Legal eagles gear up for Nov. 2

BY MATT STEARNS

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Polling places across the country will be flooded with thousands of partisan lawyers on Election Day as Republicans and Democrats try to avert a replay of the 2000 election.

That year chaos reigned in Florida amid ballot confusion and Democratic accusations of voter intimidation. In Missouri, a St. Louis judge kept polls open beyond closing time, prompting Republican charges of fraud.

Both sides are determined to ensure that the other side plays fair this year.

Despite a 2002 law designed to prevent fraud and intimidation, Nov. 2 will almost certainly see legal wrangling at contested voting precincts from coast to coast - especially amid indications both parties are working hard to get a large voter turnout.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, recently said he had assembled a team of nearly 2,000 lawyers to watch the polls. And more are being recruited.

"You have to think about this in the context of the 2000 election," said Nathaniel Persily, an election law expert at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. "A lot of things happened in that election which people think affected the outcome of the race. Everyone at this point expects this to be a close election. They understand what can matter in a close election, and these types of things matter."

Democrats say they'll do what it takes to make sure that when their voters get to the polls, they will be allowed to vote and their votes will count.

"We have a comprehensive legal team that is looking right now at districts in America where voters are harassed, where they are prevented from registering, districts where people who are ... purged from the polls and told the day they arrived thinking they're registered they're no longer registered," Kerry said earlier this month.

The Kerry campaign will provide training to volunteer lawyers in election-law issues, such as voter challenges, voter identification requirements and how to spot and prevent voter harassment or intimidation, according to a recruitment e-mail sent by David Casey, president of the American Trial Lawyers Association, a group considered to be strongly in Kerry's corner.

"I think the Democrats felt after Florida they were caught a little flat-footed," said Richard Hasen, an election law expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "They don't want it to happen again. So part of it is prudent planning. Of course, Republicans are doing the same thing, making sure they have teams in place in battleground states."

Republicans say they hope to prevent voter fraud. And they say Democratic charges of voter intimidation are unfair.

"Our goal is to encourage more people to participate in the process," said Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, noting his party hopes to register 3 million more voters in time for the election.

In June, Gillespie sent a letter to Terry McAuliffe, his Democratic counterpart, urging a bipartisan approach to ensuring fairness at the polls.

In the letter, Gillespie suggests that the two list every voting precinct in the country where one or the other fears there could be a problem with fraud or harassment. Each would then enlist one volunteer to observe at each precinct and investigate problems.

Gillespie said McAuliffe has not yet responded to the letter. A McAuliffe spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.

Should McAuliffe ignore Gillespie's suggestion, Gillespie suggested that those thousands of Democratic lawyers will be joined by scores of Republican lawyers, too.

"We're not inclined to take their word for it," Gillespie said of Democrats when it comes to ensuring fairness at the polls. "My fear is you have the trial lawyers, part and parcel of the Democratic National Committee, who will engage in their own legal intimidation tactics and try to subvert the process through legal intimidation."

The Help America Vote Act, enacted by Congress after the 2000 elections, was supposed to allay concerns about malfeasance.

The law provides for provisional balloting, allowing people with questionable voter registration to vote. Their ballots are kept separate and not counted until the voter's status is resolved. The law also has voter identification requirements to ensure that those who vote actually are living human beings.

It requires states to maintain statewide voter lists so fraud can be more easily detected. And to reduce confusion at the polls, states must establish procedures for resolving voter complaints.

The law also provided $3.9 billion in federal aid to states to improve administration of elections. In addition to the federal reforms, many states passed reforms of their own.

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