Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

The AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, represents a long-term effort to monitor the implementation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 and to develop a bipartisan policy agenda for improving the administration of U.S. elections. HAVA provided funding to states to upgrade outdated voting machines and improve voter registration, and the Election Assistance Commission was created as an oversight body to administer the act’s implementation.

AEI president Christopher DeMuth described the purpose of the project: “The best way to preserve democratic institutions and good government is to ensure that elections are executed freely and fairly. As the United States spreads democracy throughout the world, we must do all we can to protect the democratic institution at home.” Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution, added: “Excessive partisanship has had a poisonous effect on political discourse and American governance. I am particularly pleased that we can partner with AEI this year to help ensure that future elections are administered consistent with the very highest standards Americans expect of their democracy.”
 
At the inaugural conference of the Election Reform Project, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) laid out the aims of election reform: “Every name should be registered, every machine should be working, and every single vote should count,” which he claimed were not fulfilled in the last two presidential elections. He emphasized the need to remove politics from the debate and urged that now is the time for election reform.

In the senator’s opinion, reform efforts have been hindered by too narrow a focus on preventing election fraud. While some reformers seek ballot security and ballot integrity by confirming voter identification at polling places, Senator Obama cited a 2002 report that found only negligible incidents of multiple voting or trying to vote under someone else’s name. Furthermore, Senator Obama charged that reforms aimed at protecting ballot security actually keep people away by restricting their access to polling places. He believes Georgia’s photo identification requirement is an impediment to voting for the 150,000 Georgians without photo identification.

The senator pointed out that HAVA has already mandated the installation of statewide voter registration databases, and he argued that linking these databases to other state agencies, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, will sufficiently reduce the potential for voter fraud. In order to implement the database systems, Senator Obama encouraged the federal government to fully fund and enforce the law.

Senator Obama placed great importance on criminalizing disinformation campaigns that suppress voter turnout and on monitoring the drawing of congressional districts. He called efforts by groups to keep voters away from the polls on election day “a crime against our Constitution” and pressed the Justice Department to more vigorously investigate such allegations. Senator Obama charged that “we now have a system where, too often, our representatives are selecting their voters, as opposed to the voters selecting the representatives.” To prevent gerrymandering and to create more competitive congressional districts, the senator proposed that the Supreme Court provide some guidance in setting electoral maps.

For the long term, Senator Obama argued that election machinery should not be taken over by the federal government, but that the government should set “core standards” for free and fair elections.

Reflecting upon Coretta Scott King’s recent funeral, Senator Obama argued that the courage of civil-rights leaders demands free and fair elections: “They faced down billyclubs and firehoses and bombs and bullets, hatred and ignorance—all so their children could grow up in a world where every human being had a chance to participate in their government, where change wouldn’t come from riots or coups or violent revolutions that have brought down their governments, but peacefully, at the ballot box.”