Civil rights leaders impatient with the pace and scope of election reform legislation in state capitals and in Washington have announced they will begin issuing "report cards" to hold officials accountable. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond announced the campaign Monday (7/9) at the organizations annual convention in New Orleans. "It will help you hold accountability sessions with your governor, legislators and other elected officials to find out what they have done to guarantee every vote is counted in the future," Bond said. "And in the fall, were going to issue a report card on their progress. Well see who gets As and who gets Fs." more

Americans still favor election reform but the passion for it that existed after last year's long-undecided presidential election has subsided, a new survey shows. Conducted in late June to coincide with the launch of the Washington-based Reform Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan group of scholars, politicians and pundits, the poll of 1,000 people found 89.5 percent believed that all states should follow the same rules for registration and voting. It also found 85 percent of those polled strongly agreed that all voting machines should meet the same standards for voting accuracy in national elections. more

Civil and disability rights leaders want the federal government to take a more active role in elections, which would overturn a tradition of state and local control over voting. Testifying at a hearing of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library on May 24, advocates of an expanded federal role in the electoral process evoked the name of LBJ and the landmark Voting Rights Act he shepherded. more

Congress efforts to pass federal election reform have received new life after House and Senate leaders agreed on the framework for legislation. But the newfound momentum could be tempered. Leaders in the voting equipment industry said Congress has already taken so much time that all of the companies working together to produce high-tech machines would be unlikely to meet demand before the next presidential election. more

Florida lawmakers were poised to pass a sweeping election reform bill Friday (5/4) that they say will address nearly all of the voting ills revealed during last years presidential contest in the state. Senate and House negotiators combined a number of pieces of legislation into Senate Bill 1374. Related bills cruised to unanimous approval in committees and lop-sided victories in both houses. Fridays vote comes on the final day of the Sunshine States 60-day legislative session. more