[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14014]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            ELECTION REFORM

  (Ms. WATSON of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATSON of California. Mr. Speaker, it has now been almost 9 
months since the election fiasco of the year 2000, and for 9 months 
America's leaders have talked about election reform, but little has 
been done.
  This week yet another report was released detailing the breakdown of 
our voting process in America. A joint study by CalTech and MIT found 
that 4 to 6 million Americans lost their right to vote because of 
outdated or faulty voting equipment and a flawed process.
  This might come as a shock to some people, but it should not. Last 
week my colleagues and I on the House Committee on Government Reform 
released another study detailing the same problem. Too many Americans 
are forced to use outdated or faulty voting equipment and too many of 
these faulty machines are concentrated in the communities of the poor 
and minority voters.
  Mr. Speaker, we have had 9 months of study, 9 months of research, 9 
months of reports. Now the American people want and deserve action. Mr. 
Speaker, please make election reform the number one priority of this 
House in time to make real lasting changes before next year's election.

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