Help America Vote Act
Federal Election Reforms Since 2000
Even before the 2000 presidential election had been resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in December of that year, more than a dozen bills to reform the election process had been introduced in the Congress. Legislative activity continued when the 107th Congress convened the following month, along with the release of various independent reports and studies on election reform. In December 2001, the House passed H.R. 3295, the Help America Vote Act. The Senate passed S. 565, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act, in early 2002, after adopting 40 amendments. Following conference negotiations, the compromise bill,…