|
Opening Statement
Committee on House Administration
Washington, DC 20515
February 9, 2005
I would like to thank the Chairman for holding this hearing. I hope this will be the first of several hearings that will review how the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was implemented, and how the first post-HAVA election was conducted.
However, I am very disappointed that the Secretaries of State from Ohio and Florida who were invited by the Majority chose not to testify and answer questions today. These states were at the epicenter of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Therefore, hearing from elections officials who had first-hand knowledge of various elections activities would have been tremendously helpful. Yet, their secretaries of states refused to add to this vital debate.
Maybe we would have better luck obtaining testimony from today's invited witnesses if the Chairman held a field hearing in his home state of Ohio and Congressman Mica held one in Florida. What these elections officials have to say is so important, and they are obviously quite busy, that I think it would be worth our while to take Congress to them. I'm certainly willing to do whatever it takes to help the American people regain their confidence in our electoral process after the frustrations from 2000 and 2004.
I don’t want to diminish the great work of the witnesses today, and I look forward to their testimony and thoughts on where we go from here. Nevertheless, Ohio was on the news virtually every day for weeks both before and after the election; ultimately, giving President Bush a victory for a second term. And Florida continues to have issues with voter registration lists. Some will say that the focus on these states is a result of the Democrats being poor losers. My response to that attitude is if someone has nothing to hide, then come testify.
The 2000 Presidential election brought to light many problems with the elections process. We heard reports of a wide range of voting frustrations. Most common were punch cards with hanging and pregnant chads, and voters who were turned away from the polls without being given the opportunity to cast a ballot. According to a 2001 MIT/Cal Tech study between 1.5 and 3 million voters were turned away from the polls without casting a ballot on Election Day 2000.
This Committee worked tirelessly to enact HAVA as a solution to these and other election concerns. As a result of HAVA, $3.9 billion was appropriated to the states to improve the voting process. HAVA, in my opinion, is one of the greatest bipartisan efforts this body has ever produced.
HAVA sets standards so voters are not turned away from the polls without casting a ballot. Voters not listed as registered must be given a provisional ballot, to be verified later and counted. But some early post-election surveys have found that who is given provisional ballots and how they are counted varies from state to state. While some states would exclude a provisional ballot cast by a voter in the wrong precinct, others states would count some races, if cast by an eligible voter in the correct county. Unfortunately, there were reports of eligible voters being turned away from the polls with out casting a provisional ballot.
Also, overseas and military voters reported problems with receiving absentee ballots. My staff had the opportunity to speak with a number of Americas living abroad and listen to their voting experiences. Many had positive things to say, but a few expressed frustrations with what they had to endure to exercise their right to vote; such as not receiving ballots or receiving them after the election. We can and must do better, especially for our men and women fighting for democracy not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but for all American soldiers around the world.
Although the 2004 elections have passed into history many questions are still unanswered and electoral issues need to be discussed. The electoral process is not perfect. Improvements to the electoral process still need to be made.
Some other problems reported include an excessive amount of time spent waiting to vote, a lack of provisional ballots, and difficulties with electronic voting machines.
After the 2000 election, direct record election (DRE) machines were viewed as the solution to hanging chads and century-old lever machines. Yet, computer scientists and community activists began to raise concerns. I am interested in hearing from the United States Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) about the status of standards for these machines.
Also, I would like to learn from the witnesses how far along the states are on implementing the 2006 standards for a state-wide computerized based voter registration list. Many states received waivers for 2004.
We can and must work to address these problems. Fortunately, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) is a solid foundation upon which we can institute further electoral improvements. HAVA made it easier for voters to cast a ballot and harder for people to knowingly commit fraud.
I look forward to working with the Chairman and other Members to continue to improve the voting process. I will continue to seek full funding of the EAC to continue its work of improving the electoral process. Even if one voter is disenfranchised, that is one voter too many.
Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for convening this hearing. I look forward to hearing the testimony of all the witnesses. |
