::: Brazile & Associates :::

Brazile speaks to the National Press Club on May 2, 2001 about Election Reform, Every Vote Counts (excerpts)

Last year, following the Supreme Court intervention in the 2000 presidential campaign, I called my friend and Bush chief strategist Karl Rove to wish him well. I offered to send him a map of Washington, DC and recommended that the President sit down early with Mayor Tony Williams and with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. He listened and I appreciate Karl's tenacity and commitment to making things happen. We also talked about cooking -- one of my favorite hobbies when I am not running around stirring the pots and cooking up ways to win a campaign.

Karl and I met over a year ago at a small restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire. Like most political operatives who meet for the first time, we made a bet on the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Karl also likes a hot kitchen, so we bet on a meal. The winner would cook his/her favorite dish; the loser would probably pick up the tab. Back in December, Karl reminded me that it was time to get back to cooking. We planned the menu: I'll stir up some Louisiana-style Creole -- red beans and andouille sausage. Karl will likely provide some Texas-style chili and rice. With the election no longer in doubt, and two Southerners in the kitchen, all we have to agree to is who will fry the chicken.

Well, we have yet to have dinner. For now, my friend Karl Rove has been busy managing President Bush's first 100 days in the office while I spent this time away from Washington, DC, living in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a fellow at the Institute of Politics located at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In addition to spending time hosting a weekly study group on presidential politics, I took time out to analyze and monitor federal and state efforts to reform our election system. And that is what I want to talk about today.

After Florida, the answer to where go from here is clear: we need to move forward with comprehensive, bi-partisan election reform. Yet, sadly, the momentum that started for this effort has all but stalled.

True, many state governments have begun reviewing the condition of their voting equipment as well as their voting procedures; according to the National Association of State Legislators, over 1500 bills have been introduced in all 50 states since November.

But to date, only one Governor, Roy Barnes of Georgia, has signed legislation to update its voting machines and adopt comprehensive election reform. One governor, Jane Hull of Arizona, last week removed or vetoed over $3 million of spending that would have updated Arizona's voting technology and other needed improvements. And in another state, Maryland, the state legislature has passed a bill that would require the state board of elections to select and certify a new voting system to be used in all counties in the state, yet the Governor has yet to sign it into law. Forty-seven other states are still reviewing or studying the problem. Meanwhile, time is running out as most states have adjourned for the year, and some will soon adjourn with special sessions devoted to tackling redistricting.

But even if all the states acted and acted quickly, it still would not be enough. To make true election reform a reality, Congress must act and provide national resources and national leadership.

None other than Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris agrees with me. With the leaders of the Florida House and Senate still fighting over who will pay to eliminate the malfunctioning and broken punch card machines, Secretary of State Harris told member of Congress that election reform is not just Florida imperative." I couldn't agree more. Talk politics making strange bedfellows...

While the American people overwhelmingly approve of updating our voting technology and fixing the problems at the ballot box, many politicians are dragging their feet and have placed election reform at the bottom of political agenda. To date, the U.S. Senate has held two hearings on the issue, and the House held their first hearing only a week ago.

Unless the Republican controlled Congress and the Bush Administration put this important item back on track, the 2002 mid-term elections will produce one of the lowest off-season turnouts in the history of this country. People's dissatisfaction with their democracy will only grow. And many Americans -- including this one -- will remain angry and upset.

While impassioned about what happened in Florida, I am also reminded of the words in Ephesians that warns us in your anger, do not sin." And I'll be careful not to-or I'm sure I'll hear it from all of you. But the passage continues, do not let the sun go down while you are still angry." [Ephesians 4:27]

When the sun went down on Election Day, Americans from all walks of life and from all political persuasions were angry about how the election was conducted. They were angry about legally-cast votes not counted; about law-abiding citizens turned away as a result of being selectively purged from the voter registration database or not being placed on the local database from the Department of Motor Vehicle or another government agency.

Before the sun goes on this past election -- before it becomes but an interesting chapter in our history -- it is the responsibility of our elected officials and citizen's groups to channel the anger from November into positive energy to revive American democracy and give every citizen a voice at the political table. The kind of relief they seek: good old-fashioned voting relief and political leaders who believe passionately in the principle that every one counts!

As a student of American democracy, a second-generation eligible voter, and a former campaign manager, I am eager to roll up my sleeves once again to urge every American to remember Florida and get out and vote" this next election day.

But after the way the election ended the lack of attention this issue has received by the politicians and pundits alike, I can not move on now. Election reform is not a partisan issue. It's an American issue, and the time for all of us to act is now. Mr. President, how can you move on? How can anyone move on after hearing so many angry voices an meeting so many people with such bitterness left in their spirits -- a bitterness not toward one person or one party, but toward the very heart of our democracy, our electoral process itself?

Florida showed me that it is no time to grow weary. Instead, this election showed us that despite all we have done to widen democracy's embrace, we have taken too much for granted. We assumed that everyone had equal and fair access to the polls; that every neighborhood was equipped with machines that could accurately count ballots cast; that every American knew how to exercise their right to vote. We assumed too much.

Over the years organizing marches, countless voter registration campaigns, and advising politicians and political candidates, I never forgot a lesson that Martin Luther King put so well. Voting is more than a badge of citizenship and dignity," he said, it is an effective tool for change."

And as this past November 7th dawned, I was anxious for the change that millions of votes would affect for this nation. But in hindsight, we expected thousands of citizens to run, before they could walk. We sent them into the polls uneducated about the in's and outs of voting their rights at the polling place, and sent people into a system unable to accommodate them. We not only had the butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County. We also had long lines at the polling places from Philadelphia to St. Louis. There were people denied a replacement or provisional ballots, and people with disabilities who were refused the help they needed to cast a vote. That is why I designed -- and the DNC has implemented - my plan for a voting rights institute to help citizen's navigate how to vote, as well as support them in their right to vote.

I believe there is no place in our democracy for chads -- pregnant, dimpled, or hanging. There is no place in our democracy for long lines, broken machines, or untrained poll workers. There is no place in our democracy for police interference. There is no place in our democracy for purging legal voters for the rolls prior to the election and branding them as felons. There is no place in our democracy for badgering a citizen for ID upon ID just to cast a ballot.

So, what are the commonsense election reform measures that we can undertake to put citizens back in control at the voting booth? The National Association of Secretary of States deserves credit for coming up with a list of recommendations to the states and to Congress. Others have their own as well. Taking a little from here and there and adding in a few of my own ideas -- it's kind of how I cook too -- I have 10 goals (not yet 10 commandments) of election reform. They are as follows:

1. States with language minorities (five percent or more of the population) should adopt multi-lingual ballot instructions.

2. States should adopt no-excuse absentee voting to allow working families, as well as American with disabilities, veterans, seniors and students the opportunity to vote.

3. States should ensure that every polling site complies with the standard sets by the American with Disabilities Act.

4. States should allow citizens the right to register to vote on-line and verify their voter registration prior to Election Day.

5. State should train Election Day workers, as well as Election Day administrators and officials on voting technology, as well as ballot instructions.

6. States should adopt statewide uniform polling hours to allow voters more time to get to the voting precinct or polling site.

7. States should ban butterfly" ballots and design new uniform ballots that are easy to read and understand. Sample ballots should be published online and copies should be made available to local newspapers for broad dissemination to the general public. Non-partisan civic associates should go back to the old methods of holding teach-ins or public forums to educate voters prior to Election Day.

8. States should adopt legislation to allow each citizen the right to a provisional ballot" in case their names have been inadvertently removed or selectively purged from the voters rolls.

9. State should restore ex-felons right to vote and urge them to volunteer on Election Day.

10. States should adopt programs to train young people to serve as poll workers by giving them high school community service credit to register other young Americans to vote and volunteer to work on Election Day.

Now more than ever, we need these reforms. Not only because no one wants to see another Florida happen where they live, but also because this year, we are redrawing the political map to make our nation more representative. Some states will lose seats, and some states will gain.

To honor their legacy, to live up to the expectation of the generations of Americans who constantly pushed us to realize America's full promise as a democracy; we must take up this fight. All Americans -- no matter their party -- must join us in repairing the machine of our democracy, and the heart of our nation.