Alcee Hastings: “Mr. Chairman, my amendment provides an additional $600 million to the Federal Elections Commission for the purpose of…”

“Mr. Chairman, my amendment provides an additional $600 million to the Federal Elections Commission for the purpose of assisting State and local officials in updating their voting systems. 240 days have passed since last year's embarrassment of an election. Congress should have acted by now. Aside from 1 minute speeches and special orders, press conferences, and hearings, this is the first time election reform has even been discussed in a meaningful way on the floor of the House, or in either of our legislative bodies. The simple fact is the absence of a real debate on election reform is as much of an embarrassment as was the last election. Following last year's election, Florida's failing election system became the punch line of nearly ever political joke around. However, Florida took the criticism, bounced back and passed what I consider up to this point to be the most comprehensive election reform package in the country, albeit still deficient. It is not perfect by any means. Florida's new election law seeks to remedy some of the core problems that occurred last year, particularly in the area of updating voting technology. However, as counties throughout Florida begin to update their voting systems, they are finding themselves unable to fund their needs, and this is true across America. In my home county, Broward, it will cost more than $20 million to purchase the state-of-the-art voting system.”