System not a complete winner
Balloting not as rocky as in 2000, but election officials and civil rights activists seek improvements
 
BY DEBORAH BARFIELD BERRY AND TOM BRUNE
New York News Day  WASHINGTON BUREAU

November 7, 2004

WASHINGTON - Even though the nation's most recent election appears to have avoided the major mishaps and controversies that tainted the 2000 presidential election, the electoral process is still in need of repair and improvements, say federal election officials and civil rights activists.

"Sure, we had problems this time, but we didn't have problems that appeared to affect the outcome of the election. But from where I sit, it's not adequate to say things went smoothly," said DeForest Soaries, chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, an agency created after the 2000 elections to help states address voting problems. "We still have to deal with the use and understanding around provisional ballots."

From inadequate supplies to poorly trained poll workers to fundamental misunderstandings of provisional ballots, there were no shortage of problems this year, election officials said. But one of the biggest problems, they said, was a new federal law that was supposed to help.

In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act to help states improve their election systems. But election experts say the law was underfunded, money was slow getting to the states and the commissioners who were supposed to develop federal guidelines were appointed too late.

Among other things, the law requires states to create a statewide computer database of registered voters, but most had the requirement waived until 2006. Only nine states used databases Tuesday.

Doug Chapin, director of Electiononline.org, a research group, said databases could have made checking names easier and addressed some issues involving provisional ballots. Provisional ballots, a requirement under the new federal law, allow residents to vote even if their names aren't on registration lists. The ballots are verified later.

The law also called for election officials to post voter rights at polling sites and launch educational programs. But federal officials have yet to provide federal standards for electronic voting machines as required under the law.

States will provide the commission with information, including the number of provisional ballots cast and counted, the number of absentee ballots requested and cast, the number of people who showed up to vote and the number of machines that malfunctioned. Federal officials plan to use the data in a report due to Congress by the end of January.

Problems across the country

Across the country, glitches, undercounts and problems with absentee ballots undermined claims of a smooth election. In Columbus, Ohio, an error with an electronic voting system gave Bush 3,893 extra votes. In Broward County, Fla., a failure to adjust software on the electronic voting system suppressed more than 32,000 votes. And in Carteret County, N.C., 4,500 votes cast were lost because the computer storing the ballots was improperly programmed.

Civil rights groups and election experts attribute fewer complaints in part to the thousands of lawyers and volunteer poll monitors who fanned out across the country.

"There may not have been fighting in the streets and an election decided by the courts, as some officials feared," Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said in a statement. "But that can't be our standard for a successful election. Voters not included on registration lists, tens of thousands of absentee ballots never received and lines that snake for blocks are just as large impediments to voting as hanging chads, and they must be addressed."

Soaries, who visited polling sites in Florida on Tuesday, agreed more should be done and said federal officials must develop plans to recruit, train and deploy poll workers, address voter registration issues and create federal standards for electronic voting machines as required under the Help America Vote Act.

Looking to Washington

State election officials are looking to the federal commission for standards on machines and computer databases, said Meredith Imwalle of the National Association of Secretaries of States.

"Certainly, the states could do the election reform on their own," she said. But "they're hoping to do something that's in line with what the federal government recommends."

Imwalle said standards for voting machines aren't expected until next summer, only six months before states are required to have the equipment. Some states delayed buying machines for Tuesday because they're waiting for guidelines.

Meanwhile, state and federal election officials complain about the lack of resources.

Chapin said Congress has channeled resources into terrorism, Social Security and tax cuts and that isn't likely to change. "I just think it got lost in the shuffle," Chapin said of reform efforts. "I don't think it got moved down the list of priorities. Other things just cut in line."

Soaries, however, said the Election Assistance Commission is slated to get $7.8 million this fiscal year, up from $1.2 million last year. He said that's enough to start collecting data, conducting public hearings and developing federal standards.

In Florida, the focus of the 2000 debacle, civil rights groups and organizations monitoring the elections Tuesday said there were scattered reports of computer problems, long lines and election officials demanding extra identification. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which filed suit against Florida in 2000, is investigating complaints.

"What is surprising is that in light of 2000, there are still so many problems," said Jacqueline Berrien, associate director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. "We're still falling short of the ideal democracy."