SF Gate: Congress should leave elections to the states

SF Gate

OPEN FORUM
Congress should leave elections to the states
Rebecca Vigil-Giron

Monday, March 21, 2005

It has become quite fashionable to introduce federal legislation that changes the way we administer elections in this country. Members of this Congress have sponsored 10 election-reform bills since January. The problem with the new legislation, however, is that it has already been done.

After the disputed 2000 election, Congress passed a landmark election- reform law called the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was designed to improve election administration and modernize voting equipment. The law has already had a positive impact, even though it has not been fully funded and has been only partially implemented. According to a Cal Tech/MIT study released in February, the number of votes lost through administrative errors dropped by 42 percent in 2004 compared to the 2000 election. HAVA is working because it is the result of a truly bipartisan, balanced compromise that respects states' inveterate rights to regulate elections.

To a striking degree, the legislation introduced in the 109th Congress would undercut states' rights and nationalize elections. It would require states to adhere to national standards for everything from poll workers to provisional ballots. In this case, uniformity does not equal the best possible election.

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