Donna Brazile Advocates Ohio Recount

• Originally published by FDCH Political Transcripts December 11, 2004 .
• Copyright 2004 FDCHeMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  

Democratic Response to the President's Weekly Radio Address December 11, 2004
Speaker: Donna Brazille 

BRAZILE: Good morning. I'm Donna Brazile, chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute.

Our nation was founded on the principle of one man, one vote. Unfortunately, that was literally the case over 200 years ago, as only white, male landowners were originally given the right to vote.

Over the years, we, as a nation, corrected our mistakes, granting the right to vote to women, African-Americans and eventually all citizens over 18.

America's story is one of expanding opportunity and suffrage. And one of our fundamental principles is that every eligible citizen is entitled to cast his or her vote and to have that vote counted.

The Democratic Party stands firmly behind that principle. And that is why the DNC and the Voting Rights Institute have supported a number of efforts since the November election.

We joined the Kerry-Edwards campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party in monitoring the recent recount in Ohio.

We also sent more than $.25 million to Washington state to help finance a full, statewide recount in the governor's race, where only 42 votes now separate the two candidates.

And this week, the DNC announced that we will conduct a thorough investigation into various election administration issues that arose in the state of Ohio during the 2004 election. We are launching this comprehensive investigative study not to contest the results of the 2004 election but to help ensure that every eligible vote cast is truly counted.

This study will address the legitimate questions and concerns that have been raised in Ohio about provisional ballots, long lines at polling places, and questions about voting machines. Our goal is to understand and report back on what happened and why.

In the next few weeks, we will be assembling a team of recognized experts in their relevant fields to conduct this study. This team will be supported by state and national staff members who were involved in Ohio. And we expect this study to take several months and hope to publish a final report in the spring of 2005.

We owe it to the students of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, who waited up to 10 hours to vote. We owe it to thousands of Ohio citizens who wonder whether their votes were counted with the use of new electronic voting machines. And we owe it to countless other Americans.

This is something that is very important to me. I spent my entire life urging ordinary citizens to get involved in politics and to try to make a difference. There's nothing more important to me than ensuring the right of all citizens to participate in the political process.

And I am proud that the Democratic Party stands on the principle that, regardless of who wins, every vote should be counted and every voter is entitled to have a voting experience free of hassles and intimidation, irrespective of where they live.

When Congress reconvenes next January, I hope Democrats and Republicans will work together to fully fund the Help America Vote Act, which was created to upgrade our voting systems and to ensure every voter has equal access to the ballot box.

There's no place in our democracy for fault voting equipment, long lines at the polls, untrained poll workers and any forms of chads.

It's time we erased the vast disparities between poor and affluent communities with respect to reliable voting systems.

As a nation, we should not rest until our elections are free from the problems of elections past and until all Americans can cast their ballots on Election Day fully confident that their votes have been counted.

This is Donna Brazile, chair of the Voting Rights Institute. Thank you for listening. And may God bless America.