Senate approves election reform bill by 99-1 vote

Jet, April 29, 2002

In a last-minute effort to improve conditions before the fall election, the U.S. Senate passed an equal protection voting bill by a 99-1 margin.

Ever since the state of Florida two years ago created chaos in trying to recount votes, eventually involving the U.S. Supreme Court in the election of President George W. Bush, Capitol Hill lawmakers have struggled to enact corrective procedures.

The House passed the first legislation. Led by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT), backers of the bill finally won the marathon battle in the upper body.

Now a House-Senate conference committee will attempt to mediate the final version of the bill.

The one-sided Senate win to improve voting equipment was hailed by civil rights leaders.

"My number-one priority has been to enact reforms that make sure that every vote cast in this nation is properly counted. Today's passage of this bill is an important step toward achieving that goal," Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) told the press.

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, whose organization conducted a national drive to clean up the voting irregularities, said, "This bill will go a long way toward avoiding the kind of voting fiasco we witnessed in Florida."