Political Quotes

“I know there are many concerns about voting. We cannot solve all of them in this bill. I think we have reached a workable position where we will provide assistance to States and localities to improve their voting system. If a State wants to change its voting machine, or if it wants to add a new kind of machine to check punchcards, it can do that. If the system does not work in Chicago, or if it does not work in Illinois, there is money in this bill to allow them to change it. If it works in Missouri, why should we be told we have to spend money on a whole raft of new supplementary equipment or new machines? There is $3.5 billion in this bill. We hoped when we put this money in that it would provide enough money for at least every polling place to have a machine which was accessible to the visually impaired. We want to make sure this money goes to provide equipment that serves special needs people. That is one of the strengths of this bill. I see no reason why we ought to tell States what kinds of general machines or systems they use. If it works, do it. If it does not work, fix it. St. Louis County, which I represent, is one of the largest voting jurisdictions in the country with 650,000 registered voters. St. Louis County uses punchcards. Its error rate in the November 2000 election was 0.3 percent, the lowest in the country for large jurisdictions. St. Louis County is a microcosm on the United States, across the demographic and socioeconomic scale.”