The bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration today issued a report with a series of recommendations designed to help elections officials “improve all voters’ experience in casting their ballots.” On the topic of long lines, the commission concluded that no citizen should have to wait in line for more than 30 minutes to vote, and it featured several solutions including strong Early Voting plans. Here’s a list of the key recommendations that are actually the minimum steps needed to modernize the election process:
• Expand online voter registration to enhance both accuracy of the voter rolls and efficiency;
• Have all states update and exchange their voter registration lists to create the most accurate lists possible to increase registration rates, reduce costs, and protect against fraud.
• Expand voting before Election Day through mail-in balloting or in-person early voting;
• Increase the use of schools as polling places, since they are the best equipped, most secure facilities;
• Recognize and address the impending crisis in out-dated voting machines and software;
• Improve the ability of military and overseas voters to access ballots and other voting materials through the states’ websites;
• Increase the use of electronic pollbooks for greater accuracy and efficiency;
• Assure that polling places are accessible to all voters, are located close to where voters live, and are designed to function smoothly;
• Increase and enhance training and recruitment of poll workers, recognizing that poll workers are voters’ primary contact during the actual voting process;
• Have jurisdictions form advisory groups to address the needs of voters with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency; and
• Collect election data on a uniform basis to enable enhanced analysis to improve the voter experience.
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