Perhaps one of the highest priorities for the next congress should be a series of inititatives that will
truly reform voting in this country--to, once and for all, make voting the level playing field it should be.
Right off the bat, they could establish a Federal Voting Holiday; this is an idea that has been discussed before, but seems to get airplay only in the wake of a major Democatic defeat.
It's time to give it airplay in the wake of a major Democratic victory.
More after the jump.
Among some of the goals of the
Count Every Vote Act put forth by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones in 2005:
* Make Voting a Federal Holiday
* Require paper receipts for votes.
* Authorize $500 million to help states make the changes in voting systems and equipment.
* Allow ex-felons to vote. Currently an estimated 4.7 million Americans are barred from voting because of their criminal records.
There is obviously more that should be discussed, including:
* eliminating the Electoral College, which would place the election back in the hands off all voters and not just a few states;
* reforming the ability of state legislatures to engage in egregious partisan district gerrymandering, such as Tom Delay did with the Texas legislature in 2003;
* adopting national standards for voting dispute resolution, to prevent the kind of shenanigans seen with Katherine Harris and Kenneth Blackwell
... and so forth.
But the Voting Holiday is the big fish. If voters are given a full day off to vote, there will no longer be crunches in the hours before 9 and after 5; this will lead to less wait times at voting stations and will also reduce the impact of voting machine glitches (and create a better enviorment for their resolution).