[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 130 (Saturday, August 5, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      REVISING ELECTION PROCEDURES

                                 ______


                        HON. ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 4, 1995
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, today I am being joined by my colleagues 
from American Samoa and the Virgin Islands in introducing leglsiation 
that will revise the election procedures of delegates to Congress from 
the territories. The bill will repeal the requirement for a separate 
ballot for elections of delegates from the territories. However, this 
bill does not distinctly require a single ballot for every election. By 
amending 48 U.S.C. 1712(a) and 48 U.S.C. 1732(a), an option to either 
elect their Washington delegates either via single or separate ballot 
is granted to territorial election commissions.
  The provision for Guam and the Virgin Islands was approved in 1972 
and the one pertaining to Samoa passed in 1978. Roughly two decades 
after their respective implementations, these sections of the U.S. Code 
have somehow become outdated. My colleagues, Mr. Faleomavaega and Mr. 
Frazer from the Virgin Islands, agree with me that taking this route 
would be the most feasible, logical, and timely approach for this type 
of situation.
  According to Henry Torres, the executive director of the Guam 
Election Commission, the commission recently acquired access to an AIS 
315 Scanner, a computerized tabulation machine that could efficiently 
recorded votes printed on both sides of a ballot. The utilization a 
single ballot promises to save the commission thousands of dollars 
every election in overtime, programming, printing, postage and 
handline, and paper costs. The only thing stopping them is a phrase in 
48 U.S.C. 1712(a) that reads, by separate ballot.
  Two decades worth of technological advances have brought about means 
that now enable us to perform tasks with increased efficiency and lower 
costs. This motion to repeal the separate ballot requirement for 
delegate votes stands to take advantage of these advances. I ask my 
colleagues to support this bill that is designed to take territorial 
election procedures into the 21st century.


                          ____________________