WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and California's former Secretary of State, issued the following statement after Republicans in Congress announced the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act, an extreme voter suppression bill that would disenfranchise millions of Americans through an onslaught of anti-voter provisions:

"Donald Trump and House Republicans know the SAVE Act is dead on arrival in the Senate. Instead of legislating based on reality, they are doubling down with an even more extreme anti-voting rights bill based on the same baseless conspiracy theories. The MEGA Act would disenfranchise millions of married women, service members, and rural and minority voters, while enabling vindictive lawsuits against state election officials. It would overturn historic reforms like Motor Voter registration and vote-by-mail that are essential to helping Americans participate in elections.

"Republicans are desperately trying to rig the rules for future elections because they know they cannot win on their unpopular agenda which is raising costs for working families. The right to vote is fundamental, and Congress should be working to make it easier, not harder, for eligible Americans to participate."

Earlier today, Senator Padilla and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) led 26 Senate colleagues in pushing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop its unlawful pressure campaign to coerce dozens of states into providing the Trump Administration their voter rolls, which include voters' personally identifiable information. Despite lacking legal authority, DOJ has sued 24 states and Washington, D.C. for refusing to hand over their full voter registration lists. The Senators sounded the alarm that the Administration's efforts risk unjustified voter roll purges, pose severe privacy and national security concerns, and subvert state and local election officials' authority to maintain registration lists.

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