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Deal announced on election reform

Bill 'does justice to the American voter'

From Kate Snow (CNN Washington Bureau)

Sens. Christopher Dodd, Mitch McConnell and Christopher Bond hail the deal on election reform.
Sens. Christopher Dodd, Mitch McConnell and Christopher Bond hail the deal on election reform.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lawmakers announced a deal Friday on a bill to overhaul the nation's election system, making it, in the words of one Republican, "easier to vote and harder to cheat" and providing $3.9 billion to states to help update equipment and train poll workers.

The legislation, expected to win easy approval in both the House and Senate, was prompted by the furor over the disputed 2000 presidential election, when Democrats said thousands of ballots in some Florida counties had been improperly counted or not counted at all. The election was decided when the Supreme Court effectively closed the door to Al Gore's demand for further recounts.

"Twenty-three months ago, our nation was thrown into turmoil because we learned a painful reality -- that our democracy did not work as well as it should. ... The legislation we present to the Congress today rectifies those wrongs, does justice to the American voter," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut.

The legislation won't affect next month's elections, but the overhaul should be complete by 2004. The measure is billed as the biggest change to the way the nation votes since the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The proposal calls for the creation of a new federal agency, the Election Assistance Commission, to oversee the reforms that states will have to enact.

Negotiators reached a compromise last night over competing House and Senate versions of the legislation. Democrats and Republicans differed on several issues, including how stringent voter identification requirements ought to be.

On that issue, the deal calls for first-time voters to provide some form of identification, but it does not have to be a photo identification, the lawmakers said. A utility bill, for example, could be used. Voters who register by mail would also have to provide some form of identification. If there is a question about a voter's identity, the voter would still have the right to cast a provisional ballot, which would count if the person's identity was later cleared.

Voters would also have the right to double-check their ballots and fix them if they think they made a mistake.

Also, the proposal calls for states to compile a computerized list of registered voters and to ease voting requirements for the disabled. The legislation asserts that every citizen has a right to a "private independent ballot." Currently, blind voters in some states have to relay their choices to other people, who fill out their ballots. The legislation calls for states to develop a voting system that would allow such voters to cast their ballot without assistance.

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Missouri, hailed the deal. He waved a picture of a dog that he said had been a registered voter in Missouri. Such mistakes, he said, would be a thing of the past with the changes.

He called it a "powerful bill that will make it easier to vote and harder to cheat."

The legislation also calls for states to develop uniform and non-discriminatory standards for counting ballots.

Democrat Al Gore maintains that thousands of Florida ballots were not counted properly in the 2000 presidential race.
Democrat Al Gore maintains that thousands of Florida ballots were not counted properly in the 2000 presidential race.

That very issue was at the heart of the presidential election fiasco in Florida in 2000. Despite new voting machines, Florida was the site of another election mess last month in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, when some machines malfunctioned.

The $3.9 billion, which has yet to be approved by Congress, would be dispersed to the states over a three-year period and allow for the purchase of new equipment, training and voter education programs.

"Today, the U.S. Congress declares America's independence from hanging chads, butterfly ballots and a broken outdated election system that nearly provoked a constitutional crisis two years ago," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland.



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