•A story about Florida's failed implementation of electoral reform:
[A]t least 1,657 registered Florida voters [have had their] provisional ballots . . . rejected since 2002 because of poll workers' mistakes, a Tampa Tribune examination has found.
The special ballots were hailed as a critical safeguard against voter disenfranchisement and a key component of the Legislature's revamp of state election laws after the disputed 2000 presidential election when numerous eligible voters, particularly minorities, were denied the right to vote.
But the [Tampa] Tribune analysis of available statistics from the three statewide elections since provisional ballots were introduced in Florida shows most have been thrown out, and that 44 percent of the rejected ballots were discarded because of poll worker mistakes. That's based on a review of nearly 7,000 provisional ballots cast in about two-thirds of Florida's counties representing 82 percent of the state's population.
•Voters Split On Bush, Kerry: "A new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll shows President Bush heading into his nominating convention has gained ground in the state he virtually has to win, but he is still tied with John Kerry."
•And if they're in a dead heat, then we should also be concerned because "State law still requires that when a candidate wins by one-half of 1 percent or less, a machine recount is conducted unless the loser concedes."
In optical scan counties, paper ballots are sent through the optical scan machines again. The results are double-checked with the Election Day results.
In touch screen counties, the three-member canvassing board examines the results from each precinct and compares them to the overall result. If there is a discrepancy, the precinct results are presumed correct. Printed paper images of each ballot, which are available on some machines, are not required.
•Fortunately problems with recounts are only a Florida thing, right? Well, no.
A dispute over a razor-thin election [in Riverside County, CA] suggests that important electronic data might not exist, making accurate recounts impossible in many states.
Linda Soubirous, a candidate for the Riverside County board of supervisors, lost a chance to stage a runoff by fewer than 50 votes. When Soubirous asked to look at the computer disks and other electronic records kept during the election, county officials refused.
Undocumented software glitches, hackers, mechanical errors or deleted ballots in only a few counties could have huge implications in a presidential election likely to be a cliffhanger. More than 100,000 paperless terminals have been installed across the nation, particularly in California, Maryland, Georgia and the battleground states of Florida, New Mexico and Nevada. (via Corrente.)
•Foxes are guarding the hen house. First there's Cory Tilley, former aide to Gov. Jeb Bush. Tilley's new job is to "continue helping develop voter education programs under a state contract despite being charged last week with 13 violations of state elections law, officials said Wednesday" (via Florida Politics). The there's Theresa LePore.
On Friday, Theresa LePore, Supervisor of Elections in Palm Beach, candidate for re-election as Supervisor of Elections, chose to supervise her own election, no one allowed. This Tuesday, Florida votes for these nominally non-partisan posts.
You remember Theresa, "Madame Butterfly," the one whose ballots brought in the big vote for Pat Buchanan in the Jewish precincts in November 2000. Then she failed to do the hand count that would have changed the White House from Red to Blue.
This time, Theresa's in a hurry to get to the counting. She began tallying absentee ballots on Friday in her own re-election race. Not to worry: the law requires the Supervisor of Elections in each county to certify poll-watchers to observe the count.
But Theresa has a better idea. She refused to certify a single poll-watcher from opponents' organizations despite the legal requirement she do so by last week. She'll count her own votes herself, thank you very much! (gregpalast.com)
•At least folks who know what's at stake are acting accordingly. "In anticipation of the 2004 elections, African-American political activists in South Florida are registering voters on local buses, at hip-hop concerts and even in hospital beds." While we've got this kind of massive mobilization of community resources going on, we need more clear demands for accountability from Kerry and the Democrats:
"But last time, the Democratic Party leadership didn't step up to the plate to defend our votes," said Wilcox, referring to Republican protesters shutting down a recount in Miami-Dade while Democrats did nothing.
"They acted like a bunch of wimps," Wilcox said. "We're going to go out and vote again and this time, if we need it, I hope they'll act like men."
•A running theme here, at HungryBlues, is that none of our election problems will be solved if we don't directly address racism in the electoral system. Judd at The Winning Argument makes a pleasingly concise case for why Ex-felons should be allowed to vote. Judd draws significantly from sources at The Sentencing Project website, which is well worth some of your time.
•Another good place on voting rights is Right To Vote: Campaign To End Felony Disenfranchisement.
•I've been linking a lot to a recent NAACP/PFAW report, The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today. In light the report's disturbing evidence of widespread, ongoing intimidation tactics directed at African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond is calling on Attorney General John Ashcroft "to take steps to protect minority voters against practices meant to deceive or intimidate minority voters during the elections this fall."
•For a capsule version of the NAACP/PFAW report and some other related sources, see this recent release from MoveOn.org.
•While we're talking about the staying power of Jim Crow, there's a disturbing story over at The American Street about what amounts to a poll tax for Native Americans in South Dakota. After a strong turnout of Native American voters helped Democratic Senator Tom Johnson defeat Karl Rove Republican darling John Thune in 2002, the ND GOP decided they better set up an economic barricade around state polling places.
The following year, Republicans in the state Legislature proposed a bill requiring voters to show a photo ID. Local activists were outraged. Many Native Americans don't even have driver's licenses, they said. And, yes, they can get a tribal ID -- if they pay $8. Requiring an ID would be tantamount to imposing a poll tax. The bill was amended so that people could sign a personal-identification affidavit if they didn't have an ID. Last year, it was signed into law.
(Where no other source is attributed, news links on Florida are via Florida Politics.)
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