Information about the vote from special interest groups and other information providers in our Report Cards:
American Civil Liberties Union
H.R. 3295 - Ineffective Election Reform.
The House rejected an effort to return to committee, election reform legislation that does little to address the serious problems in our voting system. The legislation, introduced by Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), allows any state to opt-out of federal standards. As result, this legislation would be ineffective in addressing the disparities in voting equipment, as well as the serious problems facing language minorities and persons with disabilities. The ACLU opposed the Ney-Hoyer legislation and supported this motion to return the bill to committee.Public Citizen Congress Watch
Election Reform: Motion to Recommit the Help America Vote Act of 2001.
This was a vote to send the election reform bill (H.R. 3295) sponsored by Reps. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) back to committee with instructions to add amendments creating strong national voting standards for voting machines; providing accessibility to polls and voting systems by the disabled, vision-impaired and those with limited English proficiency; and a strong federal enforcement mechanism.
Defeated.NAACP
H.R. 3295 / Election Reform / Rule Preventing Amendments.
Passage of the rule that governed floor debate on H.R. 3295, the Help America Vote Act. The proposed rule limited debate and prohibited consideration of the NAACP-supported civil rights amendments package. The rule passed.AFL-CIO
ELECTION REFORM—H.R. 3295.
Several election reform efforts followed the controversial 2000 presidential elections, in which far too many Americanswere denied the right to have their votes count, voting machines failed to properly record and count ballots and poorly designed and confusing ballots negated votes. One such bill was H.R. 3295, which addressed some of the issues, but did not contain strong civil rights provisions to protect the right of every citizen in every state to vote.
A motion was made to send the bill back to the committee level to add an omnibus civil rights amendment that would have ensured that states use voting machines that inform voters whether they have voted for too many or too few candidates and are accessible to individuals with disabilities and those who speak languages other than English. It also would have ensured that registered voters whose names do not appear on voter registration lists are allowed to cast provisional ballots. The motion failed.
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Election Reform/Protect Voters’ Rights, Improve Access to Polls.
The House election reform bill, sponsored by Reps. Ney (R-OH) and Hoyer (D-MD), included a major rollback of the “Motor-Voter” law and fell short in other areas. The National Voter Registration Act (often called “Motor-Voter”) ensures that registered voters are not removed from the rolls simply because they have not voted recently. States must have a reason to believe that a voter is no longer eligible before initiating the “purging” process— and even in this case, there is a fail-safe mechanism to correct errors at the polls.
The Ney-Hoyer bill turns this protection on its head, permitting states to purge anyone who misses two successive federal elections and does not respond to a notice. This provision would result in the purging of many eligible and properly registered voters. Before the House voted on the bill, Rep. Menendez (D-NJ) introduced a motion to recommit, which would have sent the bill back to committee with instructions to include language that would have removed the harmful voter protection rollback, improved accessibility for disabled voters, and made other important improvements. The House rejected the motion to recommit.
National Hispanic Leadership
Motion to Recommit with Instructions, H.R. 3295, Help America Vote Act of 2001.
Offered by Representative Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and sponsored by Representative Robert Ney (R-OH). The bill was intended to fix the election system. However, it
did not go far enough to ensure that Latino voters have the right to cast a vote without facing discrimination, according to group members. The motion to recommit would have allowed an amendment by Representative Menendez (D-NJ) to include a package of civil rights provisions that would have addressed key weaknesses of H.R. 3295, while ensuring that the rights of all voting Americans are equally protected.
Motion failed.Americans for Tax Reform
Election Reform.
The House rejected a motion designed to federalize election law in the 50 states, stripping away many protections against voter fraud used in the states.