Reform urged to shore up voting system
Panel wants paper audit, standard ID

By DAN BALZ
Washington Post
Published on: 09/19/05

Washington ? Warning that public confidence in the nation's election system is flagging, a commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker will call Monday for significant changes in how Americans vote, including photo IDs for all voters, verifiable paper trails for electronic voting machines and impartial administration of elections.

The report concludes that, despite changes required under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, far more must be done to restore integrity to an election system that suffers from sloppy management, treats voters differently from state to state and within states, and too often frustrates rather than encourages voters.

The 2002 federal legislation grew out of the disputed election of 2000 and is not yet fully implemented. But the Carter-Baker commission said that, even with some important changes in place, the 2004 election was marred by many of the same errors as the 2000 election: disputes over the counting of provisional ballots, the accuracy of registration lists, long lines at some polling places, timely administration of absentee ballots, and questions about the security of some electronic voting machines.

Commission leaders say the goal of the panel's 87 recommendations ? at an estimated cost of $1.35 billion ? is to make participation easier while also enhancing ballot integrity, a careful balancing of the long-standing argument between Democrats and Republicans in the administration of elections.

The most controversial recommendation calls for all voters to produce a standard photo identification card before being allowed to vote.

The commission proposes that, by 2010, voters be required to use the REAL ID card, which Congress mandated this spring as the driver's license of the future in all states. For the roughly 12 percent of eligible voters who do not have a driver's license, the commission says states should provide at no cost an identification card that contains the same key information.

Both parties engaged in massive voter registration drives in 2004, but inaccurate voter lists produced many of the disputes on Election Day. The 2002 election reform act mandated states to oversee voter lists, but the commission said some states still are relying too much on the counties to produce the data and called on states to take responsibility for the accuracy of the lists.

The 2002 act required the use of provisional ballots for any eligible voter who shows up at a polling place but whose name is not on a registration list. But the 2004 election produced disparate standards for determining which of those ballots were counted. The group recommends states set uniform standards.

The commission also calls on Congress to require that all electronic machines include the capacity for a paper trail that voters can use to verify their vote.

Beyond that, to alleviate concerns that machines can be maliciously programmed or hacked, the commission calls for new standards to verify that machines are secure.

Another change calls for moving to nonpartisan and independent administration of elections, in the states and on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The Commission on Federal Election Reform was created under the auspices of American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management and was funded by several foundations.

Its membership includes Republicans, Democrats and independents.