[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3595]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            ELECTION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here today to talk on a 
special order on election reform.
  Today I am proud to introduce my first piece of legislation in the 
United States House of Representatives, a resolution calling on 
Congress to take swift and meaningful action on election reform so we 
can implement significant improvements before 2002. I am committed to 
making election reform a top priority and ensuring that America's faith 
in democracy is not diminished by pervasive problems in our voting 
system. We must enter the next Federal election cycle with full 
confidence in our Nation's voting technology. That is why I urge my 
colleagues on both side of the aisle to work together to ensure that in 
2002 each and every vote counts.
  Exactly 1 month ago, I addressed this House on this very same issue. 
At that time I spoke of my work as Rhode Island's Secretary of State in 
modernizing our State's antiquated voting equipment. During my tenure, 
Rhode Island upgraded its voting machines from the worst in the Nation 
to among the best. We improved our technology, we improved 
accessibility, we improved accuracy in our elections and achieved a 
significant increase in voter participation. Furthermore, all of these 
reforms were cost effective.
  Models exist for accurate and cost-effective election reform that 
States can replicate to assure true democracy. In fact, my former staff 
has been working with election officials in Florida and New York as 
well as researchers at MIT to discuss how they can emulate our success.
  Many of our Nation's election administrators right now are working 
tirelessly to improve their voting systems, and I applaud their efforts 
to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised and that all ballots are 
counted accurately. However, I know from personal experience that 
upgrading an entire State's election system is no small feat. It 
requires a great deal of planning, investment of time and resources, 
and the coordination of efforts with different levels of government.
  Fortunately, 21 Members of this House have introduced legislation to 
help improve our Nation's overall voting system. The sponsors of these 
bills hold a variety of ideological views. However, we all share one 
common goal, to ensure that our Nation's election system does not 
undermine citizens' confidence in the democratic process and that every 
vote counts.
  For this reason, Mr. Speaker, I am introducing this sense of the 
Congress resolution encouraging Congress to make this vision a reality 
by the 2002 election. Though we may disagree about some of the details, 
my colleagues and I are willing to put aside our differences and work 
for the betterment of our Nation. We must act now to ensure that the 
United States has an accurate and open election system, we must act now 
to ensure that our elderly and disabled voters can cast their votes 
independently, and we must act now to ensure that every one of our 
Nation's military voters counts.
  We can attain all of these goals, but we must begin our efforts 
immediately to reach them by 2002. One person, one vote is the 
fundamental principle upon which American democracy stands. Please join 
me in cosponsoring this resolution and in learning about the various 
voting technologies at the secretaries of state demonstration I am 
sponsoring next week which will give us an up-close look at the various 
types of voting technology available and in taking an open-minded, 
bipartisan approach to resolving this national problem. Nothing can be 
more important to Congress than guaranteeing every American free and 
fair access to our democratic process.

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