Election Reform

Ensuring That Every Vote Counts. Steny Hoyer was the principal Democratic House sponsor of the Help America Vote Act, landmark Federal election reform legislation which authorized $3.9 billion in Federal spending over three years to help states update their voting equipment and train poll workers, and required states to abide by minimum voting standards such as providing voters with provisional ballots and an opportunity to check their ballots and correct errors. The Help America Vote Act was signed by the President in 2002 and has been hailed as the most comprehensive voting reform since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Congressman Hoyer is acutely aware of the civil rights dimension of election reform, noting in speeches and statements that minorities and disabled voters were disproportionately disenfranchised in November 2000, and asserting that "election reform was the civil rights issue of the 108th Congress."