http://www.electionline.org/
electionline Weekly - October 19, 2006
Editor's Note: electionline.org will release its eagerly-anticipated annual report, "Election Preview 2006: What's Changed, What Hasn't and Why" on Tuesday, October 24 at 12:01 a.m. The report provides a last-minute update of key election reform issues around the country, highlighting areas of concern such as voting machine security, registration databases and voter ID requirements as well as identifying key states to watch. Reporters interested in receiving embargoed copies of the report before the release time and/or participating in a teleconference at 2 p.m. on that day should contact Dan Seligson by email or at 202-338-9860.
I. In Focus This Week
Voter ID/Voter Fraud Debated in New Reports, Panels
By Kat Zambon
electionline.org
The specter of polling-place voter fraud has motivated state lawmakers around the country to enact a variety of new laws, including controversial voter identification provisions that require voters to produce state or federally-issued photographic ID. These new laws have compelled opponents to file suit, contesting the new rules as potentially disenfranchising to some segments of voters.
Those opponents' efforts have been buoyed in recent weeks by reports asserting that little is known about voter fraud - when, how, where, and how often it occurs - despite new legislation and countersuits.
The more pressing problem, they say, is voter intimidation, suppression and in some cases, disenfranchisement by a variety of tactics that include misleading fliers, letters and phone calls.
One such report, released last week by The Century Foundation and Common Cause found that some states have made progress since 2004 in reducing such incidents.
It identified Missouri and Minnesota as two states that have new laws against voter suppression tactics such as misleading fliers and phone calls. Minnesota and Washington have clarified rules regarding pre-election and Election Day challenges to voter eligibility, though the report warns that Florida and Pennsylvania are at risk for problems related to voter challenges. While Ohio had the longest polling lines in 2004, the state has a new law requiring equitable distribution of DRE voting machines, though the law won't go into effect until 2013.
Other states were singled out for what voter-ID opponents call useless laws that needlessly intimidate voters without addressing fraud.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights called Arizona's Proposition 200, which requires those registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship and either photo ID or two other non-photographic forms of ID at poling places, "a solution in search of a problem".
The Century Foundation/Common Cause report cited issues including voter ID requirements, third-party voter registration laws, database matching and voter intimidation and suppression, such as deceptive practices, long lines at the polls and challenges to registered voters.
It recommended removing barriers to voter registration, limiting ID requirements to those suggested in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), enforcing criminal laws regarding fraud, and prohibiting election administrators from participating in partisan activities, according to author Tova Wang, Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation.
An October 11 article in USA Today cited a preliminary report prepared by Wang and Job Serebrov, an Arkansas attorney for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on voter fraud and intimidation which found little proof of voter fraud taking place at the polls but rather in the absentee ballot process.
In interviews with election experts in the private and public sectors, Wang and Serebrov found "virtually universal agreement that absentee ballot fraud is the biggest problem" but "there is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, non-citizen voting and felon voters."
But the report, which was leaked before being finalized, is opposed in some quarters, who disagreed with the findings.
Paul DeGregorio, EAC chair, told USA Today that the bipartisan four-member panel did not publicly release the report because of internal disagreements.
"There was a division of opinion here. We've seen places where fraud does occur," he said.
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law wrote to EAC October 13 and People for the American Way launched a Web site petition drive this week, both requesting that EAC release the report.
Experts who testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights were similarly divided on the issue of fraud.
Robert Pastor, a professor at American University, said it is still uncertain whether requiring voters show photo ID at the polls increases both ballot integrity and access. It is similarly unknown what the best method would be to get IDs into the hands of all voters if they were deemed necessary.
Pastor also served as the executive director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter (D) and Secretary of State James A. Baker III ®. A majority of members on the panel made the high-profile and controversial decision to recommend that states require voters to present ID. Carter's decision to endorse voter ID - despite being at odds with the vast majority of Democrats - overshadowed most of the panel's other recommendations.
Others who back the use of more stringent polling-place voter ID requirements say increasing confidence in the electoral system, as well as widespread national support for the practice of requiring ID, justifies national voter ID rules.
"The lack of confidence [in American elections] translates into lower participation," said Thor Hearne, counsel to the American Center for Voting Rights.
John Fund, author of "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy" cited surveys that show more than 80 percent of Americans support a photo ID requirement at the polls, including two-thirds of the Democrats, African-Americans and Hispanics surveyed.
For their part, courts have generally sided with voter ID opponents, with photo ID laws being blocked or struck down in Georgia and Missouri, with one other case pending in Indiana.
New Jersey Sued Over Voter Registration Database
State reaches agreement with DOJ over finalizing HAVA-compliant list
By Sean Greene
electionline.org
Last week, electionline.org reported on the status of statewide voter registration databases required by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The story noted that New Jersey had completed its database in May 2006. However, late last week the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued and reached an agreement with the state for failing to complete its database. (For more information including the stipulation order and agreement, click here.)
"The statewide voter registration system was deployed on May 19, but significant problems were uncovered in testing and programming the system. Problems remaining include data conversion problems, the accurate issuance of absentee ballots, and the inability to verify a registrant's identity," stated a press release from the state's attorney general.
The DOJ action raises the number of states sued to four as New Jersey joins Alabama, Maine and New York. California reached an agreement concerning the state's database in November 2005, avoiding a similar lawsuit.
DOJ will allow the state's counties to use their existing systems as the official list for the election while the newer statewide list will be "running in parallel," according to the state brief.
Like a number of other states, New Jersey faced problems with one of the firms working on the database - in this case subcontractor PCC Technology. The company was taken off the project at the beginning of the year, and Covansys, the principal contractor, completed the job.
The agreement mandates that the HAVA-compliant voter list be completed before the end of May 2007.
II. Election Reform News This Week
• The California attorney general is investigating a Spanish-language letter warning some Orange County Latinos that they could be jailed or deported if they vote in the upcoming election (registration required). The letter, received by about 14,000 Latino voters, including a candidate for the Garden Grove City Council, also warns that the state has developed a tracking system that will allow the names of Latino voters to be handed over to anti-immigrant groups. In media reports published Thursday, sources said the letter could come from the campaign of a GOP challenger trying to unseat a Democratic incumbent in Orange County.
• Experts say voters can expect long lines, confusion and "an increase in the number of contested results" during the November 7 election, The New York Times reported. New databases, recently-installed voting machines and untrained poll workers could combine for a host of problems in two weeks. Or maybe not. "If you think things are bad and worrisome now, they were much worse before 2000," said MIT Professor Charles Stewart.
• During arguments before the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals, a federal judge on Wednesday, sharply questioned why the Indiana Democrat Party and the Indiana branch of the ACLU have failed to find a single person unable to cast a ballot under Indiana's new voter ID law. "By not even having found one of these people, that does not convey substantial disenfranchisement," Judge Richard Posner said during oral arguments as reported by The Associated Press. The judge also asked the solicitor general for the Indiana Attorney General's office why no one in Indiana had ever been charged with impersonating someone at the polls if the problem is as widespread as the state claims. A ruling is not expected prior to the November 7 election.
• On Wednesday, the Pew Center Research Center for People and the Press released a new report revealing widespread suspicion of electronic voting systems among black voters, young voters and Democrats. The percentage of black voters who were "very confident" their votes would be counted accurately plummeted since 2004, with 30 percent saying they are confident in this election compared to 47 percent two years ago.