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September 2005
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CAMPUS NEWS |
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Former President Jimmy Carter spoke to a crowd of more than 2,400 AU students, faculty, staff, and alumni on September 19 at a town hall meeting in Bender Arena. The 39th U.S. president’s remarks came on the heels of his morning presentation with former Secretary of State James A. Baker III of the final report on the Commission on Federal Election Reform to President Bush, his Cabinet, and the public. Welcomed by a long, enthusiastic standing ovation, Carter, 80, highlighted several of the report’s recommendations, including the need for every election official to be nonpartisan; a uniform voter registration system; a paper trail to build Americans’ confidence that their votes are counted accurately; and an end to voter discrimination. “I come from Georgia and I’ve been embarrassed that my own state passed a law this year that in effect takes away the basic right of people to register and vote, particularly if they are poor or African-American or aged,” said Carter. The law today forces registrants to pay for a photo ID card that they must present in order to vote. Of Georgia’s 159 counties, only 56 locations sell the ID; and Atlanta, its capital and most populated city, is not one of them. The cards cost $20 for a five-year voting right and $35 for 10 years. The commission targets to resolve these types of situations so that registrants do not have to pay to vote and are reassured of the validity of the system, he said. “More than one-third of all people in this great democracy are not confident that their vote will be accurately tabulated,” stated Carter. The commission seeks to build confidence with “an aggressive voter registration process in every state,” said Carter, which would reach unregistered Americans and provide them and all other registrants with a free voter ID card. The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during his presidency (1977-1981) fielded questions from students for nearly an hour on topics ranging from election reform to world politics and human rights. Carter was invited to hold the town hall meeting and a previous April meeting of the 20-member election reform panel at AU by his former national security advisor and longtime colleague, Dr. Robert Pastor, who joined AU in 2002 as vice president of International Affairs and director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management. He teamed up with former President Gerald Ford following the 2000 presidential election to form the first Commission on Federal Election Reform. Their recommendations led to the creation and passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. The 2005 commission was formed to give further attention to yet-resolved issues of inclusion and integrity, to examine the implementation of HAVA, and to propose additional recommendations for improving the electoral process. -Melissa
Reichley and Tara Shlimowitz ’08 |
Jimmy
Carter Addresses Campus Community on Election Reform