[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 174 (Friday, December 14, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S13290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ELECTION REFORM AGREEMENT

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I am pleased that Senators Dodd, 
McConnell, Schumer, Bond, and Torricelli were able to reach agreement 
on a strong, bipartisan election reform bill.
  Studies of the 2000 elections have made it clear that outdated and 
unreliable technology, confusing ballots, language barriers, lack of 
voter education, lack of poll-worker training, and inaccurate voting 
lists all added up to the disenfranchisement of six million voters.
  These problems are unacceptable, and, as a Nation, we can't afford to 
repeat them. Our Federal system leaves it to individual States to 
conduct their own elections; but Congress has an obligation to see to 
it that election mechanisms and procedures in every county in every 
State guarantee every eligible citizen a voice in the democratic 
process
  Under this agreement, States will be required to meet minimum 
standards, and a bipartisan committee will be created to set those 
standards.
  This bill requires that election officials notify voters of overvotes 
and give them the opportunity to correct a flawed ballot before it is 
cast. It will establish statewide computerized voter registration 
lists.
  This bill further guarantees that voting machines be made accessible 
to people with limited English proficiency and people with 
disabilities, and that provisional ballots be made available to people 
whose names do not appear on voting lists. Those ballots would be set 
aside until it can be determined whether the individual's name was 
mistakenly left off the registration list. If it was, the vote is then 
counted.
  Finally, this bill provides the real resources these real reforms 
demand.
  As we protect our democracy from its external enemies, we must also 
fix its internal flaws. That is what this compromise bill will do, and 
I look forward to working to get it passed early in the next session.

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