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May 9, 2006 Norton Urges Early Voting in D.C. in Time for 2006 Elections

May 9, 2006
Norton Urges Early Voting in D.C. in Time for 2006 Elections
May 9, 2006

Washington, DC--Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who introduced a bill for early voting in the House a year ago, called on the D.C. City Council today to pass a local early voting bill, building on a bill now pending in the Council. In February 2005, the Council began consideration of an “early voting” bill to create a new permanent absentee voter category. Norton said the Council deserves credit for this important step toward implementing early voting for District voters. However, she asked that the pending bill be expanded to give the District comprehensive early voting, already available in 23 states, in time to become effective this year for the primary and general elections. Norton said that May is Voter Registration Month in the District, “a good month to begin to get this done,” and that the bill would have to be passed soon to allow time for the Board of Elections to prepare.

“I am urging passage by the Council now because there is no indication that the Republican majority will move my early voting bill to the floor. Many jurisdictions have taken note of the several advantages in efficiency and convenience both to the government and to the public. Early voting is surely the best and most accessible way to increase poor participation in this most basic of democratic processes. My bill, which grew out of the long lines I witnessed at the polls here in D.C. and in other parts of the country, is not simply a good government bill. I saw early voting succeed when I campaigned for the Democratic presidential ticket in 2004.”

Studies show that in the 11 states that had early voting during the last two elections, turnout in 2002 and 2004 showed an aggregate 7.2% increase compared with a 6.2% increase in other states. Now, 23 states offer in-person early voting: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia. “D.C., which is struggling for full voting rights, should join these states this year,” Norton said.

The Congresswoman said that early voting gives working people, single parents with children and many others options necessary in today’s busy world and would be easily achievable for little cost in the District. “No one can doubt that long lines discourage voting,” she said. “In the District, where we are denied the rights other Americans enjoy, we want to be sure that our citizens have maximum access. The 2000 presidential elections taught the painful lesson that every vote indeed does count. Early voting is a way to do something besides crying in our proverbial soup over past elections.”

Norton’s pending House bill also contains two other sections based on issues taken from the 2000 and 2004 November elections. Section 3 would allow voters registered anywhere in a state or the District to cast a provisional ballot anywhere and have it counted if verified after voters are informed of the correct polling place and given the option to go there. Section 2, which responds to calls to Norton’s office in 2004, requires that absentee ballots which may have had insufficient postage be accepted, considering the “minimal cost and considering what the 2000 and 2004 close elections taught us about the value of each and every vote.”