New Report Finds Election Problems Still Unresolved
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 10/16/2006
Several states still have not addressed serious election problems and, in some cases, have erected complex election rules and requirements that could potentially complicate the upcoming midterm elections in three weeks.The Century Foundation, Common Cause, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights released a report on October 12, which is a follow-up to a 2004 report that examined voting problems in the 2004 general election.
The new report explores whether ten key states - Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wyoming - have taken the necessary steps to address widespread election problems that were revealed in the 2004 report.
Its analysis of areas that include poll worker training, maintaining registration databases, voting machine distribution and provisional ballot distribution found "disturbing" results that could have drastic implications for the upcoming mid-term elections.
"While some states have made progress in certain areas, most states have a long way to go in order to make sure their elections will be fair and accurate," said Tova Wang, democracy fellow at The Century Foundation and the report's main author.
Many of the states' election systems still suffer from partisanship, voter suppression and confusion, and vague and decentralized standards for voting machine distribution.
However, Wang said that despite some good developments, some states have implemented changes that will actually make voting "more difficult" and likely "disenfranchise eligible voters."
The report authors are most troubled by the new voter identification laws - enacted in half of the studied states. These laws require photo IDs - and in some cases, proof of citizenship - in order to vote, IDs that often cost money to obtain.
"Under these new laws, many voters - including older and minority voters - just don't have the extra money to pay to vote. And that's what these proposals amount to, essentially making voters pay to vote; a 21st century poll tax," said LCCR President Wade Henderson.
While courts have blocked these laws in Arizona, Missouri, and Georgia, the report argues that the sheer number of states that have enacted these bills represent a trend that could have real dangerous implications for U.S. elections. A similar law remains in Ohio and Henderson also pointed to the September 20 House passage of a similar federal bill, sponsored by Rep. Henry Hyde, R. IL.
The recommendations in the report include: replacement of the ID requirements with the ones consistent with the Help America Vote Act of 2002; removal of harsh restrictions on third party voter registration drives; establishment of fair standards for challenges; prohibition of election administrators from participating in partisan political campaigns; and efforts by state and local governments to prosecute deceptive practices and to implement emergency procedures to immediately correct the any misinformation that is disseminated to the voting public.
"The report shows that, in many ways, the guaranteed right to vote remains illusory - we giveth with one hand and we take away with the other," said LCCR's Henderson.
