[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 59 (Thursday, May 3, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E724-E725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. WM. LACY CLAY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 3, 2001

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, this morning I was testifying before the 
Senate Government Affairs Committee on the need for election reform and 
I was unable to reach the House floor in time for rollcall vote No. 97, 
a motion to adjourn. I would like to state that I intended to support 
this motion and would have voted `yea.'
  Also, I would like to take this opportunity to share my Senate 
testimony with my colleagues in the House.

    Statement to Senate Committee on Government Reform, May 3, 2001

       Mr. Chairman, Senator Lieberman and Distinguished members 
     of the Committee. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity 
     to detail the election problems that occurred in the City of 
     St. Louis during the November 2000 Presidential Elections and 
     to add my voice to those calling for meaningful and 
     comprehensive election reform.
       Last November's general election in the city of St. Louis 
     exposed a voting system that is riddled with serious election 
     procedural mistakes; major deficiencies in poll worker 
     training; obsolete and inadequate equipment; and gross errors 
     in maintaining accurate voter registers that resulted in the 
     disenfranchisement of thousands of qualified voters in my 
     district.
       These factors led to an election conducted amid widespread 
     voter chaos at polling places throughout the city--the result 
     of a record voter turnout and the arbitrary and capricious 
     removal--by the St. Louis Board of Elections--of over 50,000 
     qualified voters from the city's active voter register.
       When these voters--most of whom were African American--
     arrived at the polls to cast their votes, they were told by 
     election officials they were not on the active voter register 
     and that they would not be allowed to vote at their normal 
     voting precinct.
       Due to inadequate communication between polling precincts 
     and the Central Election office, election workers were unable 
     to verify the eligibility of these voters.
       Additionally, poll workers had not received training for 
     dealing with these situations, so they ultimately directed 
     all of the affected voters to go to the Central Election 
     Board office downtown to verify their status.
       The resulting confusion at the Central Election office led 
     to a near riot as thousands of eligible voters attempted to 
     cast their vote, some to no avail.

[[Page E725]]

       To make matters worse, while the Election Board was clearly 
     unprepared for the massive voter turnout, they were also slow 
     to react to the growing voter confusion they created as the 
     day progressed.
       An equally troubling was the Election Board officials' 
     resistance to reasonable remedies designed to ensure that 
     every qualified voter be afforded the opportunity to cast his 
     or her vote without obstruction.
       Clearly, such a situation cannot and must not be tolerated. 
     Such conditions not only create confusion among voters; they 
     also threaten the integrity of the Electoral process itself.
       It is imperative that federal, state and local officials 
     join in a common effort to reform how we conduct our 
     elections. The nation should never again be subjected to the 
     voting travesty of the last presidential election. The system 
     is broken and it is time that we admit it and work towards 
     common sense solutions.
       First, we must take legislative action to provide the 
     necessary funds for modern, state-of-the-art uniform voting 
     equipment, paying particular attention to lower income 
     communities that have long been burdened with outdated and 
     obsolete voting equipment.
       And to the maximum extent possible, we must mandate uniform 
     ballot designs and eliminate the current 40-year old 
     punchcard system.
       We must also require that local election officials develop 
     comprehensive training standards for their workers and hold 
     them accountable for implementing such training.
       Lastly, and most importantly, we must mandate election 
     procedure reform to ensure that qualified voters are not 
     arbitrarily or inadvertently removed from active voter rolls.
       This was a major failure in the City of St. Louis and I 
     suspect this situation is widespread across the country.
       Voters should not continue to suffer disenfranchisement 
     because election officials are unwilling or unable to 
     safeguard their fundamental right to vote.
       If we fail to act now, we will not only inflict further 
     damage to the democratic process, we will also fail in our 
     sworn duty to protect and defend the fundamental rights of 
     every citizen.

     

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