Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY), a member of the Government Reform Committee and an original requestor of the study, released the following statement about the findings:

"This report is a clarion call for electoral reform. Every person, no matter what racial or ethnic background, no matter what economic circumstance, deserves a fair and equal voice in our democratic elections. This study clearly shows that better voting technology leads to fewer discarded votes overall and a sharp reduction in income and racial disparities in uncounted votes as well. I would be extremely surprised to hear anyone argue against the need for improvements to our voting systems after reading this report."

The report, titled "Income and Racial Disparities in the Undercount in the 2000 Presidential Election," found that in the 20 districts surveyed with high poverty rates and a high minority population, 4% of ballots cast were not counted in the presidential race. In the 20 affluent districts surveyed with a small minority population, only 1.2% of the ballots cast were not counted.

The report also finds that better voting technologies significantly reduce uncounted votes in low-income, high-minority communities, with a 7.7% undercount rate when punch-card machines are used and 2.4 % and 1.1% rates when electronic or precinct-counted optiscan machines are used respectively.

Finally, the report finds that better voting technology significantly narrows the disparity in uncounted votes between low-income, high-minority districts and affluent, low-minority districts. When punch-card machines were used in the 2000 presidential election, the disparity was 5.7 percentage points. When the precinct-counted optiscan machines were used, the disparity dropped to only 0.6 percentage points.

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