The 2000 election put all of us on warning: Flaws in our elections open the door to partisan manipulation of election results, disenfranchisement of large portions of the population and uncertain results—all of which undermine faith in our democracy.

Last year, the U.S. Senate Rules Committee held a hearing on the Arizona PIRG-backed Ballot Integrity Act of 2007. The bill contains several key provisions that protect voters and their votes, clarify the rules, and establish even-handed procedures to ensure elections are administered fairly.

Among the items that the Ballot Integrity Act would provide: equitable distribution of voting machines, standards for using and counting provisional ballots, standards for purging voters from the rolls, and funding for Election Day poll workers.

On average, each Arizona traveler in the Phoenix and Tucson areas wasted over 40 hours of additional time on the roads and over 25 gal-lons of additional gas as a result of traffic congestion in 2005 according to the federally sponsored Urban Mobility Report. The findings underscore the need for additional public transit in the state.

According to Diane E. Brown, Executive Director for Arizona PIRG, “Population has increased, households have more cars, and drivers travel farther each year. Traffic congestion will not slow down until those trends change. Arizona decision makers need to focus transit policy on increasing public transportation, particularly through rail and bus service.”

After several airlines stranded passengers on runways without food, water or access to bath-rooms for hours on end in the past year, the affected passengers did not just get mad—they got organized. The Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights now includes 17,000 members of the flying public.

Arizona PIRG has joined the coali-tion and has encouraged members of the Arizona Congressional delegation to support Arizona PIRG-backed legislation to establish an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights. So far, bills have been introduced into Congress, but the airline industry is pushing to make sure they do not come up for a vote. The law would, in addition to many reforms, require airlines to notify passengers within 10 minutes of any known diversion, delay or cancellation.