Dems Introduce Voting Reform Legislation

by Chris Bowers, Fri Feb 18, 2005 at 09:11:17 AM EST

No one is going to jail over recent election irregularities, and I remain extremely dubious of any voting reform legislation that will be passed by the current Congress, but recent legislation introduced by Democrats in Congress does at least appear promising: The Count Every Vote Act of 2005 will provide a voter verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines and ensures access to voter verification for all citizens, including language minority voters, illiterate voters and voters with disabilities. The bill mandates that this ballot be the official ballot for purposes of a recount. The bill sets a uniform standard for provisional ballots so that every qualified voter will know their votes are treated equally, and requires the Federal Election Assistance Commission to issue standards that ensure uniform access to voting machines and trained election personnel in every community. The bill also improves security measures for electronic voting machines.

To encourage more citizens to exercise their right to vote, the Count Every Vote Act designates Election Day a federal holiday and requires early voting in each state. The bill also enacts "no-excuse" absentee balloting, enacts fair and uniform voter registration and identification, and requires states to allow citizens to register to vote on Election Day. It also requires the Election Assistance Commission to work with states to reduce wait times for voters at polling places. In addition, the legislation restores voting rights for felons who have repaid their debt to society.

The Count Every Vote Act also includes measures to protect voters from deceptive practices and conflicts of interest that harm voter trust in the integrity of the system. In particular, the bill restricts the ability of chief state election officials as well as owners and senior managers of voting machine manufacturers to engage in certain kinds of political activity. The bill also makes it a federal crime to commit deceptive practices, such as sending flyers into minority neighborhoods telling voters the wrong voting date, and makes these practices a felony punishable by up to a year of imprisonment.

This sounds pretty good, but I am going to step out of character and be pessimistic for a moment because it also seems too good for the current Congress to pass. The bill, which in the House is HR 550, has been introduced by Boxer, Clinton, Kerry and Tubbs Jones. An earlier voting reform bill, which in the House is HR 533, was introduced by Conyers and Dodd. You can read the texts of the bills here.

Tags: General 2008 (all tags)

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Wow

Great Bill. The party needs to be out there making as MUCH noise as possible on this. Superficially, there is no reason the GOP should oppose a bill making it easier for people to vote... Of course, they know this would hurt them and curb their cheating ways so they will be against it, but if we get this in the press enough where it becomes a well talked about national issue like dismantling SS or rich-benefiting tax cuts; win or lose, it leaves us in great shape...

If we win, it lets us get more of our base out. If we lose, we spin it asking out loud why the GOP is afraid to have the votes counted. Uh Oh, is that a terror alert that I hear coming.

by yitbos96bb 2005-02-18 09:21AM | 0 recs

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I wish I agreed ...

but I don't. This bill is not adequate. In fact, it looks like it was written just to look like they were doing something, so the rest of us would be satisfied temporarily.

It fails to address some major Election problems that we have seen over the last eight years -- first; we need strong, nonpartisan Election Commissions. Second; we need strong realistic sanctions, that would include holding elections again. Third; individual voters themselves should have the right to initiate suits to enforce their rights to vote, and for their votes to be counted. Fourth; we must have extended, public hearings on computer technology before we ever use computers to collect, tally and report votes again.

Our Senators should use recent experiences to speak out strongly and repeatedly on all these problems until the GOP finally is forced to act. That isn't what is happening right now; is it?

by scribble 2005-02-19 08:08AM | 0 recs

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You are too optimistic Chris

DeLay and Hastert blocked Verified Paper Ballot legislation in the last Congress and they will block it in this one. I don't think there is a damn thing the Democrats can do to move this legislation in the House.

Frist may or may not allow a vote in the Senate, because he and Bush know that DeLay and Hastert have their back in the House. Look for positive and uplifting statements about the importance of making sure every vote counts from Bush and Frist. If Hastert says anything, it will be that there are technical problems with the legislation and it does not have the support of over half of the Republican caucus.

I wouldn't bet a dime to a dollar that Democrats can even generate enough pressure to get either DeLay or Hastert to comment on this legislation. They'll just ignore it.

by Gary Boatwright 2005-02-18 09:53AM | 0 recs

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What goes around comes around

The people may reward a party that at least tries to reform, and it may punish the obstructionists. Then again, they may not.

by Paul Goodman 2005-02-18 11:01AM | 0 recs

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nice laundry list

It looks like it has everything we are looking for. Certainly it's a good idea to do that since the whole thing is for show - to demonstrate Democrats want to reform the voting process even though the bill will go nowhere. There seems to be a little self-contradiction, though. The no-fault absentee balloting would tend to contradict the need to make election day a holiday.

by CA Pol Junkie 2005-02-18 12:18PM | 0 recs

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HR550...

...is much more comprehensive that the Senate bill (330?) on election reform.

by KTinOhio 2005-02-18 01:26PM | 0 recs

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Having been an amateur sleuth...

...and researcher on the contested Washington State Gubernatorial election, I can speak from experience when I say the GOP isn't truely interested in election reform (was that already obvious to everyone else?...sigh)

When the Republican (Rossi) lost the hand recount...the GOP went into full attack mode. "Fraud!" they cried. "Disenfranchised military voters!" "Misconduct on the part of county elections officers!"

I personally researched the allegations of military disenfranchisement. It's completely bogus. Every person serving in the military overseas had access to a Federal Military ballot (state and local races could be written in and were counted). Counties went out of their way to make certain military voters could have access to vote via fax and email as well.

No evidence of fraud has ever actually been presented. Misconduct boils down to variances in bookeeping by the counties...not to inaccuracies in ballot counting.

I've blogged on this stuff extensively at my blog, PreemptiveKarma.com (shameless plug, sorry).

The point I'm making here is that the GOP isn't interested in identifying the real problems and fixing them. They're interested in installing their people into office at any cost.

by carla 2005-02-18 05:55PM | 0 recs

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Framing

Shouldn't this really be the major issue of this term? Why not focus our grassroots power on getting this bill passed (it may not be perfect, but do we start with perfection?)? Make the Repubs take a stand against election reform. Educate the citizenry as to what's really going on when they vote or try to vote. If we frame it right, who can stand against election integrity? And of course, if we don't get election integrity the whole grassroots movement is just pissing in the wind. They'll count the votes however they wish.

by duncanidaho 2005-02-22 08:49AM | 0 recs

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PS

Why not go to the Friends of Hilary website or Barbara Boxer's and sign the grassroots petition for this bill.

by duncanidaho 2005-02-22 08:51AM | 0 recs