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Appendix E-

2001 Overview of
Election Reform Activity in the States

On May 4, the Florida legislature passed what is by far the most sweeping election reform proposal passed in the states this year. Governor Bush signed the bill on May 12. The Florida bill, SB 1118, contains the following provisions:

• $24 million for new voting systems. The bill bans punch card machines and requires counties to purchase electronic or optical scan precinct-count equipment by 2002. The state will give smaller counties $7,500 per precinct for equipment purchase, and larger counties will get $3,750 per precinct.
• $6 million for counties to conduct voter education and poll worker recruitment and training.
• $2 million for the creation of a statewide voter registration database

The bill also:

• Requires the secretary of state to create a uniform ballot design to be used statewide
• Requires data collection and reports of voter error (overvotes and undervotes)
• Establishes no-excuse absentee voting
• Allows for provisional ballots, permitting a voter who claims to be registered but whose eligibility to vote cannot be determined at the polls on election day, to cast a ballot
• Sets new deadlines for counties to submit election returns to the state
• Creates uniform recount provisions
• Requires the secretary of state to develop rules for determining voter intent
• Creates uniform standards for voting by overseas citizens
• Requires the secretary of state to set standards for and county election supervisors to implement voter education, including but not limited to registration, polling place and absentee balloting procedures, voter rights and responsibilities, sample ballots, and public service announcements
• Sets standards for poll worker training
• Eliminates the run-off primary
• Requires a study of the feasibility of establishing uniform statewide polling place hours.

Other legislatures around the country have been busy with election reform as well. Nearly 1,600 bills have been introduced to date, and 130 have been signed into law as of May 4, 2001. 1,100 bills are pending in the 32 states where legislatures are still in session.

Some of the highlights of new election laws are:

• Georgia passed SB 213, which requires the adoption of uniform election equipment throughout the state by 2004. Georgia will conduct a pilot project to test electronic touch-screen voting equipment in the 2001 municipal elections. They have established the 21^st Century Voting Commission to oversee the pilot project and to advise the state on the selection of new voting equipment.
• The Maryland General Assembly has passed HB 1457 and SB 833, which require the State Board of Elections, in cooperation with local boards of elections, to select and certify a new voting system to be used in all counties in the state. Under the Maryland plan, the state would pay for half the cost of acquiring and operating the new system, and counties would pay the other half. The budget bill includes $2 million for fiscal year 2002 for the purchase of voting equipment; additional appropriations will be made in 2003 and 2004. The budget also includes an ongoing appropriation of $100,000 per year for training election officials. The governor is expected to sign the bill during the week of May 14.
• Idaho passed H 206 requiring that voting systems meet Federal Election Commission standards and undergo independent testing authorized by the National Association of State Election Directors.

• Colorado passed SB 132, which expands the time allowed for recounts from 21 to 30 days, and stipulates that ballots must be recounted using the same procedures by which they were originally counted.
• Virginia passed HB 1843 and HB 2849, which require the State Board of Elections to provide standards for determining whether a ballot has or has not been voted for a candidate and for promoting a timely and accurate resolution of recount questions. Virginia also passed SB 986, which sets specific standards for reviewing punch card ballots that are not accepted by a counting machine because chads are not fully separated from the card.
• The Washington Legislature approved HB 1644 (currently awaiting gubernatorial action), which specifies uniform statewide procedures for recounts.
• Kansas passed SB 126, which specifies who pays for recounts in national and statewide races.

• The Colorado legislature passed HB 1307 (currently awaiting gubernatorial action), providing for the establishment of a computerized registration database.
• Indiana passed a similar measure, HB 1510 (awaiting gubernatorial action), creating an internet-accessible statewide voter registration file.
• SB 213 in Georgia establishes a new process for removing deceased voters and convicted felons from voter registration lists.
• Kansas passed SB 127, enabling the Secretary of State to create within the centralized registration database a category of inactive voters (voters who have failed to vote in two consecutive elections or who have failed to respond to confirmation mailings). The bill also permits county election officials to use Social Security Administration data to remove deceased persons from voter registration lists. Kansas also passed SB 63, requiring the use of the last four digits of voters' social security numbers in registration lists as a way of identifying registered voters.
• Montana passed HB 204, making it easier to remove inactive voters from registration rolls.
• South Dakota passed two bills which will completely revamp their system of voter registration. HB 1252 creates a centralized voter registration database in the secretary of state's office. HB 1009 creates a process for keeping the centralized voter database up-to-date by providing means of removing the names of voters who are deceased, who have been declared mentally incompetent or have been convicted and sentenced for a felony, and who fail to vote, update their registration, and fail to respond to confirmation mailings
• Virginia passed a package of eleven bills to clean up their registration system.

By far the most common subject of bills this year is the establishment of task forces, study commissions, and interim committees. At least 75 bills proposing studies of election laws have been proposed in 28 states. The intense media and public scrutiny of election laws that has gone on since the drawn-out presidential election last year has clearly placed pressure on legislatures to act. However, many states are finding that the issue is broader and more complex, and that solutions are more expensive, than they initially thought. Taking some time to study the situation is a pragmatic first step and can help states come to grips with the complexity of the issue. Some of the proposed studies are broad in nature, looking at election procedures as a whole; others are highly specific and propose studies of issues such as Internet voting, voting systems, recount procedures, and poll working training and recruitment. Newly passed legislative measures that propose election reform studies include:

• Georgia passed SB 213, which creates the 21^st Century Voting Commission to study voting systems and recommend a new system for the state to adopt by 2004.
• Montana passed HJ 8, commissioning an interim study on election reform.
• Nebraska passed LB 67, which creates a six-member task force to conduct a two-year study of the election process.
• North Dakota passed HCR 3039, which encourages the secretary of state to establish a committee to study election laws.
• Pennsylvania passed HR 14, creating a joint select committee to study the laws, practices and procedures of elections.
• Virginia passed HJ 681 and SJ 363, which create a joint subcommittee to study the state's election process and voting technologies.

1,100 bills are still pending in the 32 states whose legislative sessions haven't yet ended. A few states are considering sweeping election reform bills. These bills encompass everything from registration procedures to announcing election results, and everything in between. Most bills, however, focus on narrower topics. They tend to reflect problems that were highlighted in the 2000 elections, or are modeled after successful programs in other states. These include:

• absentee voting
• ballot design
• modernizing voting equipment
• standards for counting votes and judging voter intent
• recount standards
• modifying the Electoral College
• poll worker recruitment, training and compensation
• registration procedures
• requiring voter ID at the polls
• alternative voting methods, such as Internet voting and mail ballots
• campaign practices