And that's what this bill is all about: assuring that each and every voter can have confidence in our elections and that when problems do arise, there can be a determination made about them -- what went wrong and how to correct it so that every vote is counted.

We need to restore the people's confidence in the party to win the year-end elections. We need to be prepared to govern again,

I presumed the president was being truthful until a series of events undercut that confidence.

In previous elections, we've had voting stations overrun by panicky mobs, and there's been a bit more obvious intimidation.

If nothing else, the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 have shown us that merely increasing the turnout of our base Democratic vote is not enough. With three conservative voters for every two liberals, the sheer arithmetic truth is that in a polarized electorate effectively mobilized by both major parties, Democratic candidates must capture upwards of 60 percent of the moderate vote. A candidate that cannot win south of the Mason-Dixon and west of the Mississippi is only destined to repeat the heartbreaking losses of the recent presidential elections.

learn how to avoid problems in future elections.