Election reform plan not a total solution
Former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker have put their names and reputations behind a new report designed to improve America's confidence in our system of elections.
And while there are some useful ideas in the "Report of the Commission on Federal Election Reform," it falls short in several important confidence-building areas and offers several ideas that raise serious civil liberties concerns.
The report focuses on making it easier to vote but fails to address underlying causes of voter apathy such as campaign spending abuse.
There are nearly 90 recommendations in the report. A few highlights include:
Other smart proposals include mandating a paper trail in electronic voting machines — a plan under development in Hawai'i — and creating a rotating system of four regional presidential primaries.
There is much to like here and several dangers.
The ACLU, for instance, has said it has serious concerns about the voter ID system, which would inevitably tend to disenfranchise the poor and minorities. We can't afford to let that happen.
The report noted that procedural safeguards could be built into the ID system. Perhaps. But a more open system in which the burden is on the state, not solely on the individual, to prove voting eligibility seems a fairer and more inclusive process.
The ACLU is also concerned about the national database of voter rolls, arguing convincingly that this could raise serious privacy concerns.
Largely missing from this report — and perhaps this was not part of its mandate — are nonlogistical reforms that could lead to greater voter confidence and participation. These include cleaning up the murky system of campaign financing and toughening conflict-of-interest laws.
Restoring public confidence and voter participation will take more than improving technology. It will take pervasive campaign ethics reforms — and achieving that goal will be far more challenging.
