House Panel Seeks $1.8B to Ensure Fair Vote [View All]

[Nambe]

Associated Press

Authors of a major election overhaul plan signed into law last year said Wednesday they are asking congressional leaders and the White House to approve an extra $1.86 billion to ensure that next year's elections will be fair.

House Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the recent California court ruling delaying the recall vote there because some counties still use error-prone punch-card ballots demonstrated the need to move quickly.

"There is a crisis. There is an urgency," Hoyer said.

They said their effort to win the extra money, begun before the California court decision, had received a sympathetic hearing from House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and their main problem now was to win White House support. ---