"Ney-Hoyer is Poor Substitute"
WASHINGTON, DC—As Congressmen Ney and Hoyer release their long-awaited election
reform bill today, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group has
reaffirmed its support for the Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act of
2001 (S.565/HR1170), introduced by Sen. Dodd and Representative Conyers.
“Unfortunately,
November 2000 demonstrated that many states are not properly
safeguarding Americans’ right to vote. The bill offered by Reps. Ney
and Hoyer will not effectively address this problem, and we are not
able to support it at this time,” said Adam Lioz, U.S. PIRG Democracy
Advocate. “We do urge members of the House Administration Committee to
improve the bill during mark up.”
U.S. PIRG reported several severe inadequacies in the Ney-Hoyer legislation. The bill:
- Appears to weaken the Motor Voter Act by allowing states to purge occasional voters;
- Contains
virtually no minimum standards for voting machines (states would only
have to ensure access to those with disabilities if they purchase new
machines);
- Does not ensure that voters are educated about ballot design and other issues in advance of an election;
- Does
not require states to notify voters if their provision ballot was
counted or cast aside; and may allow states to opt out of providing
provision ballots;
- Does not adequately address access for language minorities and citizens with disabilities;
- Does
not ensure that new equipment is compatible with all ballot types used
in the United States, including ranked ballots and cumulative voting;
- Does not ensure that voters have access to on-site error correction; and
- Contains
an exceptionally weak enforcement provision that leaves the enforcing
body with no ability to procure information from the states.
- U.S.
PIRG maintains that a side-by-side comparison reveals that the Equal
Protection of Voting Rights Act of 2001 is stronger legislation with
respect to nearly all of these points.
“The
Committee bill is a weak substitute,” said Lioz. “Rep. Conyers’
legislation is the only bill in the House that can be called
comprehensive election reform.”
“We
must ensure that Americans from Alaska to Florida have equal access to
the ballot,” concluded Lioz. “Unfortunately the Ney-Hoyer bill falls
well short of this goal.”
