The Century Foundation Report Finds Racial Divide in Undercounted Votes from Punch Cards Ballots

20 September 2004
NEW YORK, /U.S. Newswire/ As states around the country work to comply with new federal mandates for improving the election process, much attention has been focused on whether or not there should be paper trails for computerized voting. Lost in this high-voltage debate is the fact that many states are still using the outmoded and unreliable voting machines that were the center of attention right after Florida 2000.

The continued use of punch-card ballot systems threatens to undercut the reliability of the 2004 election results for a variety of reasons, one of which has received far too little attention: African-American votes disproportionately go uncounted when punch-card and, to some extent, "central count" optical-scan machines are used. In contrast, the racial disparity nearly disappears when electronic voting machines are used.

The Century Foundation today released a report, African Americans, Voting Machines, and Spoiled Ballots: A Challenge to Election Reform. Written by Tova Wang, senior program officer and democracy fellow for The Century Foundation, it raises the concern that recent history could repeat itself and that these machines will disenfranchise thousands of voters-a disproportionate number of them African Americans.

"Four years ago, nobody trusted punch-card ballot machines, now we find that fewer and fewer voters trust electronic voting systems," said Wang. "While voters and election observers are right to be concerned about the security of electronic voting, an unfortunate by-product has been that some states are sticking with machines that we know don't work effectively. Thirty-two million voters throughout the country, including many in key battleground states, still live in jurisdictions that will use punch card ballots."

For the report, Wang conducted a wide-ranging survey of the research on the topic. She assembles and analyzes studies conducted by newspaper reporters and academics on particular jurisdictions such as Florida, studies on national voting patterns, and studies on elections from 1988, 1996, and 2000. It includes information from studies in Ohio, Los Angeles, Chicago, California, Louisiana, and South Carolina.

It further shows that the racial gap virtually disappears with systems that allow the voter to double check and then recast a vote-a feature of both optical-scan machines with poll-site counting and computerized voting machines. Yet, many states have halted the changeover to newer technologies. For example, in the key battleground state of Ohio, there were originally plans for replacing all punch card voting machines in time for the election this November. However, just four of 31 Ohio counties that were eligible to replace punch-card machines are actually doing so.

The studies reviewed in this report all come to virtually the same conclusion: punch-card machines mean that far fewer African- American votes will count relative to uncounted votes by white citizens. While the report does not endorse any particular technology, it presents a powerful case against the use of punch- card ballots and central count optical-scan machines.

The report is available online at http://www.tcf.org . It is part of The Century Foundation's ongoing work on election reform and the Help America Vote Act. Tova Wang is available for interviews and backgrounders on this report and other issues related to election reform and the 2004 elections. Please contact Christy Hicks at hicks@tcf.org or 212-452-7723 for more information.