The 2000 presidential election sparked nationwide controversy after uncertainty surfaced concerning the ballot count from Florida voters. In response, Congress recently passed a comprehensive election reform bill, according to Steven Mulroy, assistant law professor at the Cecil C. Humphrey’s School of Law.
Mulroy hosted a talk Wednesday at the law school to discuss the 2001 controversy and ways to avoid future election controversies. Although the details have yet to be worked out, the election reform bill could possibly provide billions of dollars in aid to states to help in their election procedural reform. In addition, a federal agency may set up nationwide rules and procedures for voting while providing grant money to states.
While the representatives in Washington are ironing out the details of that bill, the Tennessee legislature has taken steps to insure that Tennessee won’t be in the tight spot Florida was in during the 2000 campaign.
According to Mulroy, a 2001 bill permits Tennessee to recount votes in the case of a tie or in the suspicion of fraud, a technicality in the Florida constitution that may have been the direct result of Gore losing the state in the 2000 election.
Tennessee is also considering reforms to eliminate punch-card voting, which can be confusing to voters, and allocating electoral colleges to districts. Currently, they are elected at large. Tennessee is also considering allowing felons to vote, as well as regulating absentee ballots.
“I’m not sure how much clarity they added to Tennessee state law,” Mulroy said. “But at least they gave it a shot.”
Mulroy has some interesting ideas of his own in regards to election procedure reform. His ideas include a guaranteed provisional ballot, same-day voter registration and mandatory error notification technology. For example, if a voter casting a ballot votes for both candidates, the computer would notify the voter that an error has been made.
Mulroy also supports allocating states’ electoral votes proportionally, as opposed to the winner-take-all system currently in place.
“You have to have the districts as equal as possible,” Mulroy said.
Mulroy suggests looking at alternative electoral systems and mandating free television and radio time for candidates.
