Congressman Sanders Objects to Certification of Ohio Electoral Votes

Congressman Sanders Objects to Certification of Ohio Electoral Votes
1/6/2005

Today, Congressman Bernie Sanders entered a formal objection to the certification of the State of Ohio's Electoral Votes. He delivered the following statement:

Mr. Speaker:

The electoral process is at the heart of a democracy. And we, as members of Congress, are compelled to protect the integrity of that process.

If voters are discouraged from voting or if they are intimidated; if there is doubt as to whether the votes cast are counted accurately; if voters names are removed from the voting roles for arbitrary and capricious reasons, if voters believe that those conducting elections are more concerned about the victory of their own candidate than they are the fairness of the electoral process, then people's confidence in the electoral system and in our democracy is undermined. And that is what is happening in America today.

This is not good for Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, or Independents. And it's not good for the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker,

Based on upon everything I have seen, and based on Sen. John Kerry's own statements, it is clear that George W. Bush received the most votes in Ohio and should be awarded that state's electoral votes. But what is also clear is that the election process in Ohio was highly flawed, as it was in Florida in 2000, and as it is in many states and voting districts through our country. We have an enormously serious problem in this country and it is high time that the Congress addresses it. Mr. Speaker, it is time for this Congress to establish minimum standards for conducting federal elections. In my view, we don't need to federalize the election process but we do need to put in place minimum standards that protect the right of all Americans to vote and to have their votes counted fairly and accurately. Mr. Speaker, the time is ripe to create a Congressional Joint Committee to make recommendations in this area.

Let me outline just a few of the problems need to be addressed:

In the United States of America, in the year 2004, voters in Ohio or in any other state should not have to wait on line four hours, five hours or more to cast a ballot. For many Americans this kind of wait is tantamount to telling them they cannot vote - seniors and the disabled, families with small children, people who work long hours.

How many of those citizens gave up in despair and left their polling places without casting a ballot? Were there hundreds? Were there thousands? I don't know. You don't know. But what we should agree upon is that every American should be able to cast his or her vote in reasonable manner and not be discouraged from participating in the political process.

Mr. Speaker,

With the advent of electronic voting machines, millions of Americans are increasingly concerned about the lack of a verifiable paper trail that would

a) confirm that they actually voted and

b) that the vote they cast actually went to the candidate they intended.

In this last election, large numbers of votes were cast across the country using electronic voting machines that produce no paper record, and therefore preclude there every being a hand recount to verify the computers' tally. This is unacceptable when we know in Ohio and elsewhere there were very serious machine malfunctions that affected thousands of votes.

Every American who uses an ATM machine knows that we already have the technology to ensure that all electronic vote counting is accurate and fairly conducted. By providing a paper receipt to voters and printing another that is retained by the machine, Americans will regain their confidence that their votes have not been tampered with or lost because of a mechanical malfunction.

The good news here, Mr. Speaker is that separate legislation that would address this problem has been introduced in the House both by Democratic Rep. Rush Holt and by Republican Rep. Steven King, respectively. Solving this problem does not have to be partisan and legislation mandating this paper trail should be passed quickly.

Other problems we witnessed over the last two elections include:

Aggressively purging voting rolls for political reasons; Intimidating voters; Narrowly interpreting provisional balloting rules to exclude voters; Continuing to use older, error-prone machinery like punch card voting machines.

These and many other should be investigated and reviewed by the new Congressional Joint Committee as well as the critically important question of whether it is good policy to continue having federal elections run by partisan political figures who are actively involved in the campaigns of one of the candidates.

Mr. Speaker, let us not let this moment pass without committing ourselves to restoring the faith of the American people in our great democracy. We should not have to be here in four years raising these same grave concerns.

http://bernie.house.gov/documents/releases/20050106181704.asp