00:00Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to again thank the witnesses for being here.
00:06Ms. Haling, you traveled all the way from Raleigh to be here with us today, which I appreciate.
00:12And also appreciate the perspective you bring to this.
00:16And I want to thank you for your dedication to your commitment to voting.
00:21A lot of people would have simply walked away from this.
00:25And I think fighting for as hard as you have for the right to vote.
00:30And your perseverance.
00:31How long have you been voting in North Carolina without any issues?
00:38Since we moved back to North Carolina, that was in 2016.
00:42But prior to that, we lived in North Carolina for 20 years and moved away in 2005.
00:50Then moved back in 2016, which I was a voter during all those years.
00:56And prior to 2024, when was the last year you voted?
01:00Do you know?
01:03I voted in every election.
01:05Okay.
01:06So presumably 2023?
01:07Yes.
01:08Without any challenges to...
01:09I was a regular voter since 2016.
01:12Primaries, general.
01:14And I never had an issue.
01:16I just had to show my picture ID, my North Carolina license, against the registration on the form when I went in.
01:25Right.
01:26And I was a little unclear.
01:28You said you utilized the last four digits of your Social Security.
01:33Right.
01:33You had done that originally and your voter ID?
01:36You've used both?
01:37No, I used my Social Security number.
01:40The first time?
01:41The first time.
01:42Which is one of the two acceptable ways, I assume, in North Carolina?
01:45Exactly.
01:46And then the Board of Elections suggested that they didn't have the four digits?
01:52They suggested that it might not match or...
01:56They didn't know if it was a clerical error that put either my name or the last four digits in incorrectly.
02:04But never did I hear after that.
02:08I would think if that was spitted out or whatever, I should have been notified that it wasn't correct.
02:15And you voted in 2024, just to be clear.
02:17I sure did.
02:17You went to the polling place, voted as you traditionally would.
02:21I did.
02:21And you were notified after the fact that you were now being questioned about whether you were...
02:25It was after the Griffin contest, contesting it, and I got a postcard in the mail.
02:34And so then you actually said in your testimony that you physically visited the Wake County Board of Elections?
02:42I did.
02:42And this was after you had been determined that this is to rectify the problem?
02:47Yes.
02:48And then you...
02:50So you thought everything was fine and then you learned again now?
02:54No, I don't know.
02:55I will check before the next election.
02:58I will verify it again.
03:00But you should be able to register and not worry about this.
03:05Right.
03:05I will not be assured until I see it.
03:07I will visit the Board of Elections.
03:10But you said, the relief didn't last long.
03:13I was made aware.
03:14Oh, I see.
03:15You're simply aware that there's a list of over 200,000 allegedly incomplete.
03:20You don't know that you're necessarily on it.
03:22I've been...
03:23I understand I'm on that list.
03:24Oh, you do?
03:25How do you...
03:26Yes.
03:26How do you...
03:26Why do you feel that?
03:27Why do you...
03:28Because I'm in part of a lawsuit.
03:32So is your...
03:33And how do you know that?
03:36I've been told it.
03:37Oh, you have been?
03:38Yeah.
03:38I've been told that I'm on that list.
03:39Or by...
03:40By...
03:40By...
03:40But who's...
03:41Who shared that with you?
03:44I'm not sure at this point.
03:45Okay.
03:46So...
03:46I just know that I understand I'm on that list.
03:49Got it.
03:49Got it.
03:50Got it.
03:50Well, I'd be curious, just from the other witnesses, is there any reason that you think
03:54that you could share with Ms. Haling why her... why she shouldn't be allowed to vote?
03:59Yeah.
03:59Well, I don't think she should be allowed, but I can explain all of this.
04:01She got railroaded by the state... by the county officials, is what happened, ranking member
04:06Morelli.
04:07When you passed HAVA in 2020... 2002, HAVA requires all registrants to have a unique identifying
04:14number.
04:14That's congressional statute.
04:16It's not complicated.
04:17What happened was is North Carolina screwed up.
04:19When she registered in 2016, I think she said, in North Carolina, she gave them her number
04:26as required by HAVA, and they didn't put it into her record.
04:29That's what happened here.
04:30It's a typical incompetence.
04:32But she's now gone through and rectified it, and now she's still on a list of 200,000
04:38voters are being challenged.
04:41Well, that litigation is over with.
04:43She's no longer being challenged.
04:44What's happened now is the United States has filed a lawsuit to get North Carolina in
04:48compliance with HAVA by going and harvesting those numbers for future elections.
04:53It's a classic example of a screw-up by an election official hurting a voter, and that's
04:58what happened here.
04:59And yet, your testimony is that you feel you are part of the 200,000 folks.
05:05So you're still concerned that your vote may not count?
05:08You're clearly a U.S. citizen.
05:09Not only that I'm part of it, but there are 200,000-plus more that are going to have to
05:15go through what I did.
05:16Yeah, and I would just, as I yield back, Mr. Chair, I think there are a number of things
05:20we could do, including providing resources, which I don't think is anticipated here.
05:25And I don't know how we do this important work without providing resources to local state
05:30boards of election.
05:30With that, I'll yield back.
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