[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 19 (Tuesday, March 3, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S1290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SANCTITY OF THE BALLOT

 Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, yesterday's Wall Street Journal 
lead editorial entitled ``Sanctity of the Ballot'' should be a wakeup 
call for America's citizens. Sadly, we can no longer assume public 
officials tasked with protecting your vote are able to do so. The fact 
is, passage of the Motor Voter Act has led to growing incidences of 
election fraud in communities large and small, and the problem is 
getting worse all the time.
  The editorial highlights an important new national organization, the 
Voting Integrity Project (VIP), which was formed in 1996 in response to 
the growing abuses highlighted by the Journal. VIP is a non-profit, 
non-partisan coalition of citizens and civic groups. It organizes and 
trains citizens to protect the integrity of the vote in their own 
community. It also investigates and litigates important election fraud 
cases, including constitutional issues. It is the only independent, 
national organization performing this important work.
  Mr. President, VIP has learned that it is nearly impossible to 
overturn elections once they have been certified and places its 
emphasis accordingly, in pro-active programs run by the citizens 
themselves. Indeed, American voters need to wake up to the harsh 
reality of today's election process and begin to equip themselves, 
through organizations such as VIP, to guard the sanctity of their 
communities' elections and their vote.
  I ask that the text of the editorial be printed in the Record.
  The editorial follows:

              [From the Wall Street Journal, Mar. 2, 1998]

                         Sanctity of the Ballot

       In a rush to make it as easy as possible for citizens to 
     exercise their right to vote, the country has created lax 
     registration and voting procedures that could call into 
     question a close election any number of states. The 1983 
     federal Motor Voter law requires states to allow people to 
     register to vote when they get a driver's license, even 
     though 47 states don't require proof of legal US residence 
     much less citizenship for such a license. ``We have the 
     modern world's sloppiest electoral system,'' warns political 
     scientist Walter Dean Burnham.
       Media and political elites pooh-pooh such concerns, but 
     they are genuine and growing. The House of Representatives 
     has just dismissed an election challenge by former Rep. Bob 
     Dornan of California. But buried in the news that Rep. 
     Loretta Sanchez would keep her seat was the conclusion of a 
     House task force that 748 illegal votes had been cast in an 
     election decided by only 979 votes.
       The year long investigation established 624 ``documented'' 
     cases of non-citizens voting. Another 124 voters cast 
     improper absentee ballots. An additional 196 votes may well 
     have been illegal, but only circumstantial evidence existed. 
     ``In the end of the day,'' says GOP task force member Rep. 
     Robert Ney, ``Bob Dornan was right--there were illegal 
     voters.'' In the Sanchez race they represented close to 1% of 
     all votes cast. The danger is that if this is tolerated, it 
     will only get worse.
       In the wake of the Sanchez-Dornan dispute, Rep. Steve Horn, 
     a California Republican, called for a vote on a pilot program 
     to combat fraud in five large states. Local and state 
     officials would be allowed, but not required, to check 
     citizenship records with Social Security and the Immigration 
     and Naturalization Service. If they couldn't verify 
     citizenship, the voter would have to prove his or her status 
     or risk being dropped from the rolls. The program included 
     privacy protections and a requirement that it be ``uniform, 
     nondiscriminatory, and in compliance with the Voting Rights 
     Act of 1965.''
       This sensible and sensitive proposal doesn't unduly trample 
     on immigrant rights. Almost half the states already ask for 
     all or part of the Social Security number to register to 
     vote. But Democrats, fresh from Ms. Sanchez's triumph, 
     practically accused Rep. Horn of reinventing the poll tax and 
     literacy tests of the Jim Crow era. ``It is a shame, it is a 
     disgrace,'' said Rep. John Lewis, a veteran of the civil 
     rights movement.
       In the end, the bill won a 210-200 majority, but it failed 
     because it was brought to the floor under a rule requiring a 
     two-thirds majority, Rep. Horn hopes to have a vote under 
     normal rules within a month. He points to a growing body of 
     evidence that the potential for vote fraud is growing, noting 
     some in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol itself.
       In Washington, D.C. an astonishing one of every six 
     registered voters can't be reached at their address of 
     record. The city has lost 100,000 people since 1980, but 
     registration has shot up to 86% of eligible voters from only 
     58%. Nationally, the average registration rate is only 66%. 
     Felons, dead people, non-residents and fictitious 
     registrations clog the rolls in Washington, where anyone can 
     walk up and vote without showing I.D.
       Across the Potomac River in Virginia, Robert Beers, the 
     voter registrar of prosperous Fairfax County, says the Motor 
     Voter law has increased the number of registered voters, but 
     turnout has actually fallen in recent elections. ``There is 
     no question in my mind that we have registered people who 
     aren't U.S. citizens,'' Mr. Beers told the Washington Times. 
     ``Nobody worries about the rolls until you get to the 
     election that's decided by three votes. I wish they would pay 
     attention to it before it gets to that point.'' He is backing 
     a state bill to require voters to show some type of photo 
     I.D.
       Last month Mississippi's legislature passed a motor voter 
     law, but Governor Kirk Fordice issued a veto because it 
     lacked a voter I.D. provision. ``Vote fraud is an equal 
     opportunity election stealer,'' he says. His concerns about 
     improper registrations are echoed elsewhere. The Miami Herald 
     has found that 105 ballots in last year's disputed mayoral 
     election were cast by felons. Last month a local grand jury 
     concluded that ``absentee ballot fraud clearly played an 
     important part in the recent City of Miami elections.'' This 
     ``called into question the legitimacy of the results.''
       In San Francisco, the Voting Integrity Project has filed 
     suit to overturn a referendum that approved a new stadium. 
     They cite evidence of actions by city and stadium officials 
     to tilt the results toward a pro-stadium vote. The scandal 
     has already been marked by the registrations of the city's 
     election supervisor and Edward DeBartolo, chairman of the San 
     Francisco 49ers.
       Everyone supports the right to vote, but an equally 
     important right is the guarantee of elections that are fair 
     and free of fraud. Right now a growing number of states can't 
     guarantee the integrity of their results, and that inevitably 
     will lead to an increasing cynicism and disenchantment with 
     the democratic process.

                          ____________________