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### Legislation to Correct Voting Flaws

**109^th^ Congress**

***The Count Every Vote Act, H.R. 1579***

I have introduced H.R. 1579 (H.R. 5919 in the 108^th^ Congress) to
ensure that our electoral process allows the most time possible to
resolve any contested election results without delaying the transfer of
power.

In the midst of an ongoing challenge to the 2000 election result in the
state of Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that manual recounts
could not continue because there was not enough time to undertake a
proper recount before the state had to submit certified election
results. Under current law, states must certify their election results
at least six days before the meeting of the Electoral College in
mid-December. In Florida's case, this statutory deadline provided the
rationale for an early end to efforts to resolve contested and very
close results.

HR 1579 would establish a contingency date for the meeting of state
electors in all states when a challenge to a state's presidential
election results remains unresolved as of three days prior to the
Electoral College meeting date defined in current law. Applied to the
2008 presidential election, H.R. 1579 would provide 22 days more than
current law provides to complete a recount. This would take the pressure
to rush through recounts off states and reduce the chance that courts
would feel obligated to step in and end a recount before a definitive
decision had been made, avoiding the debacle that tainted the results of
the 2000 presidential election in the eyes of many Americans.

# *The Voter Confidence and Increased Accountability Act, H.R. 550* 

I am an original cosponsor and have spoken on the House floor in support
of H.R. 550, which would amend the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to
require the use of voting systems capable of producing a paper record in
all federal elections. This legislation was originally introduced as
H.R. 2239 in the 108th Congress with hopes of having the new systems in
place for the 2004 election, but unfortunately, the House Republican
leadership did not allow a vote on the bill despite the support of 157
cosponsors.

The bill also would require the Election Assistance Commission to study,
test, and develop best practices to enhance the accessibility of
voter-verification mechanisms for individuals with disabilities and for
voters whose primary language is not English, and would require random
recounts to be conducted in at least 2% of precincts in each state. I am
committed to continuing to work with Rep. Holt to move this legislation
forward and to ensure that it adequately addresses concerns with the
electronic voting machines that will increasingly be in use.

108^th^ Congress

The Protect American Voters Act (H.R. 4250)

I introduced H.R. 4250, the Protect American Voters Act, to address
another significant need in election reform. As many Americans know, the
2000 presidential election was decided by a mere 547 votes in Florida. A
number of factors contributed to the close margin. Something that could
have easily changed the outcome, however, was that just a few weeks
before the election, over half of Florida precincts purged their voter
rolls of supposed felons. After the election, it became clear that
thousands of Floridians had been wrongly removed from the rolls and that
the majority of those mistakenly removed were minority voters. This
travesty occurred because of a loophole in the National Voter
Registration Act (NVRA) that allows states to purge felons and the
mentally incompetent from the voter rolls without following NVRA
notification and appeal guidelines. The result is that eligible
Americans can be denied their constitutional right to vote.

The Protect American Voters Act, which was based largely on North
Carolina\'s successful voter notification laws, would have established
basic protections to ensure that people who are incorrectly listed for
removal are not denied their constitutional right to vote. My bill would
require states to notify individuals who are being removed from the
voter rolls; allow voters to appeal their removal; rule on appeals
within 10 days; and provide provisional ballots to voters with appeals
still pending at the time of the election. Unfortunately, the House
Republican leadership did not bring the bill for consideration before
the 108th Congress adjourned.

# 

**107^th^ Congress**

***The Voting Improvement Act (H.R. 775)***

I introduced the Voting Improvement Act (VIA) to provide an immediate
buyout of punch-card voting equipment so that the least-reliable voting
technology is eliminated prior to the 2002 election. VIA would have also
provided for the creation of a Model Election Code by state legislators
and legal scholars, established an ongoing technology improvements grant
program, and allowed federal workers to man polling places without
losing annual leave. I worked successfully to include the major
components of VIA in the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which was
enacted into law.