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1 (September 7, 2001)

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      Order Code RS20898
Updated September 7, 2001


Elections Reform: Overview and Issues

                       Kevin J. Coleman
          Analyst in American National Government
              Government and Finance Division

                        Eric A. Fischer
         Senior Specialist in Science and Technology
         Resources, Science, and Industry Division


Summary


     The remarkable circumstances of the 2000 Presidential election are quite unlikely
 to be repeated, but Florida's role in determining the outcome may be remembered as a
 turning point with respect to the nation's election system. Previously obscure details of
 voting and vote counting have become the focus of public attention, and various state
 and national commissions have issued reports or recommendations on changing the
 voting process. Some states have already made plans to replace voting equipment and
 adopt other improvements before the 2002 election cycle, while others are considering
 similar changes.
     As Congress considers legislation to reform the voting process, a number of issues
 have emerged as part of the debate: the reliability of different types of voting
 technologies; voting problems and irregularities in the 2000 election; problems for
 military and overseas voters; the electoral college; and early media proj ections of election
 results. (For a discussion of campaign finance reform issues, see CRS Issue Brief
 IB87020 and CRS Electronic Briefing Book on Campaign Finance Reform.) This report
 will be updated periodically to reflect new developments.


 Voting Systems

    After election day, the media focused attention on specific problems with punchcard
voting. In the months since then, however, broader questions have arisen about error
rates, costs, counting standards, and other issues, as election officials consider upgrading
current systems (for an in-depth discussion, see CRS Report RL30773, Voting
Technologies in the United States: Overview and Issues for Congress). Elections in the
United States are administered at the state and local level, and the federal government does
not set mandatory standards for voting systems, nor does it provide funding to state and
local jurisdictions for the administration of elections. While initial reactions to problems
raised by the election tended to focus on technological fixes such as eliminating


Congressional Research Service +. The Library of Congress


CRS Report for Congress

              Received through the CRS Web

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