Election reform deal reached

WASHINGTON -- House and Senate negotiators agreed Friday on legislation to revamp the nation's election system, producing a sweeping measure that sponsors hailed as a historic federal response to the election day flaws exposed by the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

The bill, which must be approved by the full House and Senate, would provide $3.9-billion in federal money over three years to the states to upgrade voting equipment, train poll workers and implement requirements aimed at averting a repetition of Florida's debacle. House-Senate conference committee members, almost giddy over the agreement after a final, marathon negotiating session, said they were confident that congressional leaders will quickly move the measure through both chambers and that more than $1-billion will be appropriated to begin implementing its provision during this fiscal year.

Calling the bill "the first civil rights legislation of the 21st century," Senate Rules Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said it "will help America move beyond the days of hanging chads, butterfly ballots and illegal purges of qualified voters. It will make the central premise of our democracy, that the people are sovereign, ring even more truly in the years to come."

Even if quickly enacted and signed by President Bush, the bill would have no effect on this year's midterm elections, a month from Saturday. But the measure would begin to change the way Americans register to vote and cast their ballots in the 2004 presidential election, and is supposed to be fully implemented by 2006.

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