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November 28, 2001
Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views
of
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Established 1970
S TA F F
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Charles H. Washington
E d
i t o r
Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
B i ’ s i n e s s
M
anager
Gary Ann Taylor
A sst . P crusher
M ichael Leighton
C oer
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d it o r
Joy Ramos
C r e a t iv e
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Let Us See Congress’ Votes
Information would build and maintain confidence and accountability in government
USPS 959-680
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ir e c t o r
Paul Neufeldt
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by R alph N ader
Members of Congress are con­
tinuing to play hide-and-seek with
their legislative records. Only two
congressmen - Republican Reps.
Christopher Shays of Connecti­
cut and Frank W olf o f Virginia -
have placed their voting records
on the Internet in a searchable
format easily accessible to citi­
zens. Not a single U.S. senator has
been willing to use the Internet in
a manner that would give voters
an open, accurate and quick way
to track their votes.
Thanks to taxpayers, comput­
ers equipped with Internet access
are available in the offices of ev­
ery one o f the 535 members of the
U.S. Senate and the House of
Representatives. Posting voting
records on their websites in a
searchable citizen-friendly format
would be a simple task.
So, why the reluctance to imple­
ment something that would make
it easy for voters to understand
how their elected representatives
were performing their official du­
ties?
Flowery speeches about the
public’s right to know notwith­
standing, most members of Con­
gress are guided by the age-old
political rule: “W hat the voters
don’t know can’t hurt you on Elec­
tion Day.” If voters could pull up
easy-to-read details on their com­
puter screens about every vote a
senator or a representative makes
during a term, there might be some
surprised voters and a lot o f red­
faced members of Congress in
need of quick explanations.
This past summer, two mem­
bers o f my staff - Noel Dingboom
and Mark W ittink - worked with
congressional interns in a survey
of Senate and House offices to
determ ine attitudes about the
posting o f voting records in a
searchable format on the Internet.
The answers were disappointing
with most members falling back
their own policy positions. Oth­
ers are selective about the issues
and votes they list. And members
o f Congress have a long history
of attempting to discredit as bi­
ased any group that publishes a
voting record that makes their
record look bad.
It is true, as many offices cited,
that the Library o f Congress,
through a service dubbed “Tho­
mas,” carries votes in conjunc­
tion with its Internet tracking of
A Some o f the explanations fo r the failure o f
members to post their own records seemed to
translate into something akin to “the constitu­
ents are too dumb to understand" an unvar­
nished straightforward rendition o f a congres­
sional voting record.
v
on claims that votes were avail­
activity on the floor of the House
able on other Internet sites in­
and Senate. The process o f ex­
cluding those managed by vari­
tracting votes of individual mem­
ous private organizations.
bers from “Thomas” is too cum ­
Some o f the explanations for ' bersome and time-consuming to
the failure of members to post
be practical for most citizens. The
their own records seemed to trans­
same is true for the Congressional
late into something akin to “the
Record printed by the Govern­
constituents are too dumb to un­
ment Printing Office.
d e rsta n d ” an u n v a rn ish e d
Unfortunately, sometimes Con­
straightforward rendition of a con­
gress is able to rig the parliamen­
gressional voting record.
tary procedures so that some items
Reliance on private groups is
can slip through without a vote.
tricky, at best. Most compile vot­
One of these was a $4,900 raise for
ing records in a manner to support
all members that was allowed to
go into effect earlier this month
without a vote.
It is little wonder that frequently
fewer than 40 percent of the eli­
gible voters turn out in biennial
elections to select their senators
and representatives. And millions
o f those who do arrive at the polls
have only the most surface infor­
mation about what their sitting
senator or representative has been
doing in Washington. Incumbent«
like to keep it that way.
Information is the oxygen of
democracy. It is also the basic
ingredient that builds and main­
tains confidence and accountabil­
ity in government. At a minimum,
citizens have a right to know in
detail the positions their repre­
sentatives take on legislation.
Congress should adopt a rule that
would require that all members list
th e ir voting reco rd s on the
Internet in an easily accessed,
searchable format by member
name, bill subject and title.
This would be a giant step for­
ward in efforts to ensure an in­
formed electorate - and a more
accountable Congress. Citizens
should contact their senators and
representatives and ask why this
isn’t being done. They can be
reached through the C apitol
switchboard - 202-224-3121 for
senators; 202-225-3121 for repre­
sentatives.
Ralph Nader is a consumer
advocate and form er presidential
candidate hosed in Washington.
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Act Now on Election Reform
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Vancouver.
Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
The follow ing appeal is re­
printed from the Rainbow Push
Coalition, led by Jesse L Jack-
son Sr., founder and president:
Yes, America is engaged in
military exercises in Afghanistan.
However, taking target practice
«
on the Taliban should not blind
people to America’s unfinished
election reform business.
On Sept. 10, “The New York
Tim es” and the “W ashington
Post” were primed to release evi­
dence that candidate George W.
Bush received fewer votes in the
presidential election o f 2000 than
candidate A1 Gore. In addition, on
Sept. 10, in the corridors o f Con­
gress, meaningful election reform
was under active consideration.
After Sept. 11, the nation’s at­
tention was diverted away from
the people’s choice, to a selected
voice.
It has been a year since the
dastardly disenfranchisement on
Dec. 12, but we have not forgot­
ten.
We shall never forget that the
winner was wiped away, and the
loser was lofted.
The margin of “victory” was
uncounted votes. The issue in
Florida was not so much about a
“butterfly ballot” as it was the
perversion of the process.
The Equal Protection o f Voting
Rights Act of 2001, sponsored by
S enators Dodd (C onn.), and
Daschle (S.D.); and Representa­
tiv e s C o n y e rs (M ic h .), and
Morelia (M. D.) hits the root cause
of last year’s fraud in Florida, Illi­
nois and across the nation - a lack
of federal standards to protect
voting rights.
The major provisions of the
law would set comprehensive
minimal standards for federal elec­
tions.
W ithout a federal mandate,
states will enact lightweight legis­
lation. Meaningful measures re­
quire one set of rules, equally
applied to all states.
If the Equal Protection of Vot­
ing Rights Act of 2001 is not en­
acted this congressional session,
it will probably be lost forever,
and the truth of the stolen election
of 2000 will be further buried.
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