Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 18:05:42 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <200104142205.SAA19343@mattababy.mit.edu>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: senator@kennedy.senate.gov
Subject: support the Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act

Dear Senator Kennedy

I hope that you'll support S. 565, the Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act.
The title of this bill recalls two important milestones in United States law:
the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, and the Voting Rights Act.
Both of these measures were intended to prevent states and localities from
actively discriminating against classes of people.  Unfortunately, though, as
we've seen in this past election in Florida, the Fourteenth Amendment and the
Voting Rights Act help little when the significance of an individual's vote is
determined by the level of sophistication of the technology used to record that
vote.  S. 565 would establish standards for federal elections and provide
funding to states to improve voter technology.