3816

Press Statement

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Statement Regarding Presidential Vote Recounts in the Several States

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of the House Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committee; Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, and the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus released the following statement today regarding efforts currently being undertaken in certain states to obtain an accurate and complete count of the votes cast for candidates for President in the 2016 election:

“The linchpin of representative democracies such as the United States is public confidence in the political system, regime, and community. That confidence in turn rests upon the extent to which the public has faith that the system employed to select its leaders accurately reflects its preferences. At bottom, this means that all citizens casting a vote have a fundamental right and reasonable expectation that the votes cast count and are counted.

“We know from experience that it not uncommon that occasionally vote counts reported in an initial canvass may later prove to be inaccurate because sometimes votes are overlooked or inaccurately credited to the wrong candidate. Vote recounts have long been recognized as an essential safeguard to correct errors of this type. Recounts have occurred at the local, state, and presidential level, as we saw in 2000.

“It should be noted also that the November 8 election is the first presidential election held since the Supreme Court issued the notorious decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which neutered the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act and adversely affected the ability of hundreds of thousands of persons to cast a ballot and have their vote counted.

“Also, as is the case this year, where the results in the Electoral College and of the popular diverge by the largest and most astounding margin in American history, it is particularly fitting and appropriate to ensure that any uncertainty over the accuracy of the vote determining any state’s electoral votes be resolved as fairly and expeditiously as possible.”

Congresswoman Jackson Lee is a Democrat from Texas’s 18th Congressional District. She is a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security and is Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations.