Reply #15: Election reform a crucial step in addressing democracy's ills

[dzika]

Fri, Feb. 25, 2005

Election reform a crucial step in addressing democracy's ills

BY JANE EISNER
Knight Ridder Newspapers



(KRT) - There's no right to vote enshrined in the Constitution, but it's certainly enshrined in the national psyche. We moan when voter turnout declines, and exult when other nations - most recently Iraq - use the ballot box to shape their political destinies.
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Though barriers of race, gender, education and age are gone, this is not a fully enfranchised nation. The record turnout last year belies an uncomfortable fact: More eligible voters didn't vote than voted for either Bush or Kerry.
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Legislation introduced in the Senate last week goes a long way to reform the system and expand the electorate. But because its sponsors include names like Clinton and Kerry, its worthy journey into law may stop at the partisan aisle.

Viewing the "Count Every Vote Act" as a Democratic ploy to bulk up the rolls before the next election is understandable, since the bill was introduced by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and co-sponsored by Sen. John Kerry. Understandable and shortsighted.

Whatever you think of the senators' motives, this bill has many of the elements that bipartisan election reformers have long requested: Paper records of electronic voting. Election-day registration. Election Day as a national holiday. Restoration of voting rights for former felons.


more: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/10989554.htm