[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 14 (Thursday, February 14, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S832-S835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        EQUAL PROTECTION OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 2001--Continued

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I want to make sure that I clarify 
something. Just because we are not having additional votes does not 
mean Senators could not come over and offer additional amendments. 
Senator Dodd has indicated a desire to stay here for as long as there 
are those who have amendments. We may be able to obtain a finite list. 
I hope we can continue to chip away at those amendments tonight and 
tomorrow.
  I want to accommodate Senators who have dates with spouses and 
significant others, but there may be those who have neither and would 
be more than willing to come over and talk about election reform. If 
that is the case, we are ready. I know Senator McConnell is every bit 
as interested in moving this legislation along.
  I applaud our managers and thank them for their willingness to stay 
here and continue this effort. Please, if Senators have amendments, 
come to the floor. We will do these two votes and we are interested in 
doing more, even though we will not have additional rollcall votes 
tonight.
  I yield the floor.


                 Vote on Amendment No. 2891, As Amended

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 
2891, as amended.
  The amendment (No. 2891), as amended, was agreed to.
  Mr. DODD. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.


                           Amendment No. 2890

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, is the pending business now the Lieberman 
amendment?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to speak for up to 6 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
  (The remarks of Mr. Bingaman are printed in today's Record under 
``Morning Business.'')
  Mr. BINGAMAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I am about to propound a unanimous consent 
request which has been cleared on both sides. I ask unanimous consent 
that at 5:16 p.m. today the Senate resume consideration of the 
Lieberman amendment, No. 2890; that there be 2 minutes of explanation 
and the Senate then vote in relation to the amendment; that following 
the vote, regardless of the outcome, the Senate resume consideration of 
the Burns amendment and there be 2 minutes of explanation prior to a 
vote in relation to the amendment; that no second-degree amendments be 
in order to either of the two amendments prior to the vote, with all 
time equally divided and controlled in the usual form; and that if an 
amendment is not disposed of, it recur in the order in which it was 
voted, without further intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DODD. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                    Amendment No. 2890, as Modified

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I be allowed to 
modify the amendment. Apparently one of the pages of the amendment was 
inadvertently left off.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment will be so modified.
  The amendment, as modified, is as follows:

 (Purpose: To authorize administrative leave for Federal employees to 
           perform poll worker service in Federal elections)

       At the end of title IV, add the following:

     SEC. 402. AUTHORIZED LEAVE FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES TO PERFORM 
                   POLL WORKER SERVICE IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

       (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the 
     ``Federal Employee Voter Assistance Act of 2002''.
       (b) Leave for Federal Employees.--Chapter 63 of title 5, 
     United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 
     6328 the following:

     ``Sec. 6329. Leave for poll worker service

       ``(a) In this section, the term--
       ``(1) `employee' means an employee of an Executive agency 
     (other than the General Accounting Office) who is not a 
     political appointee;
       ``(2) `political appointee' means any individual who--
       ``(A) is employed in a position that requires appointment 
     by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the 
     Senate;
       ``(B) is employed in a position on the executive schedule 
     under sections 5312 through 5316;
       ``(C) is a noncareer appointee in the senior executive 
     service as defined under section 3132(a)(7); or
       ``(D) is employed in a position that is excepted from the 
     competitive service because of the confidential policy-
     determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character of 
     the position; and
       ``(3) `poll worker service'--
       ``(A) means--
       ``(i) administrative and clerical, nonpartisan service 
     relating to a Federal election performed at a polling place 
     on the date of that election; and
       ``(ii) training before or on that date to perform service 
     described under clause (i); and

[[Page S833]]

       ``(B) shall not include taking an active part in political 
     management or political campaigns as defined under section 
     7323(b)(4).
       ``(b)(1)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the head of an 
     agency shall grant an employee paid leave under this section 
     to perform poll worker service.
       ``(B) The head of an agency may deny any request for leave 
     under this section if the denial is based on the exigencies 
     of the public business.
       ``(2) Leave under this section--
       ``(A) shall be in addition to any other leave to which an 
     employee is otherwise entitled;
       ``(B) may not exceed 3 days in any calendar year; and
       ``(C) may be used only in the calendar year in which that 
     leave is granted.
       ``(3) An employee requesting leave under this section shall 
     submit written documentation from election officials 
     substantiating the training and service of the employee.
       ``(4) An employee who uses leave under this section to 
     perform poll worker service may not receive payment for that 
     poll worker service.''.
       (b) Regulations.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Office of Personnel Management 
     shall prescribe regulations to carry out the amendments made 
     by this section.
       (2) Effective date.--This subsection shall take effect on 
     the date of enactment of this Act.
       (c) Reports.--
       (1) Initial report.--Not later than June 1, 2005, the 
     Office of Personnel Management shall submit a report to 
     Congress on the implementation of section 6329 of title 5, 
     United States Code (as added by this section), and the extent 
     of participation by Federal employees under that section.
       (2) Subsequent reports.--
       (A) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
     each general election for the Office of the President, the 
     Office of Personnel Management shall submit a report to 
     Congress on the participation of Federal employees under 
     section 6329 of title 5, United States Code (as added by this 
     section), with respect to all Federal elections which 
     occurred in the 54-month period preceding that submission 
     date.
       (B) Effective date.--This paragraph shall take effect on 
     January 1, 2008.
       (d) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--The table of 
     sections for chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting after the item relating to section 6328 
     the following:

``6329. Leave for poll worker service.''.
       (e) Effective Date.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
     section, this section shall take effect 6 months after the 
     date of enactment of this Act.

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, very briefly, this amendment responds 
to a problem that exists with implementing the election laws of our 
country which will be greatly strengthened if we pass the bill that is 
before the Senate now. That problem is the shortage of nonpartisan poll 
workers, documented by the GAO and the commission headed by Presidents 
Carter and Ford. This amendment builds on a successful program started, 
at least one I know of, in Los Angeles County and in the State of 
California to allow civil servants--not political appointees but civil 
servants--to take election day off at the request of local election 
officials, to work as nonpartisan poll workers while continuing to be 
paid for their Federal employment, receiving no compensation from the 
election officials of local jurisdiction.
  I have the feeling I have sufficiently described what I believe is a 
very meritorious amendment. I urge its adoption.
  Mr. McCONNELL. With all due respect to my friend from Connecticut, he 
is not talking about election officers; every State has an equal number 
of Democrats and Republicans who put on the election and keep it 
honest. What my friend from Connecticut is talking about is poll 
workers; in other words, workers who will go work for one candidate or 
another. We know Federal employees are overwhelmingly Democratic, 
Federal employee unions are overwhelmingly on the Democratic side.
  In effect, what the Senator from Connecticut is suggesting is that 
Federal union employees be given a paid holiday by the taxpayers of the 
United States to go out and work for Democratic officials on election 
day. I strongly urge this amendment be defeated.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the modified 
amendment of the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Lieberman, No. 2890.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. 
Domenici), the Senator from Utah (Mr. Bennett), the Senator from Utah 
(Mr. Hatch), and the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Campbell) are 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 46, nays 49, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 33 Leg.]

                                YEAS--46

     Akaka
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carnahan
     Carper
     Cleland
     Clinton
     Corzine
     Daschle
     Dayton
     Dodd
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Torricelli
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--49

     Allard
     Allen
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Chafee
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeWine
     Dorgan
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gramm
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Baucus
     Bennett
     Campbell
     Domenici
     Hatch
  The amendment (No. 2990), as modified, was rejected.
  Mr. CRAIG. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                           Amendment No. 2887

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are now 2 minutes equally divided on the 
Burns amendment.
  The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I understand there is a minute on each side 
on the Burns amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. DODD. I yield to the Senator from Montana.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BURNS. I thank my good friend.
  Mr. President, this amendment is pretty simple. It allows the 
director of elections in each county or the secretary of state to purge 
the list every 4 years, or every other Federal election.
  Right now, they cannot purge it but every other Presidential 
election. So you are carrying dead weight for 8 years. It costs 
Missoula County $16,000 just to maintain these big lists. It also makes 
a lot of people ineligible to vote even though they are on the list.
  This is strongly supported by the secretaries of state of your 
States. I ask for your support. This makes more sense. This is where 
the mischief is in elections.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
Senator from New York.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to this amendment. 
Right now, the voter lists have to be purged every 8 years. The Burns 
amendment would conflict with the motor-voter law; furthermore, many 
people would be needlessly purged. People who did not vote in two 
elections would be purged from the list and would have to reregister
  In a bill where we are trying to make it easier for people to vote, 
this takes

[[Page S834]]

two steps backwards and makes it harder.
  We have taken care of this in the bill. The lists are purged at some 
point, but it should be a longer period of time. Simply because you 
miss two elections should not take you off the rolls.
  I urge defeat of the amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, very simply stated, you have the right to 
vote, but you also have the right not to vote in two elections and not 
be purged. If the Burns amendment were adopted, and you missed two 
elections because you didn't want to vote, you would be off the list. 
That is too extreme.
  I urge rejection of the amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 
2887. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Utah (Mr. Hatch), the 
Senator from Utah (Mr. Bennett), the Senator from Colorado (Mr. 
Campbell), and the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), are 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. (Mr. Dayton). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 40, nays 55, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 34 Leg.]

                                YEAS--40

     Allard
     Allen
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Cochran
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeWine
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gramm
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner

                                NAYS--55

     Akaka
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carnahan
     Carper
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Clinton
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corzine
     Daschle
     Dayton
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCain
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Baucus
     Bennett
     Campbell
     Domenici
     Hatch
  The amendment (No. 2887) was rejected.
  Mr. REID. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. CRAIG. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.


                           Amendment No. 2906

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I call up the amendment I have at the 
desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from New York [Mrs. Clinton] proposes an 
     amendment No. 2906.

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading 
of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

    (Purpose: To establish a residual ballot performance benchmark)

       Beginning on page 8, line 19, strike through page 9, line 
     3, and insert the following:
       (5) Error rates.--
       (A) In general.--The error rate of the voting system in 
     counting ballots (determined by taking into account only 
     those errors which are attributable to the voting system and 
     not attributable to an act of the voter) shall not exceed the 
     error rate standards established under the voting systems 
     standards issued and maintained by the Director of the Office 
     of Election Administration of the Federal Election Commission 
     (as revised by the Director of such Office under subsection 
     (c)).
       (B) Residual ballot performance benchmark.--In addition to 
     the error rate standards described in subparagraph (A), the 
     Director of the Office of Election Administration of the 
     Federal Election Commission shall issue and maintain a 
     uniform benchmark for the residual ballot error rate that 
     jurisdictions may not exceed. For purposes of the preceding 
     sentence, the residual vote error rate shall be equal to the 
     combination of overvotes, spoiled or uncountable votes, and 
     undervotes cast in the contest at the top of the ballot, but 
     excluding an estimate, based upon the best available 
     research, of intentional undervotes. The Director shall base 
     the benchmark issued and maintained under this subparagraph 
     on evidence of good practice in representative jurisdictions.

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise to do two things. The first is to 
thank my colleagues, Senators Dodd and McConnell. I thank my colleagues 
for the extraordinary work they have done in crafting an election 
reform bill that will significantly improve our Federal election 
system.
  I am very pleased that in this legislation we call for national 
standards for voting systems. I appreciate greatly the call for 
national standards for voting systems, provisional voting, and 
statewide voter registration lists in all voting systems used in 
Federal elections. I believe these national standards are critically 
important because the rights of citizens in one State to exercise their 
constitutional right to vote should not be any greater or lesser than 
the rights of a citizen in any other State.
  In considering and passing this bill, we are also making a statement 
of our values and, in a direct way, repudiating those who attacked our 
country on September 11 because of our commitment to a free and 
democratic system that we would like to see replicated in every nation 
of the world. But the only way we can demonstrate to the rest of the 
world that we put our values into practice is if each and every 
American has faith that our election system is the best and fairest.
  I rise to offer an amendment that will provide a greater assurance 
that the rights of voters to vote and have their votes counted in 
Federal elections will not vary widely from State to State.
  As we know, the bill we are considering requires by 2006 that all 
voting systems used in Federal elections have an error rate that does 
not exceed the standards established by the Director of the Office of 
Election Administration. That refers to the rate that voting machines 
make mistakes in reading ballots.
  This standard is important because it means that by 2006 all voting 
systems used in Federal elections will have to use technology and 
equipment that does not result in more than a minimum percentage of 
votes being discarded.
  Yet as important as this standard is, it deals with only one of the 
two pieces of the problem of discarded ballots because this standard 
concerns votes uncounted due to mechanical errors of the voting system, 
but it does not address at all the major problem of residual votes 
which are overvotes, undervotes, or spoiled votes that are discarded 
due to unintentional human error.
  Residual votes, not mechanical errors, are by far the most common 
reason why ballots are discarded and not counted and why, therefore, 
voters who thought they were doing the right thing ended up being 
disenfranchised.
  Over the past four Presidential elections, the total rate of residual 
vote errors has been slightly more than 2 percent. This translates into 
more than 2 million voters in these elections not having their votes 
counted. The percentage of residual votes is even higher in Senate 
elections.
  With respect to last year's Presidential election, the Caltech-MIT 
voting technology project reports that voting ballot problems led to an 
estimated 2 million votes never being counted because ballots were 
ambiguous, spoiled, or unmarked. Though 500,000 of these ballots 
represented abstentions, the remaining 1.5 million ballots represented 
votes where the voters actually believed they had recorded a vote for 
President even though their votes were ultimately discarded.
  In addition to the Caltech-MIT study, the U.S. Commission on Civil 
Rights found that in some precincts as many as 20 percent or more of 
the ballots were discarded.

  Other researchers and media analysts found the same results, and many 
of these discarded votes were actually what we call residual votes.

[[Page S835]]

  For these reasons, the Election Reform Commission, chaired by our 
distinguished former Presidents, President Carter and President Ford, 
the so-called Carter-Ford Commission, recommended unanimously that we 
focus not just on machine errors in improving our election system, but 
on these unintentional human errors as well.
  The Commission members from both parties from all regions of the 
country did so because they knew that focusing only on mechanical 
errors was not good enough; that only by measuring residual votes will 
we be able to assess effectively whether the voting process as a whole 
is giving citizens an equal opportunity to have their votes counted.
  The bottom line is that there is no dispute that residual votes are a 
major problem. The question is, What are we going to do about it?
  The amendment I have offered provides a fair, reasonable, and 
effective answer. This amendment calls upon the Office of Election 
Administration to establish a national performance benchmark for 
residual votes, measured as the percentage of residual errors at the 
top of the ballot, excluding an estimate based upon the best available 
research of intentional undervotes.
  Like the other benchmarks in the bill, voting systems used in Federal 
elections would have to meet it. This amendment mirrors the language 
already in the bill that calls upon the Office of Election 
Administration to set a benchmark with respect to mechanical error 
rates. The amendment, however, puts in the final piece of the puzzle 
for requiring this benchmark for residual votes as well.
  For any who might be concerned that the benchmark is measured by 
subtracting an estimated number of intentional undervotes, that is not 
the case.
  In considering this particular issue, the Carter-Ford Commission 
noted there has been considerable progress in determining how often 
intentional undervotes occur. We can take this data from the National 
Election Studies, from the Voter News Service, and we can then use it 
for the determination as to how we consider this remaining problem.
  The Caltech/MIT study, for example, said exit polls suggested 
approximately 30 percent of residual votes, less than 1 percent of all 
votes, are intentional. Individually and collectively, therefore, we 
can estimate these intentional undervotes and knock them out and only 
focus on the unintentional where someone thought they were actually 
marking the ballot.
  I hope when we establish these national standards, we recognize this 
is an important issue. Yes, we need to take care of those mechanical 
errors but we also have to take care of the unintentional human errors. 
We have learned in election after election, not just in 2000 but in 
many of our elections, that hundreds of thousands of our fellow 
Americans have gone to the polls believing they were exercising the 
most fundamental of their constitutional rights. They cast their 
ballots and they never knew their ballots were not counted and their 
voices were never heard.
  I hope the Senate will consider this problem and will favorably act 
upon my amendment so we can, at the end of this process, say clearly 
and unequivocally to all Americans we have put into place the best 
possible system we can to ensure every vote truly counts and that our 
election system matches our values.
  Mr. CRAIG. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                 Amendments Nos. 2908 To 2910, En Bloc

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I have three amendments that have been 
cleared on both sides: one by Senator Chafee, one by Senator Judd 
Gregg, one by Senator John McCain. I send the three amendments to the 
desk and ask that they be considered en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the amendments, en bloc.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. McConnell] proposes 
     amendments Nos. 2908 to 2910, en bloc.

  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendments 
be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendments are as follows:


                           AMENDMENT NO. 2908

    (Purpose: To clarify that States and localities with multi-year 
       contracts are eligible to apply for grants under the Act)

       At the end of section 206(b), added the following: ``A 
     State or locality that is engaged in a multi-year contract 
     entered into prior to January 1, 2001, is eligible to apply 
     for a grant under section 203 for payments made on or after 
     January 1, 2001, pursuant to that contract.''
                                  ____



                           Amendment No. 2909

(Purpose: To ensure that States that are exempt from the National Voter 
   Registration Act of 1993 continue to remain exempt from such Act)

       On page 17, between lines 22 and 23, insert the following:
       (iii) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this 
     subparagraph, if a State is described in section 4(b) of the 
     National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg-
     2(b)), that State shall remove the names of ineligible voters 
     from the computerized list in accordance with State law.
       On page 20, strike lines 13 through 15, and insert the 
     following:
       (B) who is--
       (i) entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed 
     and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff-1 
     et seq.);
       (ii) provided the right to vote otherwise than in person 
     under section 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Voting Accessibility for 
     the Elderly and Handicapped Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ee-
     1(b)(2)(B)(ii)); or
       (iii) entitled to vote otherwise than in person under any 
     other Federal law.
       On page 21, between lines 6 and 7, insert the following:
       (5) Construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall be 
     construed to require a State that was not required to comply 
     with a provision of the National Voter Registration Act of 
     1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg et seq.) before the date of enactment 
     of this Act to comply with such a provision after such date.
       On page 14, between lines 2 and 3, insert the following:
       States described in section 4(b) of the National Voter 
     Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg-2(b)) may meet the 
     requirements of this subsection using voter registration 
     procedures established under applicable State law.
                                  ____



                           Amendment No. 2910

       On page 10, line 22, strike ``Commission'' and insert 
     ``Commission, in consultation with the Architectural and 
     Transportation Barriers Compliance Board,''.
       On page 64, line 19, strike ``316(a)(2)).'' and insert 
     ``316(a)(2)), except that--
       ``(1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers 
     Compliance Board shall remain responsible under section 223 
     for the general policies and criteria for the approval of 
     applications submitted under section 222(a); and
       ``(2) in revising the voting systems standards under 
     section 101(c)(2) the Commission shall consult with the 
     Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance 
     Board.''.

  Mr. DODD. I note the Chafee amendment is offered on behalf of Senator 
Chafee and Senator Reed of Rhode Island. The amendment from Senator 
McCain is offered on behalf of Senator McCain and Senator Harkin.
  We have no objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendments 
en bloc.
  The amendments (Nos. 2908 to 2910) were agreed to.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. DODD. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask consent I be allowed to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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