national bill includes pilot projects for mail-in ballts and INTERNET VOTING

["Margit Johansson" <margitjo@xxxxxxxxx>]

Aaaargh!!!!
Margit

Margit Johnsson, CFVI
303-442-1668/ margitjo@xxxxxxxxx



MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday, March 27, 2008

Contact:
Dan McLaughlin; or,
Bryan Gulley
202-224-1679


UNITED STATES SENATE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
BILL NELSON
  FLORIDA





Senator: citizens should be given direct power to select nominees and
elect the president
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson today proposed
a new national nominating process and presidential elections, based on
the nationwide popular vote rather than the Electoral College.
Nelson, who sued his own party in a failed effort to force the
Democratic National Committee to recognize Florida's Jan. 29
presidential primary, made a rare appearance by a federal lawmaker
before the state Legislature to announce he?s filing legislation in
Congress that attempts to fix the election process in a sweeping
manner.
"This election has provided further evidence that our system is
broken," Nelson said, referring to the fact that Florida?s primary, in
which a record 3.6 million voters turned out, is not being counted by
the Democratic Party and only being counted half by the GOP.
He told lawmakers his bill would establish six, rotating interregional
primaries and ?give citizens the direct power to elect the president.?
  The bill would also require early voting in every state, a paper
trail for every ballot and the availability of absentee ballots on
demand for all voters.  It would also set up grants to develop pilot
projects on mail-in and Internet voting.
More specifically, the election-reform package would:

·         Abolish the Electoral College - A resolution for a
constitutional amendment will be filed to abolish the Electoral
College and allow direct election of the president by popular vote.
If the principle of one-person, one vote is to mean anything, the
candidate who wins a majority of the votes should win the presidency.

·         Establish rotating interregional primaries - The 2008
presidential election has demonstrated that our primary system is
broken and must be fixed.  The legislation will provide rationality
and fairness to the process of selecting presidential nominees by
establishing six primary dates beginning in March and ending in June.
It will divide the nation into six regions.  On each of the six dates,
states from each region of the country will be represented on a
rotating basis.

·         Provide for nationwide early voting - Restricting voting to
the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November unduly restricts
many voters from getting to the polls.  The bill will take what has
been instituted successfully in Florida ? nationwide early voting ?
and expand it to cover the entire nation, so that voters can go to a
designated polling place before Election Day and cast their vote.

·         Allow absentee ballots on demand - Some states still require
a voter attest to an inability to get to the polls on Election Day in
order to obtain an absentee ballot.  The legislation would remove this
barrier to voting to impose a nationwide requirement that states issue
qualified voters an absentee ballot on demand.

·         Improve vote verification - The legislation takes nationwide
the voting technology reforms instituted last year in Florida.  It
would require there to be a verifiable paper ballot to accompany every
vote that is cast and it would require the elimination by 2012 of
touch-screen voting machines, which have been banned in Florida and
decertified in several other states.

·         Fund pilot vote-by-mail and Internet voting - The bill would
provide incentive grant programs to jurisdictions that wish to
institute pilot programs for vote-by-mail elections, based on Oregon?s
successful model, or Internet voting.  Any such pilot program would
need to contain adequate safeguards to ensure full inclusion of all
voters regardless of race, language, or disability, and guard against
fraud.

·         Establish standards for voter registration lists - Although
the Help America Vote Act of 2002 required every state to establish
electronic voter registration lists, the quality, accuracy and
completeness of these lists vary greatly.  The lists then serve as a
barrier to the polls, because qualified voters are excluded due to
inaccurate or incomplete lists.  The bill will establish uniform
criteria for voter registration lists throughout the nation.

Nelson?s push for election reform has stepped up significantly in the
past eight months ? since Florida lawmakers moved the state?s
presidential primary to an early date on the national election
calendar.  The idea was to give a large and diverse state ? a
microcosm of America - more of a say in the selection of the
presidential nominees.

But both national parties decided to punish Florida, because their
rules reserved early presidential contests to a handful of other
states.  The GOP docked the state half of its allotted delegates to
the national convention this summer.  The Democratic Party stripped
Florida of all of its 211 delegates who could help decide their
party's nominee.

Last October, Nelson sued the Democratic National Committee and its
chairman in federal district court in Tallahassee, Florida.  In
December, he lost that court fight.  But he has continued to push for
his party to find a way to seat a delegation from Florida, while
giving voters there a meaningful voice in the selection of their
party?s nominee.

More recently, Nelson asked the National Democratic Party to pay for a
mail-in revote.  But the party declined.  Few people could agree on
specifics, including the candidates themselves.  He?s now asking the
party to divvy up the equivalent of half of Florida?s delegates from
the Jan. 29 results, as is allowed by the Democratic rules and as was
done by the GOP.





Sen. Bill Nelson?s remarks / The Florida Senate / Thursday, March 27, 2008

I am happy to be with you today, as a guest of your distinguished
leaders ? your president, Ken Pruitt, the president pro tempore Lisa
Carlton, majority leader Dan Webster and minority leader Steve Geller.

It?s fitting that we come together in this city, in this state.  For I
wish to discuss an issue all too familiar to Florida ? and, sacred to
our democracy: the right to vote ? and, to have that vote count as
intended!

A year ago, you passed a bill to move Florida?s presidential primary
to an early date on the national election calendar.  Your thinking was
to give our large and diverse state ? a microcosm of America - more of
a say in the selection of the presidential nominees.

And we all know what happened:  Both national parties decided to
punish Florida, because their rules reserved early presidential
contests to a handful of other states.

For eight months now, I have been immersed in a fight to get the
chairman of my party to end a stalemate ? to seat Florida?s delegates
and honor the state?s Jan. 29 primary.  In what was on that date a
historic turnout, some 3.6 million citizens headed to the polls and
cast ballots in Florida?s Democratic and Republican presidential
primaries.

For me this issue is simple: It's a case of fundamental rights vs. party rules.

Last October, I sued my own party and its chairman in federal district
court.  In December, I lost that court fight.  But I have continued to
push for my party to find a way to seat a delegation from Florida,
while giving Floridians a meaningful voice in the selection of their
party?s nominee.

My fight has been based on the principle that in America every citizen
has an equal right to vote.  It is based on a premise that Floridians
are entitled to have their votes count as intended.  And it is based
on a belief that we all deserve a say in picking our presidential
nominees.

More recently, I asked the National Democratic Party to pay for a
mail-in revote.  But the party declined.  Few people could agree on
specifics, including the candidates themselves.

Now, because we're at the point where reaching a solution is critical,
I am asking the party to divvy up the equivalent of half of Florida?s
delegates from the Jan. 29 results.  This is allowed by the Democratic
rules and was done by the GOP.

If nothing else, this election has provided further evidence that our
system is broken.

You and Gov. Crist are to be commended for banning touch-screen voting
machines - six years after the state outlawed punch-card ballots
because of the problems in the 2000 election.  And this year,
legislation has been introduced to toughen the audits of election
results.  Thank you.

What you have done in Florida must not be an end, but a beginning.

As to our right to vote, and have that vote count, there can be no debate.

The goal is simple: one person, one vote.

Last fall, I filed legislation in the U.S. Senate requiring that no
vote for federal office be cast on a touch-screen voting machine
starting in 2012.  I also joined the senior senator from Michigan,
Carl Levin, to propose a system of six rotating primaries from March
to June in each presidential election year.

And very soon I will file a broader-based election-reform bill.

This new legislation will abolish the Electoral College and give
citizens direct election of their president by popular vote.
Additionally, six, rotating interregional primaries will give large
and small states a fair say in the nomination process.  The
legislation will establish early voting in every state.  It will
eliminate machines that don?t produce a voting paper trail.  It will
allow every qualified voter in every state to cast an absentee ballot,
if they want.  And it will give grants to states that develop mail-in
balloting and secure Internet voting.

I am reaching out to my colleagues in Congress and to you.  Today, I
respectfully ask each of you for suggestions to make this a better
bill.

Let?s not forget: it was more than 230 years ago that our Founding
Fathers declared that all men are created equal.  But the country
still had to wait 87 years before Abraham Lincoln signed a
proclamation freeing the slaves.  And it took another 57 years before
women in America were allowed to vote.

After her arrest for voting in the presidential election of 1872,
Susan B. Anthony delivered a speech on a woman?s right to vote.  The
ballot, she said, is the only means of securing the blessings of
liberty provided by this government.

Even still, it took another 93 years before our nation belatedly
enacted a law guaranteeing every U.S. citizen an equal right to vote.

This country cannot afford to wait that long, before we fix the flaws
we still see in our election system.  The blessings of liberty cannot
wait.  The time for reform is now.

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