April 18, 2018

Castro Bill Approved by Foreign Affairs Committee, Heads to House Floor

Washington, D.C.—Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today welcomed approval by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Global Electoral Exchange Act (H.R. 5274). Introduced with Rep. Mark Meadows (NC) last month, this bipartisan measure promotes international exchanges on best election practices and cultivates more secure democratic institutions around the world. This legislation supports broader U.S. national interests in advancing democracy worldwide and provide new market opportunities, improve global outcomes, and promote economic freedom and regional security. Congressman Castro’s full remarks from the markup follow:

“Thank you Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for bringing these measures before us today and your leadership on this committee. I want to say thank you to all of the members whose bills are before us today for your hard work.

“The bills considered today include the Export Control Reform Act, Global Food Security Reauthorization Act, and Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act address important issues in the world and I’m pleased to support all of them. Included in this package is a bill I authored with Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina before the Committee today, the Global Electoral Act, or H.R. 5274.

“In the last decade we’ve seen democracies around the world in retreat, including some in our own backyard. This is in contrast to prior years. In countries around the world, democracy activists and well intentioned leaders strive to create more inclusive societies but face significant challenges, including lack of institutional knowledge of electoral processes.

“An election is a complex endeavor and an exercise a society undertakes together. It requires an engaged public, robust institutions and a transparent, technically sound electoral mechanism. Such an electoral mechanism must include a secret ballot, inclusive voting systems, chain of custody, neutral instructions to voters, and so much more of what may be considered good electoral practices.

“When these electoral mechanisms are inadequately transparent or technically unsound, the legitimacy of an election and its results are in question. We saw this first hand in Kenya, in Honduras over the past year, where electoral failure led to election violence and a questionable outcome.

“The State Department and USAID already engage in excellent work, in partnership with groups like the National Endowment for Democracy, National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, and International Foundation for Electoral Systems, supporting Democracy worldwide.

“This bill would establish exchange programs with other countries, administered by the State Department, for individuals involved in the conduct of elections. When we bring folks over here to show them how we do things and send Americans to other countries to see how elections are conducted overseas, we can have candid conversations on how all of us can improve these processes. These educational programs would benefit both societies abroad, keyed on democratizing, and our own states and cities right here in the United States. 

“I’d like to thank again my co-author Mark Meadows, I believe he is at an OGR hearing and can’t be here right now, but he and his staff put in a lot of work also and I’d like to say thank you and ask for my colleagues’ support on this.”

Additional cosponsors include: Rep. David E. Price (NC); Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (NY); Rep. Peter J. Roskam (IL); Rep. Dina Titus (NV); Rep. Ted Lieu (CA); Rep. David N. Cicilline (RI); Rep. Brad Sherman (CA); and Rep. Ted Poe (TX).

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