President Obama created a special commission Thursday designed to find ways to make voting easier. The bipartisan commission will report to the president later this year with proposals on how state and local officials can “shorten lines and promote the efficient conduct of elections,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “That report is intended to serve as a best practices guide for state and local election officials to improve voter’s experience at the polls under their existing election laws,” Earnest said. Obama authorized the commission by signing an executive order Thursday. The order said members will examine such challenges as processing overseas and military ballots, and voters who have disabilities or “limited English proficiency.”
Other possible topics: Polling station placements, poll worker training, voting machine technology, and ballot simplicity.
The commission’s report is due six months from its first meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.
The commission will be chaired by attorneys who worked in last year’s presidential campaign: Bob Bauer, general counsel for Obama, and Ben Ginsberg, national counsel for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Obama pledged to create the commission in this year’s State of the Union Address, saying he wants “to improve the voting experience” in the United States.
“When any American — no matter where they live or what their party — are denied that right because they can’t wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals,” Obama said.
The commission’s report is due six months from its first meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.
Full Article: Obama creates bipartisan election commission.