Voting Reform Gets New Life
Eliza Newlin Carney National Journal Apr 13 2009In the wake of a landmark survey showing that registration problems blocked as many as 3 million eligible voters from casting ballots last November, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are hunting once again for ways to fix the broken election system.
The most likely targets for legislative action this year are voter registration and the obstacles that snarl the absentee ballot process for millions of military and overseas voters. There's also growing interest in collecting better data to measure how well states run their elections, using yardsticks and performance rankings.
Voter registration, which emerged as the No. 1 problem hampering voters last year, will top the list. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who took over in January as chair of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, plans to introduce a bill to revamp the voter registration system later this year.
"Democrats believe it is too hard for people to register and vote; Republicans believe it is too easy to register and vote fraudulently," Schumer told National Journal. "There may be a way to solve both problems simultaneously through new technology and forge a better bipartisan solution."
