[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 64 (Thursday, May 1, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E848-E849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          VOTER PROTECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 1, 2003

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Voter Protection Act. 
Unlike most so-called ``campaign reform'' proposals, the Voter 
Protection Act enhances fundamental liberties and expands the exchange 
of political ideas. The Voter Fairness Act accomplishes this goal by 
lowering and standardizing the requirements for, and the time required 
to get, signatures to qualify a Federal candidate for the ballot. Many 
states have unfair rules and regulations that make it virtually 
impossible for minor party and independent candidates to get on the 
ballot.

[[Page E849]]

  I want to make 4 points about this bill. First, it is constitutional. 
Article I, section 4, explicitly authorizes the U.S. Congress to, ``At 
any time by law make or alter such regulations regarding the manner of 
holding elections.'' This is the authority that was used for the Voter 
Rights Act of 1965.
  The second point I would like to make is an issue of fairness. 
Because so many states require independent candidates to collect an 
excessive amount of signatures in a short period of time, many 
individuals are excluded from the ballot. For instance, there has not 
been one minor party candidate on the Georgia ballot since 1943, 
because of Georgia's overly strict ballot access requirements. This is 
unfair. The Voter Protection Act corrects this.
  My third point addresses those who worry about overcrowding on the 
ballot. In fact, there have been statistical studies made of states 
that have minimal signature requirements and generous grants of time to 
collect the signatures. Instead of overcrowding, these states have an 
average of 3.3 candidates per ballot.
  The fourth point that I would like to make is that complying with 
ballot access rules drains resources from even those minor party 
candidates able to comply with these onerous rules. This obviously 
limits the ability of minor party candidates to communicate their 
message and ideas to the general public. Perhaps the ballot access laws 
are one reason why voter turnout has been declining over the past few 
decades. After all, almost 42 percent of eligible voters have either 
not registered to vote or registered as something other than Democrat 
or Republican.
  The Voter Protection Act is a constitutional way to reform campaign 
laws to increase voter participation by making the election process 
fairer and open to new candidates and ideas. I hope all my colleagues 
will join me in supporting this true campaign reform bill.

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