[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 9 (Wednesday, February 2, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E157-E158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 VOTING OPPORTUNITY AND TECHNOLOGY ENCHANCEMENT RIGHTS (VOTER) ACT OF 
                                  2005

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 2, 2005

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce on behalf of 
myself and 25 colleagues the Voting Opportunity and Technology 
Enhancement Rights Act, or the VOTER Act of 2005, legislation that will 
help ensure that all voters who are eligible to vote are able to vote 
and have their vote properly counted in Federal elections.
  We have just experienced the second consecutive presidential election 
where issues were raised concerning irregularities and improprieties. 
For example, in Ohio we learned of the misallocation of voting 
machines, which led to lines of 10 hours or more and disenfranchised 
scores, if not hundreds of thousands, of predominantly minority voters. 
We also learned of numerous incidents of voter intimidation, as well as 
the dissemination of misleading information. Members on both sides of 
the aisle acknowledge that further reforms are needed to ensure that 
all of our citizens' rights to vote are protected.
  As a result, the VOTER Act will provide for a uniform Federal write-
in/absentee ballot; require states to provide for a verifiable audit 
trail; ensure that provisional ballots cast anywhere in a state are 
counted; eliminate disparities in the allocation of voting machines and 
poll workers among a state's precincts; mandate early voting and 
election day registration procedures; protect against improper purging 
of registration lists in federal elections; provide for a study 
regarding making election day a public holiday; ease voter registration 
requirements; allow voter identification by written affidavit; study 
eliminating partisan election officials from administering federal 
elections; enhance training for election officials; require the use of 
publicly available open source software in voting machines; provide 
uniform standards for vote recounts; prohibit voting machine companies 
from engaging in political activities; and enhance legal protections 
against voter intimidation and threats.
  The legislation is supported by the NAACP, the NAACP Voter Fund, the 
Progressive Democrats of America, the UAW, the Black Leadership Forum, 
Rainbow Push, and the National Voting Rights Institute. The legislation 
is the House counterpart to S. 17, legislation introduced in the Senate 
by Senator Chris Dodd on behalf of the Senate Democratic Leadership.
  It is imperative that we have elections that count every vote of 
every eligible voter. A provisional ballot cast anywhere in the State 
of Ohio should count just as it does in the State of Iowa. There is no 
reason that voters in inner city areas should be forced to wait in long 
lines, while their counterparts in the suburbs are able to vote 
immediately. If voters in Oregon can vote early, why can't voters in 
Michigan; if citizens of Idaho enjoy same day registration, why can't 
voters in Florida; and if voters in Wisconsin can have their elections 
administered by nonpartisan boards, why can't the rest of us?
  If there is any issue that is central to our democracy, it is 
ensuring that eligible voters are

[[Page E158]]

able to participate in our elections. Enacting the VOTER Act of 2005 
will help ensure that we restore trust in our election system.
  The following is a section-by-section of the VOTER Act:

     Section 1--Short Title and Table of Contents
     Section 2--Findings and Purposes
       Details a number of concerns regarding fairness of federal 
     elections that justify a federal legislative response.
     Section 3--Enhanced Protections Against Voter Intimidation, 
         Threats, Coercion, and Deception
       Creates new requirement that unfair or deceptive acts or 
     practices in or affecting voting in Federal elections are 
     prohibited and the Attorney General is empowered and directed 
     to prevent persons, partnerships, or corporations from using 
     unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting Federal 
     elections via civil or criminal remedy.
       Creates a corollary private right of action.
       Amends 42 USC 1971 and 18 USC 245 to specify that deceptive 
     and coercive voter intimidation is unlawful.
       Provides for an enhanced system for DOJ to track, document, 
     and monitor election irregularities.
     Section 4--National Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot
       Requires the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to 
     prescribe a national Federal write-in absentee ballot and 
     that any person qualified to vote in a Federal election be 
     permitted to cast a vote using that ballot.
       Provides that a federal write-in absentee ballot will be 
     counted so long as the ballot is postmarked or signed before 
     the close of the polls on election day and received by the 
     appropriate State or election official on or before the date 
     which is 10 days after the date of the election.
     Section 5--Verified Ballots
       Provides that voting systems shall have an independent 
     means of voter verification which requires each voter to 
     verify the ballot before it is cast and counted with a paper, 
     audio, pictorial, or electronic record and that uniform and 
     nondiscriminatory standards for such verified ballots be 
     established by the EAC.
       Requires that any means of verification shall be preserved 
     and made available for use in any audit.
       Requires that the EAC standards provide for partial audits 
     of voting machines to ensure that the voting machines are 
     properly functioning and accurate and in the event that 
     voting machines' are not properly functioning and accurate, 
     the record of the verified ballot will be used for the 
     official vote count.
       Requires that the EAC and the states will produce reports 
     on the implementation of the verified ballot.
     Section 6--Requirements for Counting Provisional Ballots
       Requires that each state shall count any provisional ballot 
     which is cast at a polling place within the state if the 
     individual who cast such a ballot is otherwise eligible under 
     state law to vote.
     Section 7--Minimum Required Voting Systems and Poll Workers 
         in Precincts
       Requires that each state shall provide for the minimum 
     required number of functioning and accurate voting machines 
     and poll workers for each precinct on the day of any Federal 
     election or during early voting for any Federal election.
       Requires the EAC to issue standards regarding the minimum 
     number of voting machines and poll workers.
     Section 8--Election Day Registration
       Permits any individual on the day of a Federal election to 
     register to vote and to cast a vote in such election.
       Requires the EAC to develop an election day registration 
     form for elections for Federal office.
     Section 9--Integrity of Voter Registration List
       Requires that not later than 45 days before any Federal 
     election, each state shall provide public notice of all names 
     that have been removed from the state voter registration list 
     and that prior to the removal from such a list, a voter must 
     receive proper notice that will be prescribed by the EAC.
     Section 10--Early Voting
       Requires that each state shall allow individuals to vote in 
     an election for Federal office not less than 15 days prior to 
     the day scheduled for such election in the same manner as 
     voting is allowed on election day.
       Requires the EAC to issue standards for the administration 
     of early voting.
       Provides that same day voter registration will occur during 
     early voting.
     Section 11--Acceleration of Study on Election Day as Public 
         Holiday
       Requires the completion of a study on Election Day as a 
     public holiday by the EAC no later than 6 months after the 
     enactment of this bill.
     Section 12--Improvements to Voting Systems
       Requires punch card systems to provide a means of 
     verification and audit ability.
     Section 13--Voter Registration
       Requires voter registration forms to include an affidavit 
     to be signed by the registrant attesting to both citizenship 
     and age rather than having the registrant check boxes on the 
     voter registration form attesting to both citizenship and 
     age.
       Requires that any form developed or used by a State for 
     voter registration in Federal elections must include an 
     affidavit attesting citizenship and age instead of the 
     questions and statements under HAVA sec. 303b4(A).
       Requires states to establish voter registration through the 
     Internet with the standard established by the EAC.
     Section 14--Establishing Voter Identification
       Permits voter identification to be established through a 
     written affidavit when a voter is voting in person or through 
     the mail and eliminates the need for any other form of 
     identification, which has the effect of overruling the HAVA 
     requirement that first time voters who register by mail must 
     provide a photo ID when voting.
       Requires the EAC to establish the standards for 
     establishing voter identification.
     Section 15--Impartial Administration of Elections
       Requires that states issue a public notice concerning any 
     changes to the administration of an election since the most 
     recent prior election.
       Requires that states must provide access to any polling 
     place to voting and civil rights groups, and nonpartisan 
     domestic and international observers and that such access may 
     be denied only through a public notice that will be issued 
     not later than 24 hours after such denial.
       Requires that the EAC conduct a study on the administration 
     of Federal elections in states by nonpartisan election 
     boards, rather than Secretaries of State.
     Section 16--Strengthening the Election Assistance Commission
       Requires the EAC to submit any budget requests to the 
     Congress and all relevant House and Senate Committees, in 
     addition to the President or the Office of Budget and 
     Management.
       Requires that the Director of the National Institute of 
     Standards and Technology provide the EAC with the assistance 
     needed to perform the duties required of it under this Act if 
     such assistance is requested.
       Provides for the necessary appropriations to the EAC to 
     perform its duties under this Act.
     Section 17--Additional Protections to Ensure Fair 
         Administration of Federal Elections
       Provides that no individual may serve as an election 
     official at any polling place used for Federal office unless 
     the individual has been certified through the poll worker 
     certification program established by the EAC.
       Requires that each state shall ensure that all voting 
     machines used by the state for elections for federal office 
     use open source software which may be accessible for 
     inspection by the public and that the standard for public 
     viewing of the open source code be established by the EAC.
       Requires that the EAC will establish a national standard 
     for the conducting of a recount of the results of any 
     election for Federal office.
       Prohibits states from entering into any agreement with an 
     entity regarding the manufacture, distribution, installation, 
     servicing, or other activity with respect to a voting machine 
     if that entity contributes to a campaign for public office 
     and standards on such conflicts of interest will be 
     established by the EAC.
     Section 18--Authorization of Appropriations
       Provides for the necessary appropriations to the states to 
     perform their duties under this Act, $2 billion in 2006 and 
     thereafter, such sums as may be necessary.
     Section 19--Effective Date
       Requires operative provisions to take effect on January 1, 
     2007.

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