more on voting problems

Digby links to and discusses the current Jeffrey Rosen article in the New Republic on the possibilities of legal challenges to the coming election and the Vanity Fair article on the 2000 debacle. As always, he brings his own acerbic, astute brain to bear on the issues.

Former President Jimmy Carter has this to say in the Guardian:

After the debacle in Florida four years ago, former president Gerald Ford and I were asked to lead a blue-ribbon commission to recommend changes in the American electoral process. After months of concerted effort by a dedicated and bipartisan group of experts, we presented unanimous recommendations to the president and Congress. The government responded with the Help America Vote Act of October 2002. Unfortunately, however, many of the act's key provisions have not been implemented because of inadequate funding or political disputes.

The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other nations are conducting elections that are internationally certified to be transparent, honest and fair.

The Carter Centre has monitored more than 50 elections, all of them held under contentious, troubled or dangerous conditions. When I describe these activities, either in the US or in foreign forums, the almost inevitable questions are "Why don't you observe the election in Florida?" and "How do you explain the serious problems with elections there?"

The answer to the first question is that we can monitor only about five elections each year, and meeting crucial needs in other nations is our top priority. (Our most recent ones were in Venezuela and Indonesia, and the next will be in Mozambique.) A partial answer to the other question is that some basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in Florida.

[snip]

It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation. It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process in Florida.

He goes into specifics, so I recommend you read the whole article.

The Daily Mislead has this take:

BUSH RESTRICTING DEMOCRACY AS ELECTION NEARS

President Bush has opined about the need for democracy to be preserved, and for U.S. elections to be fair. In 2002, he said "Every registered voter deserves to have confidence that the system is fair and elections are honest."[1] In 2003, he gave a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy claiming he had a "commitment to democracy."[2] But, as a new report shows, Bush and the Republican Party are doing everything they can to reduce democracy at home as the election approaches.

As an article in In These Times notes, in August 2003 the CEO of one of the biggest manufacturers of new voting machines wrote a fundraising letter saying he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."[3] In June 2004, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) tried to remove 48,000 traditionally Democratic voters from the Florida voter rolls,[4] prompting the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to demand an investigation.[5] In July, a top GOP official in Michigan indicated his party's effort to reduce minority voter turnout, saying that the GOP will have "a tough time [in this election]" if "we do not suppress the Detroit vote."[6] In August, Jeb Bush's political appointee tried to hire two top Bush fundraisers to represent the election office in Broward County in the case of a recount.[7]

See the full article at www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1115.

Sources:

1. "President Signs Historic Election Reform Legislation into Law," The White House, 10/29/02, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3465739&l=59267.
2. "President Bush Discusses Freedom in Iraq and Middle East," The White House, 11/06/03, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3465739&l=59268.
3. "Voting Machine Controversy," Common Dreams News Center, 8/23/03, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3465739&l=59269.
4. "Rights leader scolds Bush on use of felon purge lists," Miami Herald, 6/22/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3465739&l=59270.
5. "Voting worries just won't go away," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 7/18/04.
6. "Groups Say GOP Moves to Stifle Vote," Washington Post, 8/26/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3465739&l=59271.
7. "Elections Supervisor Rapped for Hiring Lawyers With Bush Ties," Law.com, 8/30/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3465739&l=59272.