In 2001, President Gerald Ford co-chaired the National Commission on Federal Election Reform with President Jimmy Carter. The Commission looked at the voting systems in place in the United States and recommended election reform designed to improve America’s electoral system. The Commission’s suggestions were largely adopted in the Help America Vote Act, a landmark piece of election reform legislation signed by President George W. Bush in 2002.

The National Commission on Federal Election Reform (2001)

Read the Commission's Final Report (Adobe Acrobat)

Honorary Co-Chairs:

President Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States, 1974-1977

President Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, 1977-1981

Co-Chairs:

Robert H. Michel, Member, U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois, 1956-1994

Lloyd N. Cutler, White House Counsel, 1977-1981, 1994, Partner, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering

Vice Chairs:

Slade Gorton, U.S. Senator from Washington, 1981-1987, 1989-2001 (Of Counsel, Preston Gates & Ellis; Commissioner, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States)

Kathleen Sullivan, Dean and Professor of Law, Stanford Law School

Commissioners:

Griffin B. Bell, U.S. Attorney General, 1977–1979 (Senior Partner and Counsel, King and Spalding)

Rudy Boschwitz, U.S. Senator from Minnesota, 1978-1991 (U.S. Ambassador, United Nations Commission on Human Rights)

John C. Danforth, U.S. Senator from Missouri, 1976-1994 (U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations)

Christopher F. Edley, Jr., Associate Director for Economics and Government at the Office of Management and Budget (1993-1995), Special Counsel to the President (1995); (Dean and Professor at Law, University of California at Berkeley; Member of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights)

Hanna Holborn Gray, President Emeritus, University of Chicago; Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of History, University of Chicago

Colleen C. McAndrews, Partner, Bell, McAndrews, Hiltachk & Davidian

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York, 1977-2000

Leon Panetta, White House Chief of Staff, 1994-1997; Founder and Director, Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, California State University

Deval L. Patrick, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, The Coca-Cola Company (Governor-elect of Massachusetts, 2006)

Diane Ravitch, Assistant Secretary of Education (1991-1993); Historian of American Education and Research Professor of Education, New York University

Bill Richardson, Secretary of the Department of Energy, 1998-2001; U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 1997-1998 (Governor of New Mexico, 2003-present)

John Seigenthaler, Editor, Publisher, CEO, and Chairman Emeritus, The Tennesean; Founder of First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University

Michael Steele, Chairman, Maryland Republican Party (Lieutenant Governor of Maryland 2003-present)

Commission Director:

Philip D. Zelikow, Director of the Miller Center, 1998-2005