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Election Reformers Anticipate Poll Problems

(CNSNews.com) - Advocates of election reform are anticipating a "messy" Election Day fraught with voting machine malfunctions and voter disenfranchisement in at least 10 states that have new machines and new policies governing how voting works. "The ingredients are there for problems in some parts of the country," Doug Chapin, director of the Election Reform Information Project (ERIP) said in a release Tuesday. He said because of "new procedures [and] new voting systems ... the potential is there for a messy Nov. 7." In a report released Tuesday, ERIP lists 10 "states to watch" for election problems - Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington. ERIP says the Help America Vote Act of 2002 has caused the election process to change "more in 2006 than in any year since" 2000. The group predicts the changes will lead to "more of what voters have come to expect since the 2000 election - a divided body politic, an election system in flux and the possibility - if not certainty - of problems at polls nationwide." Brian Darling, director of Senate relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation, called the concerns "fear-mongering" that was "laying the groundwork for potential post-election challenges." "Right around election time these left-wing groups come out and talk about all the problems with voting in an effort to scare people into believing their vote doesn't count," Darling said. He said it was "very important that Americans have confidence that when they go and vote, their vote's going to be counted" and that American elections were safe and fair. Dan Seligson, editor of ERIP's website, said the report "isn't saying that there's chaos around the corner, don't show up and don't vote. What the report is saying is that the combination of new machines, new procedures and critically important races in a number of states will inevitably lead to some problems somewhere." Seligson conceded that there was some fear-mongering going on in some states but that ERIP, which he said was non-partisan and non-advocacy, is "pointing out what's going on around the country." Voting machines The primary problem addressed in the report is new electronic voting machines, which ERIP says "troubled poll workers from coast to coast" in the 2006 primaries. In addition to technical issues - machines freezing or unexpectedly shutting down - the report questions the security of electronic voting machines, saying they "could be compromised by loading a malicious program that can be spread from machine to machine." Problems in states with recurrent voting problems like Florida have led some to call for "paper trail" voting, which would provide voters with a printed receipt of their votes to ensure accurate counts, the report says. ERIP calls the idea "one of the solutions to questions about electronic voting machine security." But while 28 states either require paper trail voting or use machines that provide receipts, 22 states and the District of Columbia do not require paper receipts. Darling agreed that "there should be a paper trail" but added that "just because you don't get a paper ballot doesn't mean that your vote's not being recorded." He said the implementation of electronic voting machines was intended "to make sure that every vote is counted. These are improvements in technology to help people to vote." In Maryland's primaries, polls in some counties didn't open on time because of human error in operating electronic voting machines. As a result, Gov. Robert Ehrlich, a Republican, encouraged Marylanders to submit absentee ballots to avoid problems in the general election. ERIP wondered whether Maryland officials were "prepared to handle increased turnout for the general election." Darling said the problem was with people, not machines. He said problems that arose during the primaries were the result of poll workers who hadn't been trained well on using the machines. "It's not a problem with an effort to disenfranchise," he said, "it's a problem with people learning this new technology." Voter Identification and Verification Twenty-three states will require voters to show identification in the 2006 election, up from 11 in 2000. The report notes that voter identification requirements, especially in border states like Arizona, have "raised fears among advocates for minority voters and others that it will make registration and voting more difficult for eligible citizens." It also questions Indiana's voter roll purges, during which 320,000 residents were listed as inactive voters and 120,000 were removed from voter registration lists because they had died or registered multiple times. The report raises concerns that the voter purges may have wrongly removed some voters who will show up to vote and not be eligible. Seligson said the biggest problem is adapting to new requirements set forth in the Help America Vote Act. "We're definitely going through a period of change and really just a lot of new advances in the voting process, a lot of new rules and so forth, and I think that's where the problems are," Seligson told Cybercast News Service. He predicted that "with each successive election, things will get better." Darling said the bigger problem with elections since the controversy of the 2000 presidential election was an "era of election by litigation." Concerns about election practices raised right before elections laid the groundwork for legal challenges and ushered in "this era of when a candidate loses an election, he blames the machines and goes to court," Darling said. "That's not a good tradition to have in this country." Make media inquiries or request an interview with Nathan Burchfiel. Subscribe to the free CNSNews.com daily E-brief. E-mail a comment or news tip to Nathan Burchfiel. Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.

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Election Reformers Anticipate Poll Problems

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