In Support of Accurate, Open, Transparent Elections in the United States of America
The following resolution was adopted by the DNC Resolutions Committee at its meeting on February 1, 2007, in conjunction with the meetings of the Democratic National Committee, February 1-3, 2007.
Submitted by:
Donna Brazile, At-Large/DC
Mike Honda, DNC Vice Chair/California
Susan Turnbull, DNC Vice Chair/Maryland
Steven K. Alaria, California
Donna Branch-Gilby, Vice Chair, Arizona
Kalyn Free, Oklahoma
Renee’ Gill Pratt, Louisiana
Ben Jeffers, At-Large/Louisiana
Ben Johnson, At-Large/DC
Terry Lierman, Chair, Maryland
Betty McElderry, Oklahoma
James Metcalfe, Chair, Alaska
Christine Pelosi, California
John A. Perez, California
James Roosevelt, Jr., At-Large/Massachusetts
Resolution in Support of Accurate, Open, Transparent Elections in the United States of America
WHEREAS, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is committed to meaningful and comprehensive election reform that will guarantee every eligible American, whether through birth or naturalization – regardless of race, ethnicity, geography, disability, language, political party, gender, sexual orientation, age, economic status, or education - the constitutional right to equal participation in the political process; and
WHEREAS, over the past three federal election cycles, eligible Americans have been unnecessarily disenfranchised by electronic voting machines that are not tamper-proof, great disparities in access to the vote, restrictive voter identification, untrained election workers, partisan manipulations by Secretaries of State, poor ballot design, inconsistent distribution of voting equipment, the failure to count valid provisional ballots, undue restrictions on citizens attempt to register new voters, voter intimidation, unfair purging of registration rolls, and other tactics to discourage Americans from participating in the electoral process; and
WHEREAS, at a time when America’s military forces are aggressively pursuing the establishment and protection of new democracies across the world, Americans at home are at risk of being disenfranchised by administrative deficiencies; and
WHEREAS, by preventing eligible voters from exercising the right to do so, thereby undermining the public’s confidence in election results, the American electoral system is in a state of crisis nationwide and, unless reformed, the very foundations of our own democracy could crumble; and
WHEREAS, on November 7, 2006, in Florida’s 13th Congressional District 18,000 votes cast on touchscreen voting machines in Sarasota County disappeared in a race decided by only 369 votes, and (given her margin of victory in Sarasota County) presumably cost Democratic congressional candidate Christine Jennings the race, while once again taking the election out of the hands of voters, leaving it up to Florida state officials and the judicial branch of government to decide whether the software company must disclose the computer software codes that would enable Jennings to introduce evidence supporting the necessity of a recount; and
WHEREAS, research staff at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in a December 1, 2006 report to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) concluded that electronic voting machines without independent audit capability cannot be made secure; and
WHEREAS, the NIST report supports the findings of the DNC in its comprehensive investigative study and analysis of key election practices and issues surrounding the 2004 Presidential election in Ohio, which concluded that touchscreen voting machines should not be used until reliable voter verified paper ballot features can be uniformly incorporated into these systems; and
WHEREAS, only 35 states use paper-ballot-based voting systems statewide (of which only 27 states have mandatory regulations requiring paper-ballot-based voting), and the independent auditability of the vote count must be equally assured and protected in all states to assure equal protection of laws; and
WHEREAS, the DNC continues to urge all lawmakers to prevent conflicts of interest in election administration, and to renew the electorate’s confidence in voting systems, by adopting regulations that mandate transparent election administration, requiring voting equipment vendors to disclose their source codes so that the software equipment can be examined by third parties, and further requiring that all voting machines used in local, state and federal elections (including, but not limited to touchscreen voting machines) must be independently verifiable and certified as accurate and tamper-proof; and
WHEREAS, the DNC continues to recommend that in order to detect potential voting machine error, lawmakers should adopt audit protocols for use with verified paper ballot systems, whereby a randomly selected and statistically significant number of precincts are required to manually count 100% of their ballots on election night; and in those cases where the manual count does not match the electronic count, the manual count of the ballots would be the official tally; and
WHEREAS, in order to ensure accurate manual audits and recounts of mail-in (sometimes called “absentee” or “early”) ballots, the DNC urges legislation requiring such mail-in ballots be sorted by precinct prior to any further processing, manual or electronic; and
WHEREAS, the DNC continues to recommend that lawmakers adopt election procedures that require a manual county-wide recount before the vote is certified in those circumstances where manual vote tabulation detects a strong possibility of election equipment tampering or either machine or human error; and
WHEREAS, the DNC continues to urge lawmakers to adopt regulations and procedures which ensure that all eligible voters are able to cast their votes without impediment, regardless of physical or language limitation and, specifically, that ballots and voting equipment are easy to understand and use; and
WHEREAS, the DNC will work with Governors, Secretaries of State and lawmakers at every level of government to fight the adoption of state or federal discriminatory voter I.D. legislation which acts as a 21st century poll tax, effectively disenfranchising countless poor, minority, elderly and student voters; and
WHEREAS, the DNC continues to recommend that statewide voter registration lists mandated under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 be carefully monitored to ensure that they include all voters who are duly registered in the jurisdiction, and the DNC further recommends the strongest possible protections against wrongful voter purges; and
WHEREAS, the DNC will continue to work with its state parties and local affiliates to encourage citizens to participate in the conduct of and to monitor elections and call attention to any acts of voter intimidation, voter suppression, election fraud or other deceptive practices aimed at preventing eligible voters from casting ballots; and
WHEREAS, the DNC will continue to work to ensure that no citizen’s right to vote and to have that vote counted will be abridged and, toward that end, will put in place programs to protect the ballot in the upcoming 2007 state and local elections, as well as the 2008 elections;
WHEREAS, legislation to be introduced by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) includes mechanisms to prevent electronic disenfranchisement and restore voter confidence. This legislation would require that all voting systems used for federal elections produce or require the use of a durable voter verified paper ballot to serve as the vote of record in all audits and recounts by 2008 and mandate random hand count audits to serve as an independent check on machine totals; and
WHEREAS, the proposed legislation would force the public disclosure of voting systems source code, software, firmware, and ballot programming files and prohibit partisan and corporate conflicts of interest in the testing and certification of voting systems; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Holt’s legislation would require that voters be provided the opportunity to vote on an emergency paper ballot in the case of voting machine malfunction, prohibit the presence of wireless communications devices in voting systems, ban all internet connectivity and prohibit the unsecured storage of voting machines prior to elections;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the DNC calls on the 110th Congress to hold timely hearings and to enact federal legislation which protects voters from unlawful purges, and which reinforces the entitlement of voters to cast provisional ballots in federal elections and to have them counted in an equitable and inclusive manner, with a presumption in favor of validity and a clear mandate that provisional ballots shall be counted in the most generous possible manner in every state; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC calls on the 110th Congress to hold timely hearings and to enact federal legislation for implementation prior to the 2008 general election, that provides adequate funds for states to effectively and equally administer the election, including the equitable distribution of voting equipment and supplies to all polling places, and that mandates brief and reasonably equivalent wait times for all voters in sheltered areas, regardless of where they live, their race or socioeconomic status; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC calls on the 110th Congress to hold timely hearings and to enact federal legislation for implementation prior to the 2008 general election, that: makes voter suppression and intimidation, including the use of deceptive practices, explicitly a criminal offense; establishes procedures to ensure that ballots timely cast by eligible U.S. voters living overseas (including military personnel) will be counted; allows college students greater access to the polls; and prohibits Secretaries of State and other election officials from engaging in partisan conduct during federal elections; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC, along with state and local parties, will continue to fight for vigorous enforcement of the Voting Rights Act as amended in 2006, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act and urge state and local Democratic leaders to monitor the implementation of HAVA across the country in 2007 and beyond; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC supports the core concepts of the proposed Holt legislation and other legislative proposals that would require durable paper ballots, mandatory random hand count audits and enhanced security measures. Therefore the DNC calls on the 110th Congress to enact legislation incorporating and implementing these critical requirements, prior to the 2008 primaries and general election; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC will work with state officials and lawmakers in states that have not repealed permanent voting bans, so as to restore voting rights to ex-offenders who have completed their sentences but still cannot vote, and to ensure that, in all states, ex-offenders who are eligible to vote are not unlawfully purged from state voter lists; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC calls on the 110th Congress and Mr. Holt to consider requiring all mail-in ballots be sorted by precinct prior to any electronic or manual tabulation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC will continue to work with Members of Congress as well as state and local officials and lawmakers, to enact legislation that will ensure responsible redistricting laws and regulations;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the DNC will continue its resolve to work with Members of Congress, Governors and lawmakers in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. Territories, local election officials, and community leaders to update and reform our election laws to ensure that voter confidence in our election system is restored and maintained.
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