Monday, October 18, 2004
How to destroy the American democratic system?
Monday, October 18, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT
It's a safe bet you will hear more about provisional ballots before Election Day--and a lot more if the election goes into overtime again. The provisional ballot could become this year's equivalent of Florida's infamous punch-card ballot, and it could decide who wins the presidency.
This is the first election held under the Help America Vote Act of 2002. One of its key provisions is a requirement that people in all 50 states whose names aren't on voter registration rolls be given a provisional, or conditional, ballot that will then be cross-checked with public records after the polls close to see if it is valid. "If I had to pick the one thing that will stir up anger and lawsuits on Election Day, it will be provisional voting," says Doug Chapin, executive director of the nonpartisan Electionline.org.
With 200,000 polling places nationwide, an average of five provisional votes per precinct would mean a million such votes. But in a year when manic registration efforts make it likely there will be a flood of first-time voters, officials expect far more. In Los Angeles County alone more than 100,000 people voted provisionally in 2000, with about 60% of them ultimately declared valid.
But that's the rub. Democrats are preparing to make aggressive media and legal arguments that almost all provisional votes must be counted, a reprise of their 2000 Florida rallying cry of "Count every vote." Yesterday Eric Holder, a top official in Bill Clinton's Justice Department, told "Fox News Sunday" that "if every vote is allowed to be cast, and if every vote is counted, John Kerry will be president within a day of that election." Asked how he could guarantee that, Mr. Holder replied "you heard it right here" and repeated his claim.
John Fund
It's not the provisional ballots. It's going to be the monster wave of lawsuits sure to follow after...and it will be judges making decisions, not voters. That's what could very well destroy everybody's faith in the system.
It's a safe bet you will hear more about provisional ballots before Election Day--and a lot more if the election goes into overtime again. The provisional ballot could become this year's equivalent of Florida's infamous punch-card ballot, and it could decide who wins the presidency.
This is the first election held under the Help America Vote Act of 2002. One of its key provisions is a requirement that people in all 50 states whose names aren't on voter registration rolls be given a provisional, or conditional, ballot that will then be cross-checked with public records after the polls close to see if it is valid. "If I had to pick the one thing that will stir up anger and lawsuits on Election Day, it will be provisional voting," says Doug Chapin, executive director of the nonpartisan Electionline.org.
With 200,000 polling places nationwide, an average of five provisional votes per precinct would mean a million such votes. But in a year when manic registration efforts make it likely there will be a flood of first-time voters, officials expect far more. In Los Angeles County alone more than 100,000 people voted provisionally in 2000, with about 60% of them ultimately declared valid.
But that's the rub. Democrats are preparing to make aggressive media and legal arguments that almost all provisional votes must be counted, a reprise of their 2000 Florida rallying cry of "Count every vote." Yesterday Eric Holder, a top official in Bill Clinton's Justice Department, told "Fox News Sunday" that "if every vote is allowed to be cast, and if every vote is counted, John Kerry will be president within a day of that election." Asked how he could guarantee that, Mr. Holder replied "you heard it right here" and repeated his claim.
John Fund
It's not the provisional ballots. It's going to be the monster wave of lawsuits sure to follow after...and it will be judges making decisions, not voters. That's what could very well destroy everybody's faith in the system.
# posted by Knitting a Conundrum @ 4:33 AM 
