Problems with electronic voting machines in this year’s primaries illustrated that changes have been slow, despite the implementation of new standards meant to improve the system, panelists told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
The commission, an independent bipartisan agency, has been examining the voting system since the 2000 presidential election, when the Supreme Court decided the outcome after voting problems in Florida and other states.
Congress passed the federal Help America Vote Act in 2002 and set new standards — such as requiring ID for first-time voters. The law forced states to look at using electronic voting machines instead of punch cards to avoid the problems with ballots that Florida encountered in 2000. But money to make the changes has been slow in getting to states. Forty-one states have received waivers giving them until 2006 to have computerized voter registration lists.
