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In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. Among other things, the law authorized $3.9 billion to the states to improve voting facilities and train workers, and provisional ballots for all would-be voter who poll workers do not believe to have shown proper ID.

Interestingly, New York's two senators were the only opponents of the bill in the Senate. They both said the bill's new ID requirements might harm some New Yorkers' ability to cast ballots. Here's the Gotham Gazette's take on this.

Setting aside HAVA's impact on the 2004 election and any associated litigation that might occur, the choice of our next President is important because he will will almost certainly have great influence over the future of electoral reform in the US.

from the Democratic platform: to guarantee the integrity of our elections and to increase voter confidence, we will seek action to ensure that voting systems are accessible, independently auditable, accurate, and secure. We will support the full funding of programs to realize this goal. Finally, it is the priority of the Democratic Party to fulfill the promise of election reform, reauthorize the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and vigorously enforce all our voting rights laws.

from the Republican platform: Unfortunately, in November 2000, too many people believed they were denied the right to vote. Many African Americans, Hispanics, and others fear they may lose the right to vote because of inaccurate or insecure technology or because of a rolling back in the gains made by the passage of civil rights legislation. Our national commitment to a voting process that has integrity was underscored in 2002 when the Congress passed and the President signed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). We will continue to do all we can to ensure that every lawful vote counts for all Americans