Washington, D.C. -  Congressman David Price 
  
Today, US Rep. David Price (NC-04) will introduce two bills aimed at reforming the campaign and election process, the “Stand By Your Internet Ad Act” and the “Count Every Vote Act.” Both bills draw from the lessons learned in 2000 and 2004 elections.

Stand By Your Internet Ad Act, which Price is introducing along with US Rep Mike Castle (R-DE), is the follow-up to the “Stand By Your Ad” initiative that Price wrote into the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform law of 2002. “Stand By Your Ad” – more commonly known as the “I approved this message!” tagline – requires candidates for federal office to take responsibility for their election ads. This new version would apply the current Stand By Your Ad requirements for radio and television ads to Internet audio and video communications, including email; and to pre-recorded telephone calls, or “robo-calls.”

The Count Every Vote Act would provide additional time for conducting recounts in presidential elections. Under current law, states must certify their election results at least six days before the meeting of the Electoral College in mid-December. The Count Every Vote Act is designed to give states as much time as possible -- without delaying a transition of power -- to complete recounts. The bill would move the date for the meeting of state electors from mid-December to January 2nd (or January 3rd, when January 2nd falls on a Sunday).

Developments in the 2004 election inspired Price to introduce new versions of both bills. “Despite recent reforms, loopholes in our current laws continue to exist,” explained Price. “These new bills contain critical changes that will help restore and maintain the faith of our citizens in our democracy.”

The rise in Internet advertising, particularly those video ads transmitted over email and rebroadcast by the television media, prompted Price to revise “Stand By Your Ad.” And the close election results in several states in 2000 and 2004 are an important reminder that extra time may sometimes be needed to certify election results.

Price has a long history of advocating for campaign and election reform. In addition to writing the original Stand By Your Ad bill, he also introduced the Protect American Voters Act in 2003 to correct the problem of voters being mistakenly purged from the voting rolls, as they were in Florida in 2000. In 2003, he and Castle led a bipartisan group of nearly two dozen members of Congress in filing an amicus brief in support of the campaign finance reform law when it came before the US Supreme Court.