Rules Committee Meltdown: Democrats Implode, Express lack of Confidence in Their Leaders' "Voter Confidence" Bill
Democratic Leaders Pull Bill, Take Stock After Committee Democrats Voice Concerns
Washington,
Sep 6, 2007 -
It’s not often when Democrats on the Speaker’s own committee – the Rules Committee – openly oppose a leadership bill. But that’s what happened last night when the Speaker’s designee as chairwomen of the Rules Committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), voiced strong reservations to the “Voter Confidence & Increased Accessibility Act” – a bill the Washington Post says could “inadvertently cause more disenfranchisement than it would solve.”
Democratic leaders had hoped to bring the bill to the floor today but the Rules Committee recessed after its meltdown without reporting the bill to the floor. Chairwoman Slaughter was openly hostile to the bill last night:
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“I am very concerned that we are passing this law that you have to have it by a date certain when experts tell us that there is not a [voting] machine that will do this right … I have got to tell you I am scared we are waltzing off a cliff here, and I am worried about it.” |
That echoes concerns of the Election Technology Council, which stated in a letter to Congress: “There is simply no DRE voting system on the market today that would be compliant with H.R. 811 by the 2008 General Election, as it is currently written… H.R. 811, as proposed in the Manager’s amendment, is not adequate.”
Stunningly, Committee Democrat Alcee Hastings (D-FL), a cosponsor of the bill, voiced objections as well, saying: “I am open to our discussions about a rule, but I need to be persuaded. Otherwise, I would do something that I have not done since I have been here, and that is to vote against a proposed rule.”
The Politico reports on the implications of the blowup:
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“Democratic leaders ran into a speed bump within their own caucus this week over legislation requiring states and other municipalities to maintain paper records for each electronic voting machine.
“The speed bump in this case was a pretty big one: Democrats on the powerful Rules Committee, who aired their opposition to the bill during an open committee hearing Wednesday.
“This is remarkable because the Rules Committee is historically the speaker's most important tool in crafting legislation. In fact, the speaker used to chair the committee before Congress changed the rules in the early part of the 20th Century. And it is rare for the committee chair, who is now chosen by the speaker, to openly oppose legislation cleared for the floor by leadership.” |
Numerous state and local elections officials have voiced significant reservations about the bill, citing the burdensome new federal regulations that would impose unrealistic mandates that cannot be met. Following are just two examples from the National Association of Counties and the National Conference of State Legislatures:
- “…NACo has maintained that we would support federal legislation to ensure the accuracy and integrity of voting equipment and procedures and the transparency of audits and recounts as long as that legislation sets realistic standards and allows sufficient time, flexibility and funding for implementation. Unfortunately, H.R. 811 continues to fail in each respect.” – National Association of Counties, Letter to Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), September 5, 2007
- “…[H.R. 811] is overly preemptive of state laws governing election administration, creates an unfunded federal mandate of unknown proportions and seeks to micromanage state and local election administration procedures to such a degree as to make its provisions impossible to implement. H.R. 811 represents the antithesis of state flexibility and rejects the idea of an intergovernmental partnership on election reform matters. The process of drafting, vetting and including all relevant stakeholders, which includes the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and other state and local government groups, never took place, leaving this bill fraught with problems. The state impact of this bill was never considered, and compromises were made without including the state perspective.” – National Conference of State Legislators, Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), September 5, 2007
Instead of moving partisan legislation that is opposed by election experts, state and local election officials, and other groups who have a stake in ensuring the integrity of our voting process, Democrats would be wise to work with states and counties to address the current challenges which could lead to disastrous unintended consequences in the 2008 presidential elections.
