Civil Rights Advocates Address Voting Technology Issues
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 3/10/2004
Determined not to experience a repeat of the 2000 presidential election, states and counties nationwide are installing new voting machine technology to prepare for the upcoming November elections.Spurred by the enactment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), many jurisdictions are replacing older systems such as punch cards and lever machines with computerized "direct recording electronic" (DRE) systems. DRE systems, many voting rights advocates say, are far more accurate in recording and counting votes, and provide greater accessibility than traditional paper-based systems.
Many questions, however, have been raised about the security of the new systems. A study last summer by computer security experts at John Hopkins University found major security flaws in one popular machine's source code, which could be exploited in an attempt to rig election results. Suspicions also have been raised about ties between electronic voting system companies and political candidates. In one example, Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold, Inc. -- a leading manufacturer of touch-screen voting equipment -- told prospective Republican donors that he was "committed" to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to George W. Bush in the 2004 election.
Critics of electronic voting have argued that such machines should be equipped with backup paper ballots, also known as "voter verified paper trail" systems, as a safeguard against rigging of voting machines. Many civil rights organizations, however, have voiced concerns with such proposals, given the long history of problems with paper ballots and the need under HAVA to make voting systems more accessible.
As part of an effort to address these competing concerns and to ensure that votes are cast and counted properly by the newer systems, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) issued a policy statement outlining three important principles to guide upgrades to voting systems: 1) the need for non-discriminatory systems, 2) "second-chance" voting and voter verification capability, and 3) compliance with national certification standards. The policy statement points out, however, that such issues are extremely technical and must be addressed, as required by HAVA, by the newly-formed Election Assistance Commission and another agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
LCCR also added that concerns over voting technology are only one of several issues that must be addressed before the 2004 election. For example, voters are in grave danger of being disenfranchised, as many were in 2000, by erroneous or unlawful purging of voter registration lists. Voters also may be deterred from exercising their right to vote because of poor poll worker training or insufficient voter education, LCCR added.
