The November election points to serious problems in our voting process in America.  We consider ourselves the premiere democracy in the world and expect other nations to emulate our example.  Our government sends officials overseas to "monitor" elections to insure their veracity.  And yet, the 2000 election in America will go down in history as one so rife with errors that the true outcome will remain forever in question. 

Prompted by the litany of concerns swirling around this election, I proposed two pieces of legislation on the first day of the 107th Congress.  The first is a Constitutional amendment to change the way electors in the Electoral College are allocated.  The second is legislation to convene a temporary panel to study the current election process and make recommendations for improving it. 

The Constitutional amendment is based on reforms I have been talking about long before  election day.  It is based on the principle of proportional voting, which I have advocated for many years.  Before the November 7th election speculation was that the Electoral College rather than the popular vote could decide the next President of the United States.  And in fact that was the case. 

As it turned out the entire election hinged on Florida's vote because the winner of that state would get all 25 electoral votes, enough to put either contender over the magical 270 threshold.  In the end, George W. Bush got all the electors even though his margin of victory is arguably just a few hundred votes.  Regardless of which candidate prevailed, this winner-take-all system of distributing Electoral College votes smacks in the face of our so-called democracy. 

I believe the Electoral College should be reformed in order to better reflect the public vote.  This can be accomplished by changing the Constitution to allocate electors by a combination of at-large and Congressional districts.  Under this system, 2 of South Carolina's 8 electoral votes would have been awarded to Bush because he won the statewide vote.  The other 6 would have been awarded 5 to Bush and 1 to Gore because Bush carried 5 of the 6 Congressional Districts. 

Currently Maine and Nebraska use this system.  Other individual states could implement this distribution of electors as well.  However, the November election showed the danger of having differing election systems.  Uniformity is one of the keys to insuring that the election process is as fair as possible.  Problems like lack of uniformity in the types of ballots used is just one example that I propose to address through the formation of a United States Commission on Election Law Reform.  My bill, the Election Law Reform Act of 2001, would establish a committee to study federal, state, and local election procedures and make recommended changes.  The Commission would be comprised of 12 members with two appointees each named by the President, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the House minority leader, and the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  This Commission would be charged with spending no more than one year compiling their report.   They will provide a much needed overhaul of the election process by identifying ways in which elections nationwide can be more accountable and reliable.