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electionline Weekly - April 20, 2006
electionline.org

I. In Focus This Week

Editor's note: With the electronic ink still drying on her New Orleans municipal election preview this week, electionline.org's senior writer Mindy Moretti will depart for New Orleans today where she will observe Saturday's vote. Look for her eyewitness coverage in next week's electionline Weekly. Also, an Election Administration Preview, offering at-a-glance information about the primary, is available here.

New Orleanians prepare to head to the polls
Helping voters find precincts is primary challenge

By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline.org

Beginning at 6 a.m. on Saturday, thousands of New Orleanians will head to the polls for their first post-Katrina election where they will choose a mayor, city council and sheriff. Like so much else in the Big Easy, the location where many voters will cast ballots on Saturday is likely to look a lot different than it did the last time they voted.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish's almost 300,000 voters made their selections in 275 different polling places. On Saturday, there will be 76 polling sites open including two "super sites" - at the University of New Orleans and at the parish's Voting Machine Warehouse - that will each host up to 50 different precincts.

Although it's not known just how many people might vote - 10,585 ballots have already been cast via early voting and 17,000 absentee ballots have been requested - it is predicted that nearly 80 percent of registered voters will cast their ballots in new locations. And that has meant a massive voter education effort for elections officials and has led to concerns among voting rights advocates that some voters might fall through the cracks and miss their chance to cast a ballot despite the outreach.

"We have engaged in an enormous voter educational campaign consisting of both print media and electronic media informing all displaced citizens of their voting rights," said Angie LaPlace, commissioner of elections for Louisiana.

The Louisiana Elections Division has created a poll locator on its Web site. The Voter Locator Database allows registered voters to enter their address or other personal information to find out where they should vote on Saturday. In addition to the poll locator, state officials created a toll-free number for voter information, published advertisements in newspapers both inside and outside Louisiana and placed 114 billboards throughout the city with the toll-free number and Web site information on them.

The state has contracted with Washington D.C.-based IFES to assist in the distribution of polling place information throughout the city. In addition, they have placed signs at all old polling locations informing the public of the new polling site and the toll-free number.

"I don't know what more could be done to direct voters to the new polling places," said Tracie L. Washington, director of the NAACP's Gulf Coast Advocacy Center. "I am a little concerned that some folks may get to the old polling places late, and won't be able to vote at the new sites because they will have passed the 8 p.m. deadline to get in line."

LaPlace said the state has provided local officials with voting rolls for all old polling locations that have been split and requested that they post a person to further assist any voter who appears at the old polling location and needs to know where to go to vote. The state is also providing maps between the new split locations to assist a voter to the correct new polling location should they appear at the wrong site.

In addition to the two super sites, the locations for the new polling places range from firehouses to schools to churches to community centers to even private buildings. Although the state has assured voting rights advocates that they would do whatever is necessary to make the new polling places accessible, including bringing ramps in if necessary, Washington still has concerns.

"What disturbs me more, however, is the issue of accessibility and that the state does everything it is required to do under the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] and HAVA [Help America Vote Act] to insure individuals with visual and/or mobility impairments have equal access to the polls," Washington said. "Many of the polling places had structural barriers that would make it difficult, if not impossible for individuals in wheelchairs to access the polls. The secretary of state's counsel has assured me the state will bring in ramps for all the polling places with these problems. We'll just have to wait and see whether he holds up his end of the deal."

Washington, who is working with a network of non-partisan organizations called the Louisiana Voting Rights Network and with Unity '06, said the groups are trying to anticipate every conceivable problem so they can have volunteers on the ground ready to help. State officials said they too were prepared to have hundreds of people on the ground on Saturday to help out.

"We have approximately 250 paid employees working this election," LaPlace said. "We normally have about 25. We have some volunteer groups assisting on Election Day as 'floaters' to assist the voters in finding their precinct inside our mega polling centers."

LaPlace said 100 of the 250 staff will assist the voters as "greeters" at the mega polling centers with computer databases of the Orleans registered voters to direct the voters to their proper precinct location.

Despite the changes in polling places, one thing that will be familiar to voters on Saturday is the type of voting system they cast their ballots on. Orleans Parish has been using Sequoia's AVC Advantage voting machines since 1994. The machines are not equipped with a voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPAT). Although many machines were damaged and some destroyed by the hurricane, FEMA paid $733,000 to help replace and repair machines damaged by the hurricane.

II. Election Reform News This Week

• Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury (D) announced Thursday he will sue Nebraska-based vendor Election Systems and Software (ES&S) for breach of contract for failing to deliver $1 million worth of AutoMark touch-screen voting systems, KTVZ.com reported. According to a press release from the state, ES&S officials in January indicated the company would not deliver the machines unless the terms of the contract were changed. "I'm disappointed in ES&S," Bradbury said. "They agreed to provide us with voting machines, they didn't follow through on that agreement, and that failure directly punishes people with disabilities." Click here for the lawsuit.

• ES&S' troubles were not limited to Oregon. In Indiana, company officials apologized for software problems that have some in the state considering taking action against the company as well, WTHR.com reported. Saying sorry might not be enough, however. "The secretary of state's office is taking the matter under review to see if they want to file what is called a notice of violation of Indiana election law. Secretary of State Todd Rokita says he is considering levying fines against ES&S of Omaha for delays and inaccuracies in their voting systems," the article stated.

• Also in the state, Indiana's new photo-ID requirement for voters withstood a legal challenge by Democrats and others who said the rules would burden and potentially disenfranchise some voters, The Indianapolis Star reported. "Despite apocalyptic assertions of wholesale voter disenfranchisement, plaintiffs have produced not a single piece of evidence of any identifiable registered voter who would be prevented from voting," U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker wrote in her ruling. Democrats earlier this week said they would appeal, The Journal Gazette reported.

• Leon County, Fla. has come full circle on Diebold voting machines, announcing this week a deal to buy the company's touch-screen systems to meet Help America Vote Act accessibility requirements, The Associated Press reported in a story published on Gainesville.com. Last year, the voting machine giant cancelled a contract with the county after it said Election Supervisor Ion Sancho "misused" machines by holding tests to see if they could be corrupted.

• An Allegheny County, Pa. judge announced he will hold a hearing next Tuesday on whether new voting machines can be used in the upcoming May 16 primary, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. "The lawsuit, filed on behalf of seven voters and the group People for the American Way, seeks to have the county barred from buying and using the new machines until steps can be taken to safeguard voter rights," the article stated.