Black Box Notes

Just wonderful:

• The president's new budget provides only $40 million of the $800 million promised for election improvements at the state level this year.
• The Election Assistance Commission was given only $2 million for its operating expenses this year, not the $10 million it was due.
• Hundreds of millions of dollars have been allocated for making improvements at the state level, but the commission is too short of cash to distribute it. By law, the money cannot be disbursed until the states' plans appear in The Federal Register, and the commission cannot afford the $800,000 publishing cost.

When President Bush signed the Help America Vote Act, he declared that "when problems arise in the administration of elections, we have a responsibility to fix them." Apparently he doesn't take that responsibility very seriously.