[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H905-H906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ELECTION REFORM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here today to talk on a
special order on election reform.
Today I am proud to introduce my first piece of legislation in the
United States House of Representatives, a resolution calling on
Congress to take swift and meaningful action on election reform so we
can implement significant improvements before 2002. I am committed to
making election reform a top priority and ensuring that America's faith
in democracy is not diminished by pervasive problems in our voting
system. We must enter the next Federal election cycle with full
confidence in our Nation's voting technology. That is why I urge my
colleagues on both side of the aisle to work together to ensure that in
2002 each and every vote counts.
Exactly 1 month ago, I addressed this House on this very same issue.
At that time I spoke of my work as Rhode Island's Secretary of State in
modernizing our State's antiquated voting equipment. During my tenure,
Rhode Island upgraded its voting machines from the worst in the Nation
to among the best. We improved our technology, we improved
accessibility, we improved accuracy in our elections and achieved a
significant increase in voter participation. Furthermore, all of these
reforms were cost effective.
Models exist for accurate and cost-effective election reform that
States can replicate to assure true democracy. In fact, my former staff
has been working with election officials in Florida and New York as
well as researchers at MIT to discuss how they can emulate our success.
Many of our Nation's election administrators right now are working
tirelessly to improve their voting systems, and I applaud their efforts
to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised and that all ballots are
counted accurately. However, I know from personal experience that
upgrading an entire State's election system is no small feat. It
requires a great deal of planning, investment of time and resources,
and the coordination of efforts with different levels of government.
Fortunately, 21 Members of this House have introduced legislation to
help improve our Nation's overall voting system. The sponsors of these
bills hold a variety of ideological views. However, we all share one
common goal, to ensure that our Nation's election system does not
undermine citizens' confidence in the democratic process and that every
vote counts.
For this reason, Mr. Speaker, I am introducing this sense of the
Congress resolution encouraging Congress to make this vision a reality
by the 2002 election. Though we may disagree about some of the details,
my colleagues and I are willing to put aside
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our differences and work for the betterment of our Nation. We must act
now to ensure that the United States has an accurate and open election
system, we must act now to ensure that our elderly and disabled voters
can cast their votes independently, and we must act now to ensure that
every one of our Nation's military voters counts.
We can attain all of these goals, but we must begin our efforts
immediately to reach them by 2002. One person, one vote is the
fundamental principle upon which American democracy stands. Please join
me in cosponsoring this resolution and in learning about the various
voting technologies at the secretaries of state demonstration I am
sponsoring next week which will give us an up-close look at the various
types of voting technology available and in taking an open-minded,
bipartisan approach to resolving this national problem. Nothing can be
more important to Congress than guaranteeing every American free and
fair access to our democratic process.
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