John Tanner testified in an oversight hearing about his leadership of the Voting Rights section of the Justice Department. Topics included cases of voter fraud being prosecuted. Mr. Tanner apologized for comments he made in October before the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles, where he had said, “Minorities don’t become elderly like white people do. They die first.”

A panel of experts also testified about voting laws and their enforcement, photo identification requirements for voting, and voter demographics.

The oversight hearing is the third in a series of hearings which examines the effectiveness of the Voting Section in executing its mission to enforce anti-discrimination laws.

John Tanner is Voting Section chief in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.