ELECTIONS: DEAL WITH GROSS VIOLATIONS FIRST

In the weeks of legal battles that followed last year's elections, there was a tide of sentiment to reform -- everything, it seems is ripe for reform -- the American election process. The presidential election and its court-mandated outcome in Florida prompted calls for changes in how we elect presidents. And a raft of election irregularities across the nation, including a mess in St. Louis, spurred state and local election officials to look for improvements.

Now a federal commission, headed by former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, has issued a report recommending some obviously needed changes, particularly those aimed at better voting equipment and better and more uniform rules for election judges.

But some of the commission's recommendations are questionable. And those same ideas are being touted by Missouri's secretary of state, Matt Blunt, who earlier had made similar proposals.

Among the most puzzling of the recommendations is the one to make Election Day a national holiday. Proponents of the idea claim this would encourage more voters to go to the polls and would end long, last-minute lines that jam the process late in the day and frustrate election officials.

But the history of national holidays is spotted. While there are a few major holidays that are widely observed -- Fourth of July and Thanksgiving come to mind -- many other holidays are simply a vacation day for American workers. How seriously, for example, do we mark the occasion of Labor Day? Or Flag Day?

Traditionally, polling places are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. That is ample time for anyone who wants to vote, even those who hold jobs. There are few employers who won't give workers an hour off to go vote. And, considering recent turnout numbers, the lines aren't that long early in the morning or late in the day.

Another idea from the commission would restore voting rights to felons who have paid their debts to society. While this idea sounds fairly reasonable, it raises questions about what other rights might be restored to ex-convicts. Is voting more special, for example, than the right to hold jobs that aren't available to reformed criminals? What about military service?

Yet another commission recommendation encourages curbs on the projections of election winners by the news media. While it certainly is frustrating for some voters on the West Coast to see a victor declared before polls have even closed, this is no time to invite censorship.

A better idea might be to declare Election Day a partial holiday for three or four hours in the middle of the day that would allow all voters to cast ballots at the same time: for example, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the East Coast and 8 a.m. to noon on the West Coast. That way, polls everywhere would open and close at the same time.

Let's get on with cleaning up the blatant violations of election laws that are already on the books. If we can manage that, then we might be in good shape to tinker with election holidays and felons at polling places.