House Administration Committee Meeting on Election 2004
The House Administration Commitee met yesterday to discuss the state of election reform in the wake of the 2004 election. The AP has this report and the Washington Times this one. Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, one of HAVA's two principal co-sponsors in the House, was reportedly cool to the prospect of any new federal legislation. Members of the Election Assistance Commission also appeared before the committee to discuss best practices.

The committee invited six secretaries of state to appear before it and those from Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico and Iowa showed up. The two others -- Glenda Hood of Florida and Ken Blackwell of Ohio -- were conspicuous no shows. This peeved the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, who called Hood and Blackwell's failure to appear an "affront" to voters. Committee members were particularly distressed at Blackwell's failure to appear, given that he was in D.C. on other business yesterday.

Update: Since Blackwell won't come to the House Administration Commitee, they're apparently planning to come to him. Members say they'll have a special field hearing in Columbus, according to this story in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. A spokesperson for the Secretary of State was coy about whether he'll attend, saying that Blackwell's attendance "will depend on his schedule and the topic matter they want to discuss." - posted by Dan Tokaji @ 11:00 PM