mr. chairman , i thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time . 
i rise in support of the millender-mcdonald amendment and to express concern for the underlying bill . 
i am glad we are considering legislation that would address what should be done in the event of a large-scale incapacitation of congress . 
it obviously makes sense to do that . 
it is more essential than ever in a time of national emergency that democracy be preserved . 
our constitution established the house of representatives to provide directly elected representation in the event of a catastrophe that must be restored as quickly as possible . 
we have heard sort of grand , philosophical statements of our allegiance to democracy on the floor of this house ; but at the same time , we need to be practical about what actually can work in a time of national crisis . 
i think my friends on the other side of the aisle have glossed over the problems that especially military voters , the elderly , others who do not have access on an election day to the polls , the kind of problems that they would face . 
i was secretary of state in the 1980s for 8 years in the state of ohio , a large state with several million registered voters , a state that has always had a tradition of bipartisan elections conducted fairly . 
the year of 2004 may have been different where the election machinery frankly was not so well administered as it had been in the past by secretaries of state of both parties . 
that aside , i have serious concerns as a former secretary of state about the legislation we are considering today . 
forty-nine days establishes an unrealistic time frame for holding legitimate , fair elections where people have access to the polling booth . 
in a national emergency , congress must be able to provide immediate relief , and this legislation would allow the country to elect representation for those 6 or 7 weeks . 
you can not , i believe , hold fair elections , accessible elections , in 49 days . 
the process simply takes longer than that . 
again , military voters , people far away outside the country , in uniform serving our country , elderly voters who do not have access to the polls , the most vulnerable among us , in many ways , that can not simply do that . 
there are alternatives , and i want to answer the concerns of the gentleman from wisconsin ( chairman sensenbrenner ) . 
there are alternatives that would create immediate representation while providing a framework for states to conduct elections . 
i supported legislation last year that , as the gentleman from wisconsin ( chairman sensenbrenner ) said , was defeated , but could be considered in the light of understanding how elections actually work in that there needs to be a time line to get candidates on the ballots , to get the ballots printed , to get them sent to the armed forces around the world , and get those ballots back in time for an election . 
the baird proposal would allow states to appoint temporary replacements for deceased or incapacitated representatives . 
states could then conduct special elections to elect permanent representatives according to state laws . 
i support the millender-mcdonald amendment because appointing the process , if we could do that down the line , and i understand that is not on the table today , but to do them in 45 or 49 days simply is not practical , and too many people will be denied the right to vote . 
we want to do this right . 
we want to refill , if you will , the house of representatives as quickly as possible , but we want to do it in the most democratic way possible , and ultimately that means giving the election machinery time so that everyone , especially our servicemen and -women overseas , so that everyone has access to the ballots . 
i think the underlying bill does not do that . 
i think the millender-mcdonald amendment makes this bill work much better than it does otherwise . 
i ask support for the millender-mcdonald amendment . 
