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American Morning

President Bush to Receive Report on Election Reform

Aired July 31, 2001 - 10:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Six months after taking office, President Bush wades back into the quagmire that engulfed last year's contentious elections. Less than an hour from now, the White House will announce election reforms proposed by two former presidents.

CNN's White House correspondent Major Garrett is joining us with a closer look -- Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Donna.

You know, whenever Washington likes to wade back into any quagmire, it likes to go in with a little bit of protection. Oftentimes that comes in the form of a commission report, the political equivalent, if you will, of hip waders or hip boots. And certainly that's what President Bush is doing today, wading back into that quagmire of the Florida election that took five weeks to decide the fate of the U.S. presidency and a Supreme Court decision to make him the 43rd president of the United States.

There are four general recommendations the commission makes and the president will endorse all four. Among them, recognizing the privacy of state and localities in administering all federal elections, modernizing voting techniques and ballot design, protecting the franchise of military and overseas voters, and lastly, enforcing existing federal voting rights and civil rights laws.

Now, there are also some other more contentious recommendations in the commission's report but that don't necessarily have a presidential OK on quite yet. Among them are that all news organizations, broadcast or cable news outlets, should refrain from projecting any statewide presidential result while there is any poll open in the contiguous 48 states. The commission also says if the networks don't agree to do that voluntarily, maybe legislation should be sought to enforce that.

Also, increase federal support for state and local governments to purchase new vote counting equipment and also consider, underscore the word consider, restoring voting rights of convicted felons once jail time and parole or probation are completed.

There's also another recommendation to make the presidential election day a national holiday. On that point, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer says the president finds that suggestion compelling. There is a suggestion in the report that Veterans Day become the national election day. Ari Fleischer says the president wants to make sure he consults with all veterans groups before endorsing that and no formal endorsement of that idea as a concept. Again, though, the president says it's compelling -- Donna.

KELLEY: We don't think you'll have that day off, either, Major Garrett, at the White House.

GARRETT: I certainly hope not.

KELLEY: All right.

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