Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - February 13, 2007)
By Mr. NELSON of Florida:
S. 559. A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified permanent paper ballot under title III of such Act, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Voting Integrity and Verification Act, VIVA, of 2007. The time has come to ensure that the vote of each American is counted and counted as they intended. VIVA will get us closer to that goal by mandating the use of voter-verified paper ballots in any election with Federal candidates.
It was President Johnson who helped Black Americans win the right to vote, who said, ``The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man .....' Indeed, it is the ability of a nation, like ours, to hold free and fair elections, which guarantees our government is based on consent of the governed; and, majority rule with minority rights.
It is the guarantee of a ballot that cools the impassioned hearts of many in the electorate, even when a majority of citizens disagree with their government over a war, court decision, or action by lawmakers or the executive branch.
For any democracy to long withstand these external and internal conflicts, it is vital that the governed have unwavering faith that their votes will be counted. Ever since the 2000 Presidential recount in Florida and, more recently, the disputed congressional election in Sarasota, an increasingly high number of Americans have come to lack confidence in the way our States record, tally, and verify votes.
If this Congress doesn't act to restore voter confidence, I fear our democracy--in the words of philosopher and educator Robert Maynard Hutchins--could suffer ``a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and undernourishment.'
VIVA authorizes $300 million in Federal funding to assist in the implementation of the requirements in this bill. This bill establishes mandatory security requirements for voting systems used in Federal elections. It also will provide for routine, random audits of paper ballots and make it illegal for a chief State election administration official to take an active part in a political campaign.
With another Presidential election on the horizon, we need to fix this--and fix it now. Let us never have another election after which citizens are left to doubt its legitimacy.
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