Alcee Hastings: “Mr. Chairman, there are a host of questions that need to be answered by the system of elections in this country, but…”

“Mr. Chairman, there are a host of questions that need to be answered by the system of elections in this country, but there is one thing upon which Congress and I believe most Americans should agree: no single American should be disqualified by virtue of using a defective voting machine. Mr. Chairman, it was not isolated to Florida or any other part of the country. My Secretary of State did a study and, strangely enough, twice as many votes were disqualified in counties that used punchcard systems in Oregon as counties that used optical scanners. Now, a lot of people will say we cannot afford to help the States and counties; we cannot afford a system of good technology for the people of America to record their votes flawlessly. Come on. This is the basis, the foundation, of our franchise, what makes this country work. If we cannot afford to pay for that technology, if we cannot afford to have a better election system, then we are indeed headed toward very dark times. This is a modest amount of money to resolve this problem, and this should be approved by this Congress.”