Federal election standards amendment?

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

I just received an official e-mail from John Kerry, expressing his concerns of the irregularity reports in Ohio. He says he won't be joining the protests or contesting the election (I agree 100 percent), but he will fight to fix things in Ohio. Anyway, I'm sure a lot of you have probably already seen this letter, but my question is, what about a constitutional amendment, established federal election standards?

I know what some of you are thinking. State's rights (Or maybe you're not). We already have federal election rules in place, so why not establish some sort of federal standard, and codify it constitutionally? So, what do you think?

[RC]

1. We do not need a constitutional amendment

Just enforcing the law would be a good start. Granted we need more uniformity in our Federal Elections,

But mucking with the Constitution with this gang of criminals in charge of all three branches of government and the news organizations would be asinine.

[Wilms]

2. Can we make it so their legal status is that of a "Terrorist"

You know, Gitmoize it.:spank:

[davidgmills]

3. Re: Federal Election Standards

No constitiutional Amendment required.

Congress' passage of a statute is sufficient.

Here's my wish list for the statute:

1. Federal ballots separate from state ballots. (lots of reasons for this -- easier recount, much less likelihood of voting for wrong person, 100 person ballots eliminated, etc).

2. Federal recount procedure with expedited deadlines which take into account the days electors vote in December and Congress certifies in January.

3. Paper ballots, of course, placed securely in a clear plastic box for all to observe until the counts begin. (How about letting students, ages 15 to voter registration age, be selected by their schools to help count the vote? I see lots of advantages to this, cost, and far less partisanship, plus an excellent opportunity for recognition and civic leadership).

4. Hand counts of ballots open to the public.

5. Federal exit poll to assure that the atomic clock of actual votes syncs up with the fine Rolex of exit polls. (Absolutely a critical means of checking your work).

6. Must be done in a facility large enough to allow people to get out of nasty weather.

7. Must have a decent ratio between election officials and registered voters to avoid long delays.

8. A national voter registration.

9. No purges for felons who have served their time.

10. Federal holiday for voting.



Please feel free to add to or reject any of the above. I do believe a discussion is in order.

[yourout]

6. Solid list....

These changes would make it very difficult to commit large scale fraud or disenfranchise large groups of people. I suppose they could limit the number of pencils or ballots.

[marieaey]

4. H.J.R. 18 Voting Rights Amendment

Voting Rights Amendment H.J.R. 28
H.J.RES.28
Title: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding the right to vote.
Sponsor: Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. (introduced 3/4/2003) Cosponsors (45)
Latest Major Action: 5/5/2003 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution.

To read the content of House Joint Resolution 28 go to
http://thomas.loc.gov/ and do a search for H.J.R. 28 Voting Rights Amendment.

Voting Rights Amendment Fact Sheet

Most Americans believe that the "legal right to vote" in our democracy is explicit (not just implicit) in our Constitution and laws. However, our Constitution only provides explicitly for non-discrimination in voting on the basis of race, sex, and age in the 15th, 19th and 26th Amendments respectively.Even though the "vote of the people" is perceived as supreme in our democracy - because voting rights are protective of all other rights - Justice Scalia in Bush v. Gore constantly reminded Al Gore's lawyers that there is no explicit or fundamental right to
suffrage in the Constitution. The Supreme Court majority concluded: "the individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States." (Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 104 (2000)Voting in the United States is based on the constitutional principle of states' rights.The 10th Amendment to the Constitution states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the State, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Since the word "vote" appears in the Constitution only with respect to non-discrimination, the so-called right to vote is a
"state right." Only a constitutional amendment would give every American an individual affirmative citizenship right to vote. Our states' rights voting system means there are approximately 13,000 separately administered voting jurisdictions in the United States. Our "states' rights" voting system is structured to be separate and unequal.
According to a joint study by Cal-Tech and MIT, somewhere between four and six million votes were not counted in 2000 because many states had similar problems to what occurred in Florida.

Without the constitutional right to vote, Congress can pass voter legislation - and Congressman Jackson supports progressive electoral reform legislation - but it leaves
the "states' rights" system in place. Currently, Congress mostly uses financial and other incentives to entice the states to cooperate and comply with the law. It's one
reason there have been so many problems with the recently passed Help America Vote Act and why many states still have not fully complied with the law.
Attorney General John Ashcroft sent a letter to the National Rifle Association. In it he wrote: "Let me state unequivocally my view that the text and the original intent of the Second Amendment clearly protect the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms." If Americans had a choice between the RIGHT TO A GUN and the RIGHT TO VOTE, it would be nearly unanimous. Americans would choose the right to vote! If that is the priority of the American people, then we should have the wisdom and
political will to codify it in the form of a constitutional amendment. House Joint
Resolution 28 (H. J. Res. 28is such an amendment!)

Consider these reforms: By Steven Hill and Rob Richie, AlterNet.

1) Non-partisan election officials. At the top of the list must be nonpartisan election officials. It hardly matters whether the method of voting is with paper and pen or open-source computerized equipment if election administrators are not trustworthy. The secretaries of state overseeing elections in three battleground states Ohio, Missouri, and Michigan were co-chairs of their states George Bush reelection campaigns. In Missouri, that Secretary of State was running for governor he oversaw elections for his own race! A highly partisan Republican Secretary of State ran elections in Florida, as did a partisan Democrat in New Mexico. A Mexican observer of the 2004 election commented, "That looks an awful lot like the old Mexican PRI to me." Election administrators should be civil servants who have a demonstrated proficiency with technology, running elections, and making the electoral process transparent and secure.

2) National elections commission. The U.S. leaves election administration to administrators in over 3000 counties scattered across the nation with too few standards or uniformity. This is a formula for unfair elections. Most established democracies use national elections commissions to establish minimum national standards and uniformity, and to partner with state and local election officials to ensure pre-election and post-election accountability for their election plans. The Elections Assistance Commission established recently by the Help America Vote Act is a pale version of this and should be strengthened greatly.

3) Universal voter registration. We lack a system of universal voter registration in which citizens who turn 18 years of age automatically are registered to vote by election authorities. This is the practice used by most established democracies, giving them voter rolls far more complete and clean than ours in fact, a higher percentage of Iraqi adults are registered to vote than American adults. Universal voter registration in the U.S. is now possible as result of the Help America Vote Act which mandated that all states must establish statewide voter databases by 2006. It would add 50 million voters to the rolls, a disproportionate share being young people and people of color.

4) "Public Interest" voting equipment. Currently voting equipment is suspect, undermining confidence in our elections. The proprietary software and hardware are created by shadowy companies with partisan ties who sell equipment by wining and dining election administrators with little knowledge of voting technology. The government should oversee the development of publicly-owned software and hardware, contracting with the sharpest minds in the private sector. And then that open-source voting equipment should be deployed throughout the nation to ensure that every county and every voter is using the best equipment. Other nations already do this with positive results.

5) Holiday/weekend elections. We vote on a busy workday instead of on a national holiday or weekend (like most other nations do), creating a barrier for 9 to 5 workers and also leading to a shortage of poll workers and polling places. Puerto Rico typically has the highest voter turnout in the United States, and makes Election Day a holiday.

6) Ending redistricting shenanigans by adopting full representation. Most legislators choose their voters during the redistricting process, long before those voters get to choose them. 98% of U.S. House incumbents again won re-election, and 95% of all races were won by noncompetitive margins. The driving factor is not campaign finance inequities but winner-take-all elections compounded by rigged legislative district lines. As a start, redistricting must be non-partisan, driven by nonpolitical criteria. But by far the best solution is full representation electoral systems which make voters far more important than district lines.

7) Abolish the Electoral College. The Electoral College enables presidential campaigns to almost completely ignore most states. It allows a shift of a handful of votes in one or two states to decide the presidency, inviting corruption and partisan election administration. It can deny the presidency to the candidate with the most votes. We need to support Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr's HR 109, to institute direct election of the president with a majority victory threshold.

8) Pry open our democracy. Our "highest vote-getter wins" method of electing executive offices creates incentives to keep third-party candidates off the ballot as potential spoilers. Battles over Ralph Nader's ballot access demonstrated that our system is not designed to accommodate three or more choices, yet important policy areas can be completely ignored by major party candidates. Most modern democracies accommodate voter choice through two-round runoff or instant runoff elections for executive offices, and full representation electoral systems for legislatures. Instant runoff voting had a great first election in San Francisco this November and passed in other places like Burlington, Vermont and Ferndale, Michigan.
Sources:

http://www.pdamerica.org/tools/issues/VRA-Kit-draft2.pdf

http://www.alternet.org/election04/20802/

[marieaey]

5. H.R. 2239 Voter Confidence Accessiblity Act of 2003

H. R. 2239: 'Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003'

Key provisions of The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 include:

1) Requires all voting systems to produce a voter-verified paper record for use in manual audits and recounts . For those using the increasingly popular ATM like DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) machines, this requirement means the DRE would print a receipt that each voter would verify as accurate and deposit into a lockbox for later use in a recount. States would have until November 2003 to request additional funds to meet this requirement.

2) Bans the use of undisclosed software and wireless communications devices in voting systems .

3) Requires all voting systems to meet these requirements in time for the general election in November 2004 . Jurisdictions that feel their new computer systems may not be able to meet this deadline may use an existing paper system as an interim measure (at federal expense) in the November 2004 election.

4) Requires that electronic voting system be provided for persons with disabilities by January 1, 2006 -- one year earlier than currently required by HAVA . Like the voting machines for non-disabled voters, those used by disabled voters must also provide a mechanism for voter-verification, though not necessarily a paper trail. Jurisdictions unable to meet this requirement by the deadline must give disabled voters the option to use the interim paper system with the assistance of an aide of their choosing.

5) Requires mandatory surprise recounts in 0.5% of domestic jurisdictions and 0.5% of overseas jurisdictions .

[jmannatl]

7. One more law

Does anyone really think that one more law- or a whole bunch of 'em- is going to make any difference to the people they are aimed at? This ruling party has shown no tendency to respect the rule of law on anything else, either by re-writing the law (patriot act) or ignoring it completely.

Laws were broken in Ohio by the SOS and gee, he's still getting up every morning like a free man, last I checked. Laws we got. The guts to enforce them, that is lacking. Granted, it's insipid to have local rules on a national election, but fixing that is way down the list. Hold the people who have broken current laws accountable- or at least show a willingness to try- before you start wanting another law.