I am President of the Center for Voting and Democracy, a national non-partisan, non-profit organization founded in 1992 that studies elections -- local, state, federal, and international -- and advocates reforms to promote increased participation with strong and fair representation. I served in Congress for two decades and ran for president in 1980, appearing on the ballot of all 50 states as an independent candidate.

We have been far too careless with our right to vote. 1) Our election administrators have come to accept as normal a two percent failure rate in the casting and counting of votes -- which amounts to some two million votes not counting in each of the last three presidential elections. 2) We limit access to the polls through such devices as shortened polling hours. 3) Our voter registration system is a failure in most states, both because so many citizens fail to register because of inaccuracies and redundancy. 4) We have been far too casual in disenfranchising people due to past felony convictions -- not only creating inequalities, but influencing future lack of participation by children of those disenfranchised. 5) Most of our laws governing legislative redistricting are as outmoded and primitive as we know our laws governing election administration to be.

The Center for Voting and Democracy has two areas of particular concern: 1) ensuring the accuracy of voter intentions by requiring that winners have majority support from those they represent and 2) providing full representation to voters. Strong arguments for these reforms can be made by supporters of the current two-party system, but I support them because of a strong belief in multi-party democracy. New parties offer voters better choices and bring important perspectives to political debate. They provide a check on any drift of major parties away from substantial numbers of people. To give the major parties the same kind of competition we believe so important in our free market economy, we must eliminate the many barriers that thwart efforts to build new parties.

We should require winners of unitary offices -- such as president, governor and U.S. Senator -- to have majority support. Failing to do so allows distortions of popular will and keeps minor candidates in the role of "spoiler." Instant runoff voting generates a majority winner in a single round of voting and has been tested for decades in major elections. States could adopt it for all federal and state races or Congress could enact it for all federal races except for president. It is a particularly sensible alternative to runoff elections, which can be an expensive headache for election administrators.

To address the pervasive lack of competition and to provide full representation of our diversity through constitutional means, we should adopt full representation systems such as the cumulative voting method that Illinois leaders such as former Governor Jim Edgar and former Congressman Abner Mikva recommend be restored for electing that state's House of Representatives. There are powerful arguments for these systems as a means to ease the growing regional polarization apparent in our politics, to generate more competition and to provide fuller representation of our diversity through constitutional means. Although fully proportional systems are used in most established democracies, we at least should allow states to consider multi-seat district, candidate-based systems for congressional elections that would have the primary effect of broadening representation within the major parties.

Summary of statutory proposals:

� Voting equipment: States should use modern voting equipment, paid for primarily by the federal government, that minimizes voter error and provides maximum access for all citizens, including people with disabilities, senior citizens and people whose primary language is not English. Newly-purchased equipment should accommodate all ballot types currently used for elections in the United States, included ranked-choice ballots.

� Minimum standards for election administration: The federal government should set minimum standards for voting equipment and various areas of administration and voter education. The federal government should provide funding to assist states in meeting these standards. States should extend their polling hours to at least 8 pm.

� Voter registration: We should take steps either to register far more Americans in a reliable manner or enact same-day voter registration.

� Reenfranchisment: States should restore voting rights to ex-felons. Congress should debate banning this form of disenfranchisement in federal elections.

� Redistricting: As with election administration, the federal government should set minimum standards for how redistricting must be done. States should move toward criteria-driven methods that remove partisan politics from consideration.

� Fair access: Independents and third parties should not be denied fair access to electoral politics. There should be reasonable thresholds of support necessary to gain access to the ballot and to candidate debates. The Federal Elections Commission should have representatives of political independents and minor parties as well as the major parties. Anti-fusion laws should be repealed, either by states or by Congress.

� Campaign finance reform: I personally support public financing, based on the clean elections model in place for state elections in such states as Maine and Arizona.

� Majority rule: Congress should require that winners of federal unitary offices have the support of an absolute majority of voters through instant runoff voting. States should adopt instant runoff voting for presidential elections in their state and for other significant elections for unitary state offices; it is particularly appropriate as an alternative to traditional runoff elections At a minimum, new voting equipment should have the capacity to conduct a ranked-choice election.

� Full representation: Congress should repeal the 1967 law requiring single-member district elections for the House of Representatives. States should consider systems of full representation in multi-seat districts for congressional and state legislative elections, particularly when seeking to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

� Ongoing evaluation: Congress should establish a review process to evaluate the full range of federal and proposed federal laws affecting participation and representation.

For More Information, contact: The Center for Voting and Democracy at (301) 270-4616