Objection to Counting of Ohio Electoral Votes

OBJECTION TO COUNTING OF OHIO ELECTORAL VOTES -- (Senate - January 06, 2005)

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Mr. REID. Mr. President, today great men and women of our Armed Forces are working to bring the right of free and fair elections to Iraq. In less than a month, there will be elections in Iraq. The sacrifice of our military demands that we work to ensure our own elections are fair. That is why today's debate is here, and I applaud my friend from California for allowing us to talk a little bit about elections generally.

A constitutional right that can be said to help secure all other rights is the right to vote. History has shown us that the right to vote demands constant vigilance and attention. While secured by our Constitution, widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans and other Americans led to the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the amendments in 1970, 1975, and 1982.

Constitutional protection was not enough. We needed tough new laws and took action. More recently, the abuses in Florida 4 years ago demonstrated the need for change and led to reform--and it was reform--in the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

I spread on the RECORD today the good work of Senator McConnell, Senator Dodd, and Senator Bond. There were others, but those are the three who stand out in my mind.

While the literacy tests and poll taxes of the past are gone, a more insidious form of disenfranchisement continues to taint our electoral system.

In this past election, in the State of Nevada, phone calls were made to heavily African-American parts of Las Vegas to try to trick those voters into not voting. The same happened in the Hispanic areas of our State, especially in Clark County. These calls, which we were unable to trace, told voters election day was November 3, not November 2.

Our registration process in Nevada is also tainted by the proven destruction of Democratic voter registration forms. This is clear. It happened. There was a company hired by the Republican National Committee to register only Republicans. We had people come forward and say they destroyed Democratic registration forms. That investigation is still underway.

In some of my earliest elections in Nevada, private individuals dressed in uniforms meant to resemble police officers stood around polling places in minority voting spots to frighten people from coming to vote, and it worked. These officers were posted, as I indicated, at the polls to intimidate these minority voters.

In this past election in Ohio, we heard a lot about what appeared to be wrong there, and I hope there will be more done to determine what went on in Ohio.

Legal challenges to restrict provisional voting, a provision of HAVA, which is the Help America Vote Act which I talked about earlier, meant to cure the widespread disenfranchisement of minorities in Florida and around the rest of the country.

These problems damage our system, deny our citizens equal protection, and undermine the right to vote. Rooting out this corruption requires not only strong laws but I believe strong hearts. It relies upon the integrity of our election officials in every State and each one of us to speak up when abuses occur.

It is my hope the debate today will once again lead to action to cure some of the more glaring defects of the 2004 election. One of the most significant problems in Ohio and in many other States was the lack of measures to ensure the integrity of electronic voting machines. While we have made improvements that are historic with HAVA, one important omission is in this area; that is, electronic voting, how to ensure the integrity of it.

In the last election, of all 50 States, Nevada was the only State where we had total electronic voting with a paper trail. When you voted in Nevada, you did your electronic voting and you could look right there to see for whom you voted. No mistakes. You did not take it with you, of course, but it was in the machine, and if there was a recount, it could be determined easily.

This is the way it should happen all over America, an electronic machine with a paper trail.

Last year, my colleague, the distinguished junior Senator from Nevada, Mr. Ensign, and I introduced a measure to require paper trails for electronic voting machines every place. We will introduce our bipartisan Voting Integrity and Verification Act in this Congress.

I hope that as we consider the 2004 election today--I ask unanimous consent for one additional minute, Mr. President.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The statute allows no more than 5 minutes to any Senator, I regret.

Mr. REID. I will end by saying we look forward to enacting commonsense measures such as the Voting Integrity and Verification Act which Senator Ensign and I will introduce in a few days to continue to improve the integrity of our elections.

I do not view the need to consider these additional reforms as a sign that our electoral system has failed. That we learn, investigate, and reform demonstrates its strength. The only failure following the 2004 election would be to not acknowledge and act to strengthen the right to vote.

I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join with me in that effort.

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