Herb Kohl: “today I am introducing the Weekend Voting Act of 2001. This legislation will change the day for congressional and…”

“today I am introducing the Weekend Voting Act of 2001. This legislation will change the day for congressional and presidential elections from the first Tuesday in November to the first weekend in November. This legislation is virtually identical to legislation that I first proposed in 1997 in the 105th Congress. Earlier this week, the National Commission on Federal Election Reform presented its recommendations to the President on how to improve the administration of elections in our country. These recommendations, coming on the heels of the contested Presidential election of last year, lay out some strong ideas for how we can strengthen our election system at a time when Congress may very well take action in this area. As a cosponsor of election reform legislation, I am hopeful that we can pass real election reform this year. One of the recommendations the National Commission made to the President is that we move Election Day to a national holiday, in particular Veterans Day. As might have been expected, this proposal has not been well received by veterans groups who rightly consider this a diminishment of their service and the day that historically has been designated to honor that service. While I agree with the Commission's goal of moving election day to a non-working day, I believe we can achieve all the benefits of holiday voting without offending our veterans by moving our elections to the weekend.”