CWA 1180 - Political Action

The urgent need for election reform
By Linda Jenkins
January 2005

The 2004 election while not the debacle that took place in 2000 still had widespread real voting violations. This year in a number of states and localities there were numerous problems with voter registration, access to polls, ballots and other components of the election process. There have been reports of people being turned away or waiting 10 hours at the polls, unreliable electronic voting machines, uncounted ballots, partisan election officials and fraud. Despite the fact that the federal Help America Vote Act was enacted after 2000 to reform elections it is clear that our electoral system is still in dire need of reform.

There is great concern about the integrity of the U.S. election process and many election reform and voting rights groups are calling for real national voting reforms. Some of them have formulated a ten point "Voter Bill of Rights" that they believe would lead to a more just, secure and robust democracy. These ten points address a lot of the issues that have been raised by many other groups.

1. Guarantee a Voter-Verified Paper Trail for all Voting Machines
Every voting machine in the U.S. must be equipped to produce and store, a voter-verified paper and electronic record of every vote cast and a national standard for voting machines should be implemented to insure that by 2008, every vote cast in federal elections is cast using the same voting technology.

2. Replace Partisan Oversight with Non-Partisan Election Commissions
Overhaul our federal, state, and local election agencies to guarantee fair elections. Replace the current system of partisan election administration with a non-partisan independent system of running elections. End the practice of contracting out fundamental election functions, such as the maintenance of voter lists, to private corporations.

3. Celebrate Democracy: Make Election Day a National Holiday
Holding national elections on a national holiday will greatly increase the number of available poll workers and polling places and increase overall turnout, while making it much easier for working Americans to go to the polls.

4. Make it Easier to Vote
Simplify and rationalize voter registration. Require voter registrars to sign affidavits promising to submit any registrations in their possession in a timely manner. Eliminate police intimidation, extra-legal requirements of personal identification, and other barriers to voting. Establish same-day voter registration allowing qualified voters to register at the polls on Election Day. States must provide sufficient funding for enough early voting and election-day polling places to guarantee smooth and speedy voting.

5. Count Every Vote
Election officials must ensure that every voting precinct is adequately staffed with sufficiently trained personnel and professional supervision, that old unreliable voting machines are replaced, that absentee ballots are mailed with a sufficient time for delivery, that every ballot including provisional ballots are counted; that provisional ballots count for statewide and federal contests regardless of where the vote is cast.

6. Re-enfranchise Ex-Felons and Non-Felons
Those states that permanently disenfranchise felons and use that practice to purge voter lists of hundreds of thousands of citizens never convicted on any felony must amend their laws and practices to restore full citizenship to ex-offenders.

7. Implement Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation
Under IRV voters simply rank candidates in order of their preference. If a candidate wins a majority of first choice votes, that candidate is the winner. If no candidate gets a majority of first choices, the lowest vote-getting candidate is eliminated, and his/her votes are given to the candidate whom the supporters of the eliminated candidate chose as their second option. Counting continues until one candidate has received a majority. Also our system should provide fair representation to all voters, in proportion to their numbers.

8. Replace Big Money Control With Public Financing and Equal Air-Time
Establish a nationwide system of full public financing for all ballot-qualified candidates. Require the broadcasting corporations that license our public airwaves to provide airtime for debates, and free time for all ballot-qualified candidates and parties.

9. Guarantee Equal Access to the Ballot and Debates
Eliminate prohibitive ballot access requirements that exclude independent parties, and replace the partisan Commission on Presidential Debates with a non-partisan Citizens Debate Commission.

10. Abolish the Electoral College and Enact Statehood for the District of Columbia
Amend the Federal Constitution to replace election of the President by the Electoral College with direct election by the voters. End the disenfranchisement of the over half million Americans who reside in the District of Columbia.

This year, Congress will decide whether to reauthorize its ability to give money to the states to implement the Help America Vote Act. I believe the reauthorization debate should include requests for the changes "called for in the "Voter Bill of Rights." In order to make that happen we have to make voting rights a major part of our legislative agenda.

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