Chairman of Voting Reform Panel Resigns
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer

9:32 AM PDT, April 22, 2005

WASHINGTON — The first chairman of the federal voting agency created after the 2000 election dispute is resigning, saying the government has not shown enough of a commitment to reform.

DeForest Soaries, a Baptist minister, said Friday that his resignation from the commission created by Congress would take effect next week.

Soaries, 53, cited personal reasons for resigning and said he wants to spend more time with his family in New Jersey -- but he added the decision was prompted in part by a lack of support for the commission from Congress and the federal government.

"All four of us had to work without staff, without offices, without resources. I don't think our sense of personal obligation has been matched by a corresponding sense of commitment to real reform from the federal government," Soaries told The Associated Press.

Soaries is a Republican who was the White House's pick to join the Election Assistance Commission, which was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to help states enact voting reforms.

A former secretary of state of New Jersey, Soaries was confirmed to the commission by the Senate in December 2003 and elected the independent agency's first chairman by his three fellow commissioners. His term as chairman ended in January 2005 and since then he's stayed on as a commission member.

Soaries and the other commissioners complained from the beginning that the commission was underfunded and neglected by the federal lawmakers who created it.

Apr 25, 2005

Gov. Dean Statement on Resignation of Chairman of Voting Reform Panel

Washington, DC - Gov. Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), issued the following statement in response to the resignation of Republican DeForest Soaries, the first Chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, the federal voting agency created after the 2000 election debacle.

"The resignation of Chairman Soaries underscores the need for true electoral reform in our country. The election disaster in 2000 should never have happened. But it did, and the solemn responsibility of our government was to do everything in its power to make sure it never happened again, and to safeguard the right of every single American to cast their vote.

"Every American should be concerned about Chairman Soaries' assertions that the commission was underfunded and neglected, and that its four members had to work without staff, without offices and without resources. More disturbing, perhaps, is the arrogance with which the Republican majorities in the House and Senate have pursued agendas of the far right while ignoring true electoral reform.

"Bill Frist's Nuclear Option and Tom DeLay's gutting of the ethics committee are coming at the expense of our democracy. Republicans should put the same effort into electoral reform as they have into seeking absolute power. To do anything less would be un-American."