Election Reforms Recommended by Commission

The private Commission on Federal Election Reform, a 21-member bipartisan panel led by Jimmy Carter and James Baker, is issuing its recommendations. Recommendations include having elections run by nonpartisan officials. This seem like a rather obvious reform, considering how in 2000 Florida Secretary of State Katerine Harris was c0-chair of Bush’s Florida campaign and in 2004 Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell was co-chair of Bush’s Ohio campaign.

Another needed reform which was recommended was to maintain a paper record of the vote on computerized voting machines. They recommended changing to four regional presidential primaries, after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, to reduce the influence of states with early primaries. The commission has also made recommendations for reforms regarding voter registration with states being responsible for the accuracy of the lists.