Voting rights: Rep. Marcia Fudge is on a mission and coming to a state near you

WASHINGTON – Rep. Marcia Fudge is quick to acknowledge you only have to look to her home state of Ohio to talk about voting rights concerns .

So, in the Democrat's new role as chairwoman of a revived House subcommittee on elections, Ohio will be one of six states where the panel will host field hearings starting as early as next month. The other states include Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas.

The hearings come in the wake of concerns that some voters, particularly in those states, faced problems during the midterms, including proposed poll closures in a predominately black county in Georgia.

Democrats and civil rights and voting rights groups have raised concerns ranging from long lines to voting-machine malfunctions and the purging of thousands of voters off registration rolls.

Democrats, who now control the House, introduced legislation (H.R.1) earlier this month that would, among other things, expand early voting. They also set up the election subcommittee Fudge will chair – the only panel under the House Administration Committee.

“That should tell you how important this issue has become," Fudge told USA TODAY. "And for them to be talking about it in H.R. 1 is also an indication of how important and significant this whole issue of free and fair elections, of making sure that everyone has a right to the franchise, of the unfettered right to vote, which is required by the Constitution, (is). So they get it – big time they get it. Both sides get it."

Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis will serve as the top Republican on the subcommittee. Other panel members haven't been selected.

Fudge outlined her plans, including the hearings, which she hopes to wrap up by June, with a report done by summer's end.

By the fall, Fudge, former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she plans to unveil a comprehensive voting rights package. Part of the panel's goal is to create record of concerns to support the push to restore a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

A 2013 Supreme Court decision — Shelby County v. Holder — threw out a provision that determined which states and other jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination had to obtain “pre-clearance” from federal officials before making election changes.

The court said Congress could come up with a new formula to determine which states required pre-clearance.

"That’s the number one priority – is to satisfy Shelby,'' Fudge said. "We want to be sure that we can get this record to the Supreme Court as quickly as possible."

"We cannot allow 2020 to come around and (have) people still being disenfranchised," she said.

Republicans had eliminated the subcommittee, but Democratic leaders restored it earlier this month. "The Democratic majority has made it a top priority to take action to protect access to the ballot box," said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Fudge, who had considered challenging California Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker, opted not to run and was promised the subcommittee chairmanship. Voting rights is one of Fudge's signature issues. Ohio has come under fire for purging voters.

"Sadly, the appalling conduct we have witnessed in Florida, Georgia and too many other places during this election has once again underscored the absolute necessity of this subcommittee’s establishment in the first place,'' Pelosi said in November.

The subcommittee plans to team up for hearings with the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees and meet this month with stakeholders, including the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Brennan Center for Justice and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Vanita Gupta, president of the conference, said the hearings will help "shed a light" on election problems. "It's clear that there are barriers to the ballot box for too many people in too many places," she said.

The challenge will be getting support from Republicans, who argue the focus should be on voter fraud more than voter suppression. The GOP-controlled Senate isn't expected to support the legislation nor is President Donald Trump who set up a commission to study voter fraud. The commission has since disbanded.

Davis said the subcommittee should move "cautiously" and asked Fudge and California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chairwoman of the Administration Committee, to investigate voter fraud. He suggested field hearings in California, Georgia, Illinois and Utah.

"The Subcommittee should conduct its oversight methodically and thoroughly to identify and recommend solutions to the election issues that are impacting all Americans," Davis wrote in a letter Jan. 4 to Fudge and Lofgren.

Fudge said the subcommittee will investigate voter fraud, though she said there is little evidence it exists. She said she hopes to get GOP support.

"If nothing else, we’re going to have the discussion," she said. "But I honestly, truly believe that we’re going to get this passed."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Voting rights: Rep. Marcia Fudge is on a mission and coming to a state near you