Barbara Boxer: “today I join Senator Clinton in introducing the Count Every Vote Act of 2005. The 2000 election exposed a number of…”

“today I join Senator Clinton in introducing the Count Every Vote Act of 2005. The 2000 election exposed a number of serious problems with the accuracy and fairness of election procedures in this country, as well as the reliability of certain types of voting technology. As a result of those irregularities, many eligible voters were effectively disenfranchised and thus deprived of one of our most fundamental rights. In the 2004 election, we again saw serious irregularities when voters across this country went to the polls to cast their votes. From untrustworthy electronic voting machines, to partisan secretaries of state, to outrageously long lines at the polls, the election system was far from what voters are entitled to have. At Kenyon College in Ohio, for example, voters were made to wait in line until nearly 4 a.m. to vote because there were only two machines for 1,300 voters. In the Columbus area alone, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 voters left polling places, out of frustration, without having voted. In Cleveland, thousands of provisional ballots were disqualified after poll workers gave faulty instructions to voters. Because of these irregularities--as well as voting irregularities in many other places--I joined Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio in objecting to the certification of the Ohio electoral votes on January 7, 2005. I did this to cast the light of truth on a flawed system that must be fixed now.”