Issue Position: Elections and Voting

Issue Position

Issue Position: Elections and Voting

The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 were two of the closest in America's history. Fewer than 100,000 votes made the difference in each election, further stressing how critical it is that every voter's voice be heard on Election Day. Unfortunately, the 2006 elections indicate that serious problems with America's voting system persist, six years after Florida's vote counting controversy.

There is nothing more fundamental than the right to vote; it is the foundation on which our democracy rests. Senator Wyden has been active in pushing for election reform. During for the 109th Congress, the Senator cosponsored legislation requiring voting machines to give voters the chance to review their ballots on paper before they were cast. The bill would have also required voting machines create a paper trail that could be used to perform a manual audit.

This Congress, Senator Wyden has introduced his own bill, the Vote by Mail Act of 2007, which would create a three-year grant program to help states adopt vote by mail election systems. States that decide to participate in the program would have the option of adopting vote by mail state-wide, within a group of selected counties, or even in a single county. Vote by mail is a simple, reasonably inexpensive solution that can generate hassle-free election days and accurate, fraud-free election results. This would help restore the confidence of the American people in their election system.

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