I spent Monday at the first hearing of the election reform commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Sec of State James Baker. See Common Cause president Chellie Pingree's testimony.
Much of the criticism of the commission focuses on Baker's role -- it's disturbing to have the mastermind of the Florida 2000 election co-heading a reform commission. I am skeptical of what recommendaitons this commision will come out with in the end, but there are a number of commissioners who balance off Baker: former Senator Tom Daschle, Raul Yzaguirre, longtime head of La Raza, Spencer Overton, law professor and Common Cause board member, and others.
President Jimmy Carter & Chellie Pingree
(Photo: Susannah Goodman, Common Cause)There was a lot of discussion and support for ID requirements for voters among the commissioners and some of the panelists. But some witnesses, including Arturo Vargas and Barbara Arnwine cited the effect ID requirements can have on some segments of the voting population, particularly poor and minorities. They tend to move more often, not have drivers licenses, and are often signled out by election workers for closer scrutiny of ID they may have.
Wall Street Journal pundit John Fund had the quote of the day: When opining about ID's, he noted that the great American system of voting works because it is done locally, so pollworkers can eyeball voters (their neighbors) to see if "they look as if they belong in the neighborhood." Yikes! Wouldn't want to live in Fund's neighborhood.
[This is, I think, one of the great myths of American elections - that pollworkers know the voters. First, they don't always work their own neighborhood. Second, most Americans don't live in small towns anymore -- I don't. I live in a suburb, I am relatively recognizable (6-4, totally bald head, former Little League president) and have voted in the same precinct for 13 years. No pollworker has ever recognized me.]
There was also much discussion of voting machines and voter-verified paper ballots. Unfortunately, too much of the panelists' testimony was critical of paper and painted a rosy picture of unreliable electronic voting machines. This contentious issue will be a tough one for the commission to deal with, although it seemed that President Carter was sympathetic to the paper side of the issue.
Finally, a highlight of the testimony was Jim Dickson delivering his usual blunt challenge to the commission to consider the rights of the millions of disabled voters. Although we disagree on the issue of electronic voting machines, there are many other issues regarding disabled voters, including access to polling places, that we all must work to resolve.
