electionline Weekly

In Focus This Week

How do the 2008 Presidential Candidates Stack Up on Election Reform?
Many 2008 candidates have been active in election reform legislation

By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline.org

With just about 10 months to go until the first 2008 presidential primaries and caucuses, election officials and voting advocates may be wondering where the current crop of candidates stand on election-related issues.

What follows is a list of major candidates who have filed a statement of candidacy and a sampling of the legislation they have introduced or the work they have done on election-related issues.

This is in no way an exhaustive list and only focuses largely on work done since the 2000 presidential election. This list does not include resolutions or detailed information about bills candidates may have co-sponsored.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) — Sen. Biden has been a co-sponsor on several election reform bills, but he has not introduced any legislation with regard to domestic elections. Through his work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has been very supportive of multiple international elections by passing resolutions of support.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) — No information found.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)—Sen. Clinton has authored several pieces of election reform legislation dating back to the 108th Congress:

• “Protecting American Democracy Act of 2003” (S. 1986) was written to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) to require voter verification and improved security for voting systems under title III of the Act. The legislation was read twice, referred to committee and no major action was taken.
• “Count Every Vote Act of 2005” (S. 450) was designed to amend HAVA with regard to a variety of issues including: minority language access, audits, making Election Day a federal holiday, absentee voting, training, election-day registration and early voting. The bill was read twice, referred to committee and no major action was taken.
• “Count Every Vote Act of 2007” (S. 804). The legislation was reintroduced on March 7, read twice and referred to committee.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) Sen. Dodd co-authored HAVA as well as other election reform legislation.

• “Martin Luther King Jr. Equal Protection Voting Rights Act of 2002” (S. 565) was written to require states and localities to meet uniform and nondiscriminatory election technology and administration requirements applicable to federal elections, to establish grant programs to provide assistance to states and localities to meet those requirements and to improve election technology and the administration of federal elections, to establish the Election Assistance Commission (as amended). The bill was approved by a vote of 99 to 1 in April of 2002.
• “Voting Opportunity and Technology Enhancement Rights (VOTER) Act of 2005” (S. 17) would amend HAVA to allow for a nationwide federal write-in/absentee ballot; require states to provide for a voter-verified ballot; ensure that provisional ballots cast anywhere in a state are counted; eliminate regional and local disparities in the allocation of voting machines and poll workers; mandate early vote and Election Day-registration procedures; and protect against improper purging of registration lists in federal elections. The bill was read twice and referred to committee.
• “Voting Opportunity and Technology Enhancement Rights (VOTER) Act of 2007” (S.730) was reintroduced in March 1, read twice and referred to committee.

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) — Sen. Edwards did not author any election-related legislation during his tenure in the Senate although he did co-sponsor several bills.

Former Gov. James Gilmore (R-Va.) — In 1999, Gov. Gilmore spoke out in favor of mandatory voter ID legislation that was before the Virginia General Assembly. When the legislation was approved, but tied up in a court battle, Gilmore again expressed his support of voter ID and called on the state’s Attorney General to appeal the courts decision.

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R-N.Y.) — No information found.

Governor Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) Gov. Huckabee has not taken much action with regard to election-reform in Arkansas, although in 2005 he did speak out against an immigration bill in the state legislature that would have, among other things, required proof of citizenship to vote.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)—Rep. Hunter has not authored any election legislation during his tenure in Congress, although he is on the record as being a proponent of requiring photo ID at the polls to vote.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) — Since 2000, Rep. Kucinich has co-sponsored several larger election reform bills and has authored one of his own. Kucinich has a page on his Web site devoted to election issues.

• “Paper Ballot Act of 2006” (H.R. 6200) would have required that all presidential elections be conducted on paper ballots and counted by hand. The legislation was referred to two House committees and no further action was taken.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) – Sen. McCain has been very active with regard to campaign finance-related issues and he has also introduced legislation pertaining to election reform.

• “American Voting Standards and Technology Act” (S. 368) was a bill to develop voluntary consensus standards to ensure accuracy and validation of the voting process, to direct the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to study voter participation and emerging voting technology to provide grants to states to improve voting methods. The bill was read twice, referred to committee, hearings were held, but no major action was taken.

Sen. Barrack Obama (D-Ill.) – Sen. Obama has introduced several pieces of election legislation during his tenure in the Senate.

• “Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2005” (S. 1975) would criminalize efforts to confuse or intimidate voters in an attempt to keep them away from the polls on Election Day. The bill would make it a crime to knowingly communicate, within 60 days of an election, false information about the time and place of an election, a voter’s eligibility, registration rules and endorsements by a person or organization. Convictions for violating the law would carry with it penalties of up $100,000 or five years imprisonment, or both. It would also increase the maximum criminal penalty for voter intimidation from one year to five years’ imprisonment. The bill was read twice and referred to committee.
• “Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2006” (S. 4069) was a new version of voter intimidation and prevention of deceptive practices bill introduced in the previous session of Congress. The bill was read twice and referred to committee.
• “The Election Jamming Prevention Act of 2006” (S.4102) bill would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the use of telecommunications devices for the purposes of preventing or obstructing the broadcast or exchange of election-related information. The bill was read twice and referred to committee
•  “Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2007” (S.453) is a new version of voter intimidation/prevention of deceptive practices bill introduced in the previous session of Congress. The bill was reintroduced on Jan. 31, read twice and referred to committee.
• “Voter Advocate and Democracy Index Act” (S. 737) legislation would create a scorecard to rank states on a set of standards designed to measure the ease of exercising the right to vote. Under the proposed legislation a new Office of the Voter Advocate would be created within the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and would develop a Democracy Index. The Index would require states to report basic performance metrics such as the amount of time voters spend waiting in line, the number of voters incorrectly directed to the wrong polling place, the rate of ballots discarded or not counted along with an explanation, and the rate of voting system malfunctions and the time required on average to get the systems back online, to name a few. The legislation directs the Office of the Voter Advocate to conduct a pilot program in selected states in 2008. The bill was read twice and referred to committee

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) — Gov. Richardson has been active with regard to several key election-reform issues. In 2005, Richardson signed into law comprehensive legislation that addressed voter ID requirements, created uniform statewide standards for provisional ballots and election worker training and allowed for early counting of absentee ballots. In 2006, Richardson signed into the law the “New Mexico Make Every Vote Count Act,” that moved the state to a single paper ballot system.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) — No information found.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-Wisc.) — No information found.