[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 4 (Saturday, January 6, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E19]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E19]]



           TIME TO REEXAMINE ELECTORAL PROCESS AND PROCEDURES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, January 6, 2001

  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, today I express my concerns over the 
difficulties that arose during our voting and ballot counting process 
in this most recent presidential election. It is undisputed that the 
presidential candidate who received more popular votes on Election Day, 
November 7, 2000, was not elected to the nation's highest office. 
However, our Constitution allows for this anomalous result. While the 
Electoral College system may need to be reviewed, I believe the most 
troubling aspect of this result was that the voting process and 
procedure failed a great number of American voters. From allegations of 
voter intimidation, voter confusion, to the now infamous Votomatic 
punch systems, process and procedural problems abounded. We are now in 
the 21st Century, and as a Representative from the Silicon Valley, I 
know that the technological creativity and innovation exist to solve 
these problems. We must be willing to research, test and implement 
reliable technologies to the way in which we conduct elections.
  The right to vote is one of the most cherished and fundamental rights 
we have in our great nation. There are a myriad of ways in which a 
voter may become disenfranchised and the passage of the Voting Rights 
Act of 1965 was a milestone in the protection of this right. Now, 35 
years later we have learned that even more is needed to protect our 
right to vote and have our vote counted. Mr. Speaker, as has been 
stated by many of my colleagues who are concerned about this issue it 
is nothing less than the integrity of the vote in America that we in 
Congress must now work together to protect.

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