WASHINGTON -- April 18 -- Common Cause President Chellie Pingree testified Monday before the Commission on Federal Election Reform, a nonpartisan, bipartisan panel co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker III examining the state of the U.S. electoral process.

"Voting is the one tangible link that most Americans have with their government," Pingree said, urging the panel to recommend and to work for reforms for improving our flawed voting system. "They may never speak to an elected representative or visit the U.S. Capitol. Yet in November, they evoke a solemn agreement between the people and their government. It is crucial that the singular act of voting be worthy of people's trust."

Pingree noted that Common Cause played a major role in monitoring the 2004 presidential election, co-sponsoring a hotline that took in more than 210,000 calls nationwide from voters who wanted to make a comment, find their polling place or be connected to their local elections office. In addition, the organization did on-the-ground monitoring in several states. Combined, the efforts resulted in the collection of an unprecedented amount of nonpartisan voter data.

"The presidential election did not go smoothly," Pingree said. "Voters waited in line for hours, were confronted by malfunctioning voting equipment, faced arbitrary ID requirements, and found they had been inexplicably deleted from the voter rolls. More than 50,000 voters requested absentee ballots that were never delivered. These hurdles are just as large impediments to voting as hanging chads, and must be addressed."

Common Cause urges reforms that include: easing barriers to voting, an administration designed to serve voters' needs, transparency, while honoring voters' privacy, ensuring security and accuracy of the vote through a voter verifiable paper ballot, nonpartisan supervision of elections and ending corporate vendors' major role in administering elections and better education of voters and better training and recruitment of poll workers.

Pingree's testimony before the commission, which was organized and hosted by American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management in Washington DC, marked the first of several hearings scheduled as the panel develops recommendations for improving the electoral process. The next hearing is to be held June 30 in Houston, Texas.

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