Jewish World Review Dec. 3, 2001 / 18 Kislev, 5762

Jules Witcover

Jules Witcover
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Stall on campaign finance reform

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com -- MORE than a year after the election fiasco in Florida that cried out for reform, there is still considerable conflict over what corrective measures need to be taken and how forceful the federal government should be in seeking them.

A key bone of contention is whether standards should be mandated as a condition of federal aid. A bipartisan House bill sponsored by Republican Robert Ney of Ohio and Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland would call on states themselves to set "minimum standards" in order to qualify for a share of $2.25 billion over three years, with states matching 25 percent of the total.

Opposing this yardstick as vague and ineffective, Democrat John Conyers of Michigan is sponsoring a bill along with Sen. Tom Dodd of Connecticut that would have the federal government set the standards - an approach the sponsors of Ney-Hoyer insist would not be swallowed by the states, defensive of their prerogatives in the conduct of state elections.

The Ney-Hoyer bill is ready for a House vote, but Conyers is trying to hold it off in the hope of generating more support for federal mandates, better protection for minorities such as those denied their right vote in Florida last year, and for voters with disabilities.

Although the bill has cleared the House Judiciary Committee, it is encountering opposition from groups like the nonpartisan League of Women Voters. Its president has written to all members of the House alleging that the legislation "contains significant loopholes throughout."

"Voters," the letter suggests, "cannot be sure that their names will be on the voter registration roll when they go to vote, that they will have provisional ballots when they're needed (and) that polling places and voting machines will be accessible for those with disabilities."

Hoyer, however, says his bill addresses such concerns and requires states to certify that they are in compliance with the Voting Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He says costs are a realistic factor in what the states can do in providing special facilities for the disabled voter.

Although the Ney-Hoyer bill provides for in-precinct provisional voting - casting a ballot while the voter's qualifications to do so are checked out - another letter signed by 37 civic and special-interest groups, including the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, the ACLU, the AFL-CIO and NOW, claims the bill permits states to opt out of that provision and others, with no enforcement authority by the Justice Department.

The matter of standards has been a sticking point since the whole matter of election deficiencies was laid bare in the 2000 presidential election. A blue-ribbon commission chaired by former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, aware of state resistance to mandatory standards, proposed incentives rather than iron-clad requirements in getting the states to improve their systems.

According to Hoyer, both Ford and Carter, as well as the organization of secretaries of state who oversee elections in most states, support his bill as a practical, achievable step.

On the matter of unreliable voting machines, the bill calls for a one-time payment of $6,000 a precinct to replace discredited punch-card systems by next November's elections, at a national price tag of $400 million.

It would also establish a new Election Assistance Commission with a board of advisors that would develop voluntary engineering and performance standards for voting systems. The League also opposes that as too costly and cumbersome.

The "minimum standards" would apply to voter registration and the maintenance of accurate registration records, uniform definitions of what constitutes a legitimate vote on each type of voting equipment, and provisions to give voters a second chance if they have case a first ballot in error. The Commission and the Justice Department would monitor and enforce the standards.

Hoyer concedes that the bill doesn't go as far as many reformers would want, but says it includes what is achievable on a bipartisan basis. With the ardor for correction cooled by the passage of time and other priorities, that may be the best the country can get.


Comment on JWR contributor Jules Witcover's column by clicking here.

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