Federal election legislation
From dKosopedia
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Proposed federal legislation - House
- H.R. 5036-110, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Bill, introduced by Rep. Rush Holt; reimburses state and local jurisdictions that elect to convert to paper ballot voting systems, provide emergency paper ballots, and/or conduct audits by hand counts in November 2008
- H.R. 6200 to amend HAVA to conduct Presidential elections on hand-counted paper ballots sponsor: Kucinich, 20 cosponsors as of November 16, 2006
- H.R. 4844, the National Voter ID Act, which would essentially mandate passports in order to vote (see NC Voter's dKos diary Proposed Voter ID Act Pulls Rug Out From Seniors); passed by the House
- H.R. 811-110, the bill introduced by Rep. Rush Holt to supersede H.R. 550
- (now obsolete; superseded by H.R. 811) H.R. 550, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2005 Rep. Rush Holt's bill (strongly endorsed by VerifiedVoting.org; see also georgia10's October 31, 2006 diary, cos's April 13, 2006 diary, and the H.R.550 page)
- Electoral Fairness Act of 2006 (H.R. 4989) introduced by Rush Holt (D-NJ) on March 16, 2006; addresses inequities in equipment distribution and polling place waiting times (described on a page on Rep. Holt's site) (no cosponsors as of December 27, 2006)
Proposed federal legislation - Senate
- S. 559-110 sponsor: Bill Nelson of Florida (110th Congress) Daily Kos diary on S. 559
- S. 1975, a bill to prohibit deceptive practices in Federal elections sponsor: Obama; prescribes penalty for knowingly deceiving voters as to time and place for voting; related bill is H.R. 4463; 4 cosponsors as of November 30, 2006
Proposed federal legislation - House and Senate
- Emergency paper ballot legislation introduced in House and Senate (September 2006)
Existing federal legislation
Federal legislation governing elections includes:
- the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which barred unequal application of voter registration requirements
- the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which:
- outlawed the requirement that would-be voters in the United States take literacy tests to qualify to register to vote
- provided for federal registration of voters -- instead of state or local voter registration which had often been denied to minorities and poor voters -- in areas that had less than 50% of eligible minority voters registered
- provided for DOJ oversight over registration, and required DOJ approval for any change in voting law in certain jurisdictions with a history of discrimination
- the 1969 Federal Contested Election Act
- the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act
- the 1993 National Registration Act ("Motor Voter Act")
- the 2002 Help America Vote Act ("HAVA")
These acts have been met with controversy. Some have argued against ceding state power over voting to the federal government on the grounds that doing so was antithetical to the rights of local people to govern themselves. Others have argued that the federal government would weaken state laws that protected voting rights. Still others have claimed that the consolidation of power and voting system uniformity at a higher level facilitates election fraud.
In 2006, Republicans from Southern districts singled out by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 threatened to prevent its extension. Their argument was that these districts no longer practice the discrimination they did twenty years earlier. However, the extension passed over their objections. Some have made the point that the Voting Rights Act could have been used to address districts with poor records of voting rights today, such as in Ohio. However, this argument never gained prominence.
External links
- VerifiedVoting.org's legislation overview page
- "Recommendations for Federal Legislation To Ensure the Integrity of our Democracy" by Kathy Dopp (PDF format) December 2006
