For the People Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the recognition.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 1, Burgess amendment No. 12, which would require the Attorney General of the United States to submit a report to Congress on the impact of widespread mail-in voting on the ability of Active Duty military servicemembers to vote, how quickly their votes could be counted, and whether the higher volumes of mail-in votes makes it harder for those individuals to vote in national elections.

America's servicemembers put their lives on the line to protect our country and everything it stands for. We must ensure their voices are heard in our elections. If the majority has their way with the underlying bill in permanently expanding mail-in voting, Congress must first know that such policies won't negatively impact those we rely on to ensure that our voices are heard in the first place.

A second amendment, Burgess amendment No. 13, would require a report on voter data collection efforts at local, State, and Federal levels, and make the resources necessary to defend such efforts from cyberattacks and the impact of potential data breaches of local, State, or Federal online voter registration systems.

H.R. 1, the underlying bill, includes the Voter Registration Modernization Act, which requires that all Americans have access to online voter registration, a significant expansion of this service in many parts of the country. Voter online registration can be quick, easy, and convenient. It also poses significant risks for those same citizens by increasing the cyber-infrastructure requirements at all levels of government and introduces cybersecurity challenges in areas that have not previously had online registration.

We are all familiar with the concept, if it goes on a network, it can be hacked. Data breaches pose a real threat to Americans' privacy, to their financial security. We have seen time and again how poor digital hygiene, or insufficient cybersecurity, have created new vulnerabilities to Americans' personally identifiable information.

Madam Speaker, Americans deserve to know how this mandate in the underlying bill will impact their local voting systems and their personal privacy. Many areas of the United States have successfully implemented online voter registration, and that could be great for those voters. However, many election precincts, and even some States, do not have adequate infrastructure or resources to ensure proper protection of the personally identifiable information that is required to be collected to register to vote.

This amendment would provide our constituents information to either provide a sense of security that their voter data will be properly protected or will serve as a warning as to how this could impact their voting system.

Madam Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' on both votes.

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