WASHINGTON – Warning that public confidence in the nation’s election system is flagging, a commission headed by former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James Baker will call today for significant changes in how Americans vote, including photo IDs for all voters, verifiable paper trails for electronic voting machines and impartial administration of elections.
The report concludes that, despite changes required under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, far more must be done to restore integrity to an election system that suffers from sloppy management, treats voters differently from state to state and within states, and that too often frustrates rather than encourages voters’ efforts to participate in what is considered a basic American right.
Commission leaders say the goal of the panel’s 87 recommendations – at an estimated cost of $1.35 billion – is to make participation easier while also enhancing ballot integrity, a careful balancing of the longstanding argument between Democrats and Republicans in the administration of elections.
The most controversial recommendation calls for all voters to produce a standard photo identification card before being allowed to vote. The commission proposes that, by 2010, voters be required to use either the REAL ID card, which Congress this spring mandated as the drivers license of the future in all states. For roughly 12 percent of eligible voters who do not have a drivers license, the commission says states should provide at no cost an identification card that contains the same key information.
Some minivans don’t protect neck
Head restraints in some minivans inadequately protect people against neck injuries in rear-end crashes, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Sunday. Earning poor overall ratings were seven models subjected to a simulated crash: versions of the 2004-06 model years of the Dodge Grand Caravan and its corporate twin, the Chrysler Town &Country; a version of the 2005-06 Toyota Sienna; and four General Motors Corp. minivans from the 2005-06 model years – the Chevrolet Uplander, Buick Terraza, Pontiac Montana SV6 and Saturn Relay. The 2004-06 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey received the highest rating, or good.
Illinois: Derailed train was speeding
A commuter train was going almost 60 mph above the speed limit just before it derailed in Chicago, killing two people and injuring dozens, the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday. Mark Rosenker said the Metra train was traveling at 69 mph and should not have been going faster than 10 mph when it switched tracks at a crossover just before jumping the tracks Saturday.
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