(reposted, without permission, from the Houston Chronicle on September 19th, 2005)

Photo IDs and paper trails for electronic voting recommended

By DAN BALZ
Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Warning that public confidence in the nation's election system is flagging, a commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III will call today for significant changes in how Americans vote, including photo IDs for all voters, verifiable paper trails for electronic voting machines and impartial administration of elections.

The report concludes that, despite changes required under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, far more must be done to restore integrity to an election system that suffers from sloppy management, treats voters differently from state to state and within states and too often frustrates rather than encourages voters' efforts to participate in what is considered a basic American right.

The 2002 federal legislation grew out of the disputed election of 2000 and is not yet fully implemented. But the Carter-Baker commission said that, even with some important changes in place, the 2004 election was marred by many of the same errors seen in 2000.

"Had the margin of victory for the (2004) presidential contest been narrower, the lengthy dispute that followed the 2000 election could have been repeated," the report states.

Are Laws for Sale?
Ballot initiate no longer grass roots

by Jean McMillan, Associated Press

Boston -When lawmakers established the ballot initiative process 82 years ago, it was meant to be a way for ordinary citizens to get laws passed through grass roots movements.

But critics say the process is being warped - to the point where the deep-pocketed corporations are buying new laws. Financial filings turned in this week show corporations have spent wads of cash, in one case more than $4. Per each to collect petition signatures to get proposed laws on the November ballot.

Corporations with large special interests are really transforming the citizen initiative petition process into another marketplace where they can attempt to buy a law as if it were another consumer item,” said George Pillsbury, director of the non-profit Massachusetts Money and Politics Project.

There are no laws prohibiting businesses or other groups from using paid signature gatherers. But there’s no guarantee the groups that spend the most will be successful. A minimum of 57,100 certified signatures of registered voters are required for a referendum question to be considered.

Fidelity Investments paid $146,000, or $2.13 each, to have 68,478 signatures gathered in its quest to create a state tax deduction for people who give money to charity, according to analysis by Pillsbury’s group.

The Committee for Forfeiture Reform, backed by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, spent an average of $4.21 per certified signature to people who stand outside grocery stores and in shopping malls rounding up signers.

The signature gathering burden was meant to ensure the measures had broad-based support.

Instead, Pillsbury claims, the ballot questions aimed at getting the Legislature are often confusing to voters, who may be swayed one way or another by high-priced marketing campaigns.

“Laws are for sale when the public doesn’t know what they are voting on,” Pillsbury said.