Election Reform

Obama signs order creating election reform commission

By JENNIFER EPSTEIN - 3/28/13

...The order directs the nine-member panel to produce a report for Obama within six months of its first public meeting that will "identify best practices and otherwise make recommendations to promote the efficient administration of elections in order to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without undue delay, and to improve the experience of voters facing other obstacles in casting their ballots, such as members of the military, overseas voters, voters with disabilities, and voters with limited English proficiency."

The presidential commission joins another federal panel tasked with monitoring elections, the Election Assistance Commission, which was created by the Help America Vote Act, Congress's effort to fix some of the voting problems encountered during the 2000 presidential election. Republicans have since let the EAC languish, refusing to appoint members and calling for the panel to be dissolved. ...

"Fix that" quickly became a refrain for election-reform advocates and, before the end of the year, several congressional Democrats had introduced new legislation aimed at examining or improving the election system. More bills came from Democrats after the start of the new Congress in January.

But, as POLITICO reported in January, there's not much that Obama can directly do to fulfill his problem of fixing the election system. Most election laws are determined by states and local jurisdictions, and even where the federal government does have oversight, Republicans are reluctant to do anything on elections at the federal level. Most of Obama's power on the issue comes from his ability to leverage his bully pulpit to encourage state and local governments to act, something he'll try to do with his commission's findings.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2013/03/obama-to-sign-order-creating-election-reform-commission-160422.html

Edited for the 4 paragraph rule. There is a video at the link, also a pdf is downloadable of the order there. Once again, it's up to us to give Obama a Congress to get this done.