Reply #28: States struggle with election reform - air doubts as deadlines loom [View All]

[dzika]

States struggle with election reform
Officials air doubts as deadlines loom

By Robert Tanner

WASHINGTON -- Flaw-proof election machines. Easy-to-read ballots. Registration systems that catch double-voters or dead voters still on the rolls.

For top state election officials meeting in Washington, the pressure is on to ensure that the election changes demanded after President Bush's disputed 2000 victory are in place by the Jan. 1 deadline imposed by Congress.

The goal is to have the changes ready for the November 2006 midterm elections, but many secretaries of state who gathered in Washington yesterday for four days of meetings say there are too many obstacles in their way. And they worry that the federal government is undermining their authority with an assistance commission that is starting to act like a regulatory agency.
...
State and local officials administer elections, not the federal government. But the secretaries worry that federal election reforms are spilling beyond their boundaries, chipping away at state control and responsibility.

Their group, the National Association of Secretaries of State, approved a formal resolution that asks Congress to dissolve its oversight organization, the federal Election Assistance Commission, after the 2006 elections.

more
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/08/states_struggle_with_election_reform/