Reply #8: From Volusia: Democracy demands integrity [View All]

[MelissaB]

Democracy demands integrity

Last update: January 01, 2006


It seems so simple, so obvious. Elections should be fair and reliable. Voting machines should be accurate and failsafe. Elections officials should be careful and unbiased. Voters' interests should come first.

Florida residents watched all these tenets crumble over the past five years. The 2000 election scandal focused at first on flawed recount procedures, with state officials stalling and partisan operatives rioting to stop vote-verifying procedures. Soon, attention turned to the infamous "purge list" that stripped rights from thousands of voters, many by mistake.

National attention soon died down, but the problems continue. The state abandoned another voter-roll purge attempt in 2004, but the possibility of a repeat remains. Florida still clings to a lifetime voting ban for former felons who have paid their debt to society, refusing to abandon a counterproductive policy.

Nationwide, many state legislatures seem more concerned about stopping "fraudulent" voters than about securing the integrity of the polling place. Their measures seem related and driven by partisan motives: Reduce the number of low-income and minority voters. They should move in the other direction, making it easier to register and vote in elections. Some ideas that have worked in other states include elections by mail and voting-day registration.

But a far bigger threat to the integrity of the polling place looms in the shape of electronic-only voting machines pushed by Republican leaders who willfully ignore their flaws.


More: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPN67010106.htm