PRINTER'S NO. 89
No. 10 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY WAGNER, CONTI, LAVALLE, GERLACH, TARTAGLIONE,
EARLL, KUKOVICH, COSTA, THOMPSON, WAUGH, GREENLEAF, O'PAKE,
MUSTO, BOSCOLA, SCHWARTZ AND LOGAN, JANUARY 23, 2001
REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, JANUARY 23, 2001
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1 Directing the Joint State Government Commission to create an
2 election task force to promote effective administration and
3 calculation of election results and to evaluate the voting
4 process in this Commonwealth.
5 WHEREAS, National upheaval in Florida has prompted immediate
6 consideration of voting processes throughout the country; and
7 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth's 67 counties use a wide range of
8 voting systems from optical scanners to punch cards to
9 electronic and mechanical voting machines; and
10 WHEREAS, Persons 60 years of age and over comprise 20% of the
11 population of this Commonwealth; and
12 WHEREAS, It is in the best interests of the Commonwealth to
13 provide an easy and effective form of voting for all
14 Pennsylvanians, especially citizens with physical disabilities
15 or impairments; and
16 WHEREAS, The people of this Commonwealth need to know that
17 every vote counts and will be counted; therefore be it
18 RESOLVED (the House of Representatives concurring), That the
1 General Assembly direct the Joint State Government Commission to
2 create an election task force to evaluate the way Pennsylvanians
3 vote, consisting of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and one
4 member appointed by the Majority Leader of the Senate, one
5 member appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate, one
6 member appointed by the Majority Leader of the House of
7 Representatives and one member appointed by the Minority Leader
8 of the House of Representatives; and be it further
9 RESOLVED, That the election task force create an advisory
10 committee composed of representatives from, and designated by,
11 each of the following: six representatives who are county
12 election officials designated by the County Commissioners
13 Association of Pennsylvania, one representative designated by
14 Common Cause, one representative designated by the League of
15 Women Voters, one representative designated by the Republican
16 State Committee and one representative designated by the
17 Democratic State Committee; and be it further
18 RESOLVED, That the election task force suggest changes to
19 promote efficient and accurate calculation of election results,
20 placing a priority on voting systems that are easy to
21 understand, minimize the opportunity for human or mechanical
22 error and produce accurate and reliable results; and be it
23 further
24 RESOLVED, That the election task force provide counties with
25 direction to adopt accurate and user-friendly voting systems;
26 and be it further
27 RESOLVED, That the election task force report its findings
28 and recommendations directly to the General Assembly no later
29 that six months after adoption of this resolution.
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