Transcript of PRESS STATEMENT AND Q&A from Election Reform Commission hear

http://www.american.edu/ia/cfer/0418transcript.pdf
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MEETING OF THE COMMISSION ON FEDERAL ELECTION REFORM
APRIL 18, 2005 4:15 – 4:45 P.M.
PHOTOS, PRESS STATEMENT AND Q&A
WITH: JAMES A. BAKER III, JIMMY CARTER and ROBERT PASTOR

<Excerpts:>

Introduction:
Pastor: "...the basis of the idea of our commission, which is to make sure that our polls are not just free and fair but perceived as such."

Carter: "How can we have more access by people to register and to vote and how can the votes be counted accurately so that people will have confidence in them? How can we minimize any allegations of fraud?"

<Baker seemed very vague and noncommittal throughout the conference>

Q&A
Q: Will Lester (sp) with AP. "<What are>...areas that are common ground."
A: Carter. "...there’s a great deal of doubt in our country about the integrity of the electoral process."

"...we want to make sure that the electoral process has integrity; that it’s not shot through with fraud."

"...with an electronic style of voting you have a black box that’s mysterious to a lot of people and it arouses some doubt about whether it can be manipulated by electronic technicians and so forth or illicitly. So another question is, as you cast your ballot on a touch screen or a digital system, does it also give a paper ballot that will let you confirm the way you just voted and you put the paper ballot in the box and later if there’s a doubt about it, you can check the paper ballots against the electronic ballot with certainly a representative sample."

Q: Pam Fessler with National Public Radio. "...commission at this point will be able to have much more impact..."
A: Carter. "...when HAVA has ordained that people – that each state has a better voting system, they haven’t yet gone to the point of advocating or requiring specific specifications including, say, a paper trail. So that’s another step that needs to be taken in the future."

Q: I’m Larry Arnold from Bloomberg News. "...do you anticipate that among the recommendations will be something as specific as you recommend touch-screen over optical scan or vice versa, or you recommend a touch-screen with a paper trail or without?"
A: Carter. "...we wouldn’t recommend exactly which kind of electronic system you would use. We might very well, though, recommend that an electronic system be combined with a paper trail."

Q: I’m Martin Schram, I write a syndicated column for Scripps-Howard. "...free television should be available to the candidates."
A: Carter. <Many points made about why our election system is so bad, that it wouldn't even qualify to be monitored by the Carter Center. Yikes! So we're grouped with dictatorships? Go read it... you will be shocked.>

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...on Federal Election Reform.

They are trying to create the illusion of official status by use of this name they've given themselves. We need to puncture that balloon.

doesn't get the problem with e-voting if he thinks a paper trail will fix it. "We MIGHT recommend a paper trail?"

Conyers must be tearing his hair out and rending his garments by now...