Nov. 02-05/08  

LINKS: 

http://electionreform.meetup.com/  Meet other election reformers for discussion and debate! Come to an Election Reform Meetup to uncover the path to fair elections. Get together to solve current problems the election process, voting, majority rule and the Electoral College.

http://electionreformproject.org  Our Mission: The extraordinarily lengthy and controversial resolution of the 2000 U.S. presidential election revealed that our electoral system is in serious need of reform. Since that time, Congress has responded by passing the Help America Vote Act of 2002, state and federal legislators have proposed additional laws and amendments, and scholars and advocates have produced a flurry of research, reports, and proposals.

The AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project aims to synthesize that research and bridge together the research and policy communities

http://www.electionreform.org  ReformElections.org is The Century Foundation's informational web site on election reform policy. In addition to the Foundation's ongoing research on election reform issues, Reformelections.org features resource guides, policy developments, and the latest research from the election reform community.

http://commoncause.org  Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.

www.electionline.org  electionline.org, a project of the Pew Center on the States, is the nation’s only nonpartisan, non-advocacy website providing up-to-the-minute news and analysis on election reform. Established by Pew after the November 2000 vote, electionline has become the leading source for journalists, policymakers, election officials, academics and concerned citizens to learn about, discuss and debate election administration issues.

Legislation:                                              

Senators Bob Graham, Barbara Boxer & Hillary Clinton introduced the RECORD ACT to require all electronic voting systems to produce a voter-verified paper ballot for use in manual recounts.  In addition, among other provisions, the legislation contained a number of requirements designed to significantly improve the security of voting systems.  It also authorized funding to help states and local governments implement the paper trail requirement. 

In the summer of 2004, Clinton requested that the Government Accountability Office conduct a study of how the states were addressing a number of issues concerning our federal election systems, including provisional ballots, the purging of voters, voter registration, and identification. 

Clinton introduced the Count Every Vote Act which was crafted to address many of the problems Americans experienced in trying to vote and have their vote counted in both the 2000 and 2004 elections.  Described as the “gold standard” of election reform legislation by the New York Times, the C ount Every Vote Act addresses a wide range of problems, including long wait times in which to vote, the erroneous purging of voters, voter suppression and intimidation, and unequal access to the voting process.  The legislation also requires a paper trail for all voters, mandates national standards in a variety of areas, including the registration of voters and the counting of provisional ballots, provides for re-enfranchisement for those convicted of crimes but who have fully repaid their debt to society, and calls for election day registration and a national holiday to make it easier for many Americans to vote.