CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Jeff Merkley

Interview

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SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): Well, absolutely, Erin. Tomorrow is going to be very exciting because we're going to have the first markup of the bill. We have been talking to election officials, local officials, secretary of states, Democrats and Republicans across the country that is giving us a lot of feedback on the details, on here's how you make early voting work, here's how you make vote by mail work better, here's how you make automatic voter registration work, or ballot tracking.

[19:35:09]

And we've adjusted the bill to take all of that into account, which has been important to all of our members that we really have a bill that's feasible or being implemented.

And while Mitch McConnell isn't on board, Republicans across the nation are on board. They support defending the right of every American to vote, they support ending gerrymandering. They support stopping billionaires from buying elections. And those are the three big things that this bill does, to defend the integrity of elections across our country.

BURNETT: So, you know, I know obviously you're hoping you're going to get there, but if the bill doesn't pass which you're dealing with all the state bills that are passing in many cases, right, because states have a lot of control over their own elections. So, if that's the scenario, those bills keep passing and you don't get a federal bill, what's your next move to try and stop some of these restrictions from taking place, in certain states?

MERKLEY: Well, to your point, we have now six states that have passed such restrictions. We have another six that are on the verge of passing those restrictions, and they're designed to prevent communities of color from voting, colleges for voting, poor communities from voting. They're designed to enable election officials in Republican parts of the country to make it very hard for Democrats to get to the polls on Election Day.

And so, this is really an attack on this most fundamental of American freedoms, the right to be involved and participate in the direction of our country. And we thought we have gotten past this point from 1965 forward when we had the Voting Rights Act passed. Little did we anticipate, that here almost half a century later, we'd have this massive attack on the right of Americans to vote.

So, you're going to see, that Democrats get together, 50 of us and figure out, on how to defend this fundamental constitutional right. It's really our responsibility, we've taken an oath to the Constitution, and we love to have Republicans on board with us. But Mitch McConnell has said Republicans in the Senate, unlike Republican election officials, unlike Republican voters has said no longer will they participate.

They want to keep gerrymandering. They want to keep millionaires buying election, and they want to talk so many communities in America from being able to vote.

BURNETT: You know, as I put -- as I put forward, obviously, the promise for all these bills are happening around the country, you know, is because of the lie that the election was stolen. That doesn't mean that there aren't some things in the bills that many reasonable people can agree on.

So, I want to talk to you about one specific thing, and that is voter ID. In your bill, I know you want to remove strict voter ID requirements the some of the states are enacting. You're not trying to get rid of them entirely. But, for example, trying to allow people without an ID to sign some sort of a statement instead.

It is true though, Senator, as you know that 76 percent of Americans -- this is according to the newest Pew poll -- support requiring all voters, all voters to show a government issued photo ID to vote. Is this really such a crazy idea?

MERKLEY: Well, it is -- it is a bad idea, and here's why: well, we have no examples of any -- other than a few here and there, very rare instances of people trying to vote who aren't legally entitled to vote. And the states that have elected security, they have used the voter signature to make sure that the voter is really the person. And if the signature doesn't match, they follow up.

In state after state, where Republicans have conducted investigations to try to find out whether people illegally vote, they find and come up with a zero. It doesn't -- it doesn't happen. So what's this really all about if you're not solving a problem?

They know that far fewer Democrats in urban communities, far fewer members of communities of color, have these IDs readily at hand. And therefore, it will make it harder for them to vote.

And so, that's what this is about. And so, if you're defending equal opportunity for people to vote, then you are going to allow this artificial premise. You depend on the signatures, and the follow-up investigations. And the fact it's a felony to pretend to vote if you're not eligible -- those things already work extremely well.

BURNETT: All right. Senator Merkley, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

MERKLEY: Thank you so much, Erin.

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