You may not read Roll Call ("The newspaper of Capitol Hill") every day, but there are people who do: members of Congress and their staff. Today's Roll Call includes two excellent opinion pieces, one an editorial and the other an OpEd by Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.
Here's what Ornstein says about Congress and elections:
At the same time, the level of confidence in the election system is low,
partisan tension is high, and Congress has been absent without leave as this
problem looms. Brace yourselves: Troubled as its election was, we could end
up looking with envy at Mexico.
And here's a juicy quote from today's Roll Call editorial:
Six years after the "hanging chad" presidential election debacle in Florida
and four years after Congress passed legislation designed to prevent such disasters from happening again, alarms are once again being raised that these pivotal Congressional elections could be beset by chaos at the polls...
...Ever since 2003, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) has offered legislation to require that electronic machines be equipped with a backup paper trail to make it possible to resolve disputes. His bill, now boasting 212 co-sponsors, will not receive its first hearing in the House Administration Committee until Sept. 28 -- just days before Congress is ready to adjourn and 38 days before the elections. There's no way around it: If Nov. 7 is a mess, Congress will be to blame.
For the entire text of the editorial, click here. For Ornstein's OpEd, click here. (Access to Roll Call requires login.)
