A new value, rD=1.9546+0.0021 fm, for the rms radius of the deuteron has been extracted by reanalyzing the experimental data for the ratio R (q ) of the deuteron to proton electric form factors and for the slope of the neutron electric form factor GE"(q') at q'=0. The short-range structures in the radia1 deuteron wave functions found for a certain class of potentials (e.g. , Kermode et al. and potential models presented here) cause an increase in the model values of the deuteron charge form factor CE{q ), but have no special features in the variation of Cz(q ) with q . A new method for calculating CE(q ) accurately is presented.PACS number(s): 21.30. +y, 13.75.Cs, 21.45.+v, 21.10.Ft