Nat. Research Comm. On Elections & Voting Calls for Significant Reform

[Wilms]

NATION’S TOP ELECTIONS SCHOLARS SET AGENDA FOR RESEARCH TO IMPROVE
AMERICA’S DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES

National Research Commission On Elections And Voting Calls for Significant Reforms in American Electoral Institutions To Restore Integrity and Public Confidence

NEW YORK – The National Research Commission on Elections and Voting, comprised of America’s leading political scientists, historians and election law experts, today released a report summarizing its broad assessment of the many issues and conflicts arising in the American electoral system. The report establishes a comprehensive agenda for research that can help restore public confidence in the institutions and systems Americans rely upon for the conduct of full and fair elections.

“Our review of the 2004 elections, and its predecessors, made clear the extent to which our democratic processes are not only flawed, but risk undermining the confidence of the American people,” said Alexander Keyssar, Chairperson of the Commission and Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. “If we do not undertake significant reforms, guided by careful and systematic research, questions about the legitimacy of our elections will persist in future election cycles and could easily proliferate with the adoption of electronic voting systems.”

The Commission’s experts outlined a comprehensive agenda for research that could lay the groundwork for effective across-the-board reforms, including:

1. Improving the process of registration and voting, so as to increase voter participation while lessening opportunities for fraud. Opportunities for research include systematic assessments of the strengths, weaknesses, and consequences of different registration and voting systems (such as provisional ballots and no-excuse absentee voting). Research is also needed to evaluate mechanisms that can increase transparency and the legitimacy of the registration and voting process.

2. Assessing prototypes for nonpartisan election administration, in order to reduce conflicts of interest and strengthen oversight mechanisms that increase voter confidence. Opportunities for research include case studies of states and municipalities that already have taken steps in this direction, comparative investigations of institutions in other nations, and evaluations of the trade-offs associated with different oversight systems.

3. Improving voter participation and removing barriers to voting, by examining the extent and significance of: subtle forms of racial discrimination; variations in access to polling places (including knowledge of polling place locations, average distance, and wait times); and real and perceived barriers to voting by certain groups such as immigrants, former felons, and people with cognitive impairments.

4. Evaluating options to reform our democratic institutions so that elections are fully competitive, fair, and perceived to be legitimate. Opportunities for research include continuing analysis of the Electoral College and its future role in determining America’s leaders, as well as the need for reform of the highly partisan redistricting process.

A copy of the full report can be found on the Commission’s website at http://elections.ssrc.org. “Working together since Election Day 2004, a group of the nation’s top social scientists now remind us that democracy is neither guaranteed nor absolute, but an ongoing process that requires commitment, work, constant evaluation and improvement," said Craig Calhoun, President of the Social Science Research Council. "As this report makes clear, Americans cannot afford to be cavalier about the conduct of our elections unless we are satisfied with generally low rates of voter participation compared to other developed countries, and ongoing battles even after votes are cast. The research agenda now before us can help inform and strengthen efforts to improve our electoral system.”

The National Research Commission on Elections and Voting is a non-partisan project of the Social Science Research Council. For a list of members, the Commission’s interim report (December 2004), and access to its database of articles, research, data archives, and reports, please visit http://elections.ssrc.org.

Full Report available here:

http://elections.ssrc.org

http://elections.ssrc.org/

[Wilms]

1. Nice excerpt for the reform movement

Since the disputed election of 2000, many American citizens and advocacy groups have been pressing for reforms to our electoral institutions – reforms that would go well beyond those legislated by some states and by Congress through HAVA. Movements for electoral reform of this type have a venerable (and honorable) history in the United States.

In addition to expanding the franchise so that excluded groups became eligible to vote, these movements have also sought to safeguard the honesty of elections, protect the rights of individual voters, and facilitate access to the polls. Among the many achievements of such movements have been the secret ballot itself, registration laws, and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (the "Motor Voter Bill"). Democracy in the United States has never consisted of a fixed set of institutions and procedures; change has been the norm, and many of the most important changes have occurred in the wake of elections in which latent problems rose to the surface and became visible.

It is the view of this Commission that significant reforms in American electoral institutions are very much needed at this juncture in American political history. There is ample evidence that our electoral system does not match – and sometimes frustrates – the promise of American democracy.3 There is also abundant anecdotal evidence that many Americans have lost confidence in the fairness and neutrality of our electoral processes: one of the more notable features of the weeks immediately following the November election was the proliferation of theories and claims that the presidential election had been stolen.4