House Democratic Leaders Face Tricky Path to Passage of Election Bill

[babylonsister]

House Democratic Leaders Face Tricky Path to Passage of Election Bill
By Kathleen Hunter | 6:43 AM; Sep. 17, 2007


Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team is being put to the test over a major election bill that has significant opposition within the Democratic Party.

The bill (HR 811), due on the House floor this week, would require a paper record of every vote cast nationwide beginning in 2008.

Passing it would allow the leadership to tick a big item off the party’s to-do list: Correcting ballot-counting issues that may have contributed to their presidential losses in 2000 and 2004.

“The perception of our elections is at stake,” said Tanya Clay House of People for the American Way, which has been pressing for a law that makes sure every vote cast leaves a paper trail for recounts.

The bill’s backers say a new federal law should be expedited so that the 2008 elections do not produce results like the disputed 2006 congressional race in Florida’s 13th District, where Democrat Christine Jennings says malfunctioning electronic voting machines might have contributed to her loss.

But local and state governments are not eager to be forced to make expensive purchases, with little money expected from Washington. Currently, 27 states have paper-trail requirements.

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http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/09/house_democratic_leaders_face_1.html

[jmp]

1. Fund it???

Elections are kind of important.