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Montpelier –Secretary of State Deb Markowitz today released her proposals for election reform. "With all the recent activity in Florida, it is clear that we need to take steps to protect our democracy and fine-tune areas that need reform" said Secretary Markowitz. Markowitz’s election reform package was presented to the Senate Government Operations and House Local Government committees, and includes proposals to create accountability, discourage voter fraud and streamline the registration and election administration process.

"Right now we cannot know whether individuals are voting in more than one jurisdiction," said Secretary Markowitz. "We must prevent fraud and promote voter confidence in our system by putting in place meaningful penalties and by establishing mechanisms to allow us to identify problems and prosecute when necessary." The Secretary of State also recommends providing more time between the primary and general election, streamlining voter registration processes to address problems with the federal Motor Voter law, and updating provisions of the election law to comply with modern election procedures and to encourage absentee ballot voting.

"We need some common sense checks and balances to help ensure the integrity of the vote" said Secretary Markowitz. "This upcoming year there will be opportunities to make some of these proposals into reality – with a national mandate likely with matching funds to implement improvement in state elections administrations."

Markowitz will be working aggressively with legislative members and the Town Clerks and Treasurer’s Association during the 2001 session to bring her proposals to the full Legislature. For a copy of Secretary Markowitz’s Election Reform Proposal, please visit the Secretary of State’s web site at www.sec.state.vt.us.

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