ELECTORAL JUSTICE
ELECTORAL JUSTICE
Reform Needed Now
In a courageous effort to draw attention to the vital need for election reform, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) and 31 other house members to protest the certification of Ohio's electoral votes. The move forced both chambers of Congress to debate problems with election procedures for two hours. There was a lot to talk about. Egregiously long lines, faulty electronic voting machines and partisan election officials plagued the election in Ohio and around the nation. Republicans and Democrats need to recognize these problems and work together to solve them so every vote is counted and Americans can have full confidence in the system – no matter what the outcome.
PROBLEM – LONG LINES: Long lines effectively disenfranchised thousands of voters. In Columbus, Ohio, for example, some people waited 10 hours to vote. As a result, "up to 15,000 frustrated would-be voters left without casting ballots." Many others were forced to miss work. Election officials in Franklin County -- where Columbus is located -- decided to make do with fewer than 3,000 voting machines even though their analysis showed they needed at least 5,000. Long lines were also reported in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo and on college campuses. Across the board, the delays were concentrated "in poor and minority neighborhoods."
PROBLEM – UNRELIABLE ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES: There is much work to be done to ensure accurate and verifiable results from electronic voting machines. For example, voting machines in Ohio's Mahoning County initially recorded negative-twenty-five million votes. In Mercer County, OH, voting machines recorded thousands of ballots that did not include a vote for president. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) will reintroduce bi-partisan legislation "requiring that voters be able to verify their ballots' accuracy by seeing paper versions before they are cast, and requiring backup paper records to be kept on file." Manufactures should also submit their source code to an independent audit, which is already required for slot machines.
PROBLEM – PARTISAN ELECTION OFFICIALS: It's simple: state officials overseeing federal elections shouldn't also be campaign officials for any of the candidates. But in Ohio, as Secretary of State Ken Blackwell oversaw the 2004 election at the same time he served as co-chairman of the Bush/Cheney '04 campaign in Ohio. After the election he sent out a letter – on what appeared to be official Ohio Secretary of State letterhead – stating, "As Co-Chairman of the Bush/Cheney '04 in Ohio, I want to say thank you for helping deliver the great Buckeye State for George W. Bush. Without your enthusiasm, generous support and vote, I'm afraid the President would have lost..And an unapologetic liberal Democrat named John Kerry would have won. Thankfully, you and I stopped that disaster from happening." Blackwell, not surprisingly, has refused to investigate allegations of irregularities, as required by Ohio law. In response to Blackwell's blatant partisanship, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) plans to introduce a bill – called the Federal Election Integrity Act of 2005 -- which would "prohibit Secretaries of State and other election officials...from participating in the political campaign...of a candidate running for federal office."
PROBLEM – ENTRENCHED CONSERVATIVES MAKE REFORM A PARTISAN ISSUE: Everyone who cares about democracy should be concerned with the accuracy of the voting process. But entrenched conservatives don't see it that way. White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the concern about widespread voting irregularities "engaging in conspiracy theories for partisan political reasons." House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) accused those discussing the issue of "quadrennial[y] crying wolf."
Reform Needed Now
In a courageous effort to draw attention to the vital need for election reform, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) and 31 other house members to protest the certification of Ohio's electoral votes. The move forced both chambers of Congress to debate problems with election procedures for two hours. There was a lot to talk about. Egregiously long lines, faulty electronic voting machines and partisan election officials plagued the election in Ohio and around the nation. Republicans and Democrats need to recognize these problems and work together to solve them so every vote is counted and Americans can have full confidence in the system – no matter what the outcome.
PROBLEM – LONG LINES: Long lines effectively disenfranchised thousands of voters. In Columbus, Ohio, for example, some people waited 10 hours to vote. As a result, "up to 15,000 frustrated would-be voters left without casting ballots." Many others were forced to miss work. Election officials in Franklin County -- where Columbus is located -- decided to make do with fewer than 3,000 voting machines even though their analysis showed they needed at least 5,000. Long lines were also reported in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo and on college campuses. Across the board, the delays were concentrated "in poor and minority neighborhoods."
PROBLEM – UNRELIABLE ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES: There is much work to be done to ensure accurate and verifiable results from electronic voting machines. For example, voting machines in Ohio's Mahoning County initially recorded negative-twenty-five million votes. In Mercer County, OH, voting machines recorded thousands of ballots that did not include a vote for president. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) will reintroduce bi-partisan legislation "requiring that voters be able to verify their ballots' accuracy by seeing paper versions before they are cast, and requiring backup paper records to be kept on file." Manufactures should also submit their source code to an independent audit, which is already required for slot machines.
PROBLEM – PARTISAN ELECTION OFFICIALS: It's simple: state officials overseeing federal elections shouldn't also be campaign officials for any of the candidates. But in Ohio, as Secretary of State Ken Blackwell oversaw the 2004 election at the same time he served as co-chairman of the Bush/Cheney '04 campaign in Ohio. After the election he sent out a letter – on what appeared to be official Ohio Secretary of State letterhead – stating, "As Co-Chairman of the Bush/Cheney '04 in Ohio, I want to say thank you for helping deliver the great Buckeye State for George W. Bush. Without your enthusiasm, generous support and vote, I'm afraid the President would have lost..And an unapologetic liberal Democrat named John Kerry would have won. Thankfully, you and I stopped that disaster from happening." Blackwell, not surprisingly, has refused to investigate allegations of irregularities, as required by Ohio law. In response to Blackwell's blatant partisanship, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) plans to introduce a bill – called the Federal Election Integrity Act of 2005 -- which would "prohibit Secretaries of State and other election officials...from participating in the political campaign...of a candidate running for federal office."
PROBLEM – ENTRENCHED CONSERVATIVES MAKE REFORM A PARTISAN ISSUE: Everyone who cares about democracy should be concerned with the accuracy of the voting process. But entrenched conservatives don't see it that way. White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the concern about widespread voting irregularities "engaging in conspiracy theories for partisan political reasons." House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) accused those discussing the issue of "quadrennial[y] crying wolf."
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 10:19 AM
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