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===Provisional and absentee ballots===
===Provisional and absentee ballots===
⚫
In 2004, there was contention over the standards for determining whether to count [[provisional ballot]]s. In Ohio, Secretary of State [[Ken Blackwell]] ruled that Ohio would not count provisional ballots, even those from properly registered voters, that were submitted at the wrong precinct. This ruling was ultimately upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.<ref>
Provisional ballots are for would-be voters who assert that they are registered but whose names cannot be found in the list available at the polling place. The voter completes a written ballot, which is placed in a sealed envelope. The ballot is opened and counted only if the voter is subsequently found to be registered.

⚫
In 2004, there was contention over the standards for determining whether to count provisional ballots. In Ohio, Secretary of State [[Ken Blackwell]] ruled that Ohio would not count provisional ballots, even those from properly registered voters, that were submitted at the wrong precinct. This ruling was ultimately upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.<ref>


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Revision as of 16:20, 30 December 2008

During the 2004 United States presidential election, concerns were raised about various aspects of the voting process, including whether voting had been made accessible to all those entitled to vote and whether the votes cast had been correctly counted. More controversial was the charge that these issues might have affected the reported outcome of the presidential election, in which the incumbent, Republican President George W. Bush, defeated the Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry. Despite the existing controversies, Kerry conceded the election the following day on November 3. There was generally less attention paid to the Senate and House elections and to various state races, but some of them were also questioned.

Specific issues concerning the voting process

Voter registration

In the months leading up to the 2004 election, both parties made efforts to register new voters. In some cases, Republicans challenged or prepared to challenge the validity of many new registrations, citing instances of fictitious names such as Mary Poppins appearing on the voter rolls. Democrats accuse the Republicans of using this as an excuse for vote suppression.[1]

There were also complaints about the rejection of registrations by government agencies. College students encountered difficulties in registering where they attended school[2]. Some officials rejected voter registration forms on grounds that were contested, such as a failure to use paper of a particular weight (Ohio) or a failure to check a box on the form (Florida).[3]

Aside from such official actions, there were disputes about other voter registration activities. In Nevada and Oregon, a company hired by the Republican National Committee solicited voter registration forms, but was accused of filing only the Republicans’ forms and shredding those completed by Democrats[4]. Nonprofit organizations, ACORN and the NAACP, were accused of submitting false voter registration forms and of carelessly or deliberately failing to submit some valid ones that it had received.[5][6]

Purges of voter lists

State efforts to purge voter rolls have led to disputes, notably in Florida. Before the 2000 election, Florida officials purged approximately 100,000 registered voters on the grounds that they were convicted felons (and therefore ineligible to vote under Florida law) or dead. [7] Many of those whose names were purged were "false positives" (not actually felons). (See Florida Central Voter File.) A post-election lawsuit brought by the NAACP, the People for the American Way Foundation, and other organizations resulted in a settlement in 2002 in which the state agreed to restore eligible voters to the rolls and take other steps to improve election procedures.[8] [9]

The issue returned to prominence in 2004 when Florida announced another planned purge, again based on a list of felons. The state government initially attempted to keep the list secret. When a court ordered its release, it was found to contain mostly Democrats and a disproportionate number of racial minorities. [10] Faced with media documentation that the list included thousands of errors, the state abandoned the attempt to use it.[11] Some of the voters improperly purged in 2000 had not been restored as of May 2004.[12]

Voter suppression

The term "voter suppression" is used to describe methods of discouraging or impeding people from voting. The government agency or private entity doing so believes that the would-be voters thus turned away would have been more likely to vote for an opponent. For example, Representative Dennis Kucinich described voter suppression in his state, Ohio:

Dirty tricks occurred across the state, including phony letters from Boards of Elections telling people that their registration through some Democratic activist groups were invalid and that Kerry voters were to report on Wednesday because of massive voter turnout. Phone calls to voters giving them erroneous polling information were also common. [13][14]

John Pappageorge, a Republican state legislator in Michigan said in the summer of 2004, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election." Pappageorge later claimed he was taken out of context saying, "In the context that we were talking about, I said we’ve got to get the vote up in Oakland (County) and the vote down in Detroit. You get it down with a good message." [15][16]

Court injunctions were placed by the Franklin County Common Pleas Court against Moveon.org for verbally threatening and harrassing individuals who identified themselves as Republican. [17] On October 5th, a Bush-Cheney campaign volunteer in Orlando had his arm broken when trying to stop union activists from storming the campaign office. The "storming" was part of a massive simultaneous campaign against 20 pro-Republican headquarters. [18][19] [20]

See also Caging (voter suppression)

Practical impediments

In every election, some voters encounter practical impediments to voting, such as long lines at the polling place. In 2004, however, the issue received increased attention[21]. In many places, some voters had to wait several hours to vote.[22] Among the factors thought to be at work were: the general increase in voter turnout; a particular increase in first-time voters whose processing required more time; and confusion about the providing of provisional ballots, which many states had never used before.

Distribution of voting machines proved to be a problem in some districts. In Ohio, some precincts had too few machines causing long lines, while others had plenty of machines per registered voters. Officials cited a late rush of registrations after voting machines had already been allocated as one source of the problem. [23][24]

Voting machines

Further information: [[:Analysis of electronic voting]]

Before 2004, the increasing use of electronic voting machines had raised several issues:

  • Security. Without proper testing and certification, critics believe electronic voting machines could produce an incorrect report due to malfunction or deliberate manipulation.[25][26]
  • Recounts. Voting machine recounts include auditing of hardware, software and the comparison of multiple vote records. Nevada was one of several states which insisted on electronic voting systems that create a paper trail.[27]
  • Partisan ties. Democrats noted the Republican or conservative ties of several leading executives in the companies providing the machines.[28]

The state of California ordered that 15,000 of its Diebold voting machines not be used in the 2004 elections due to flaws that the company failed to disclose. [29][30]

In September 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a report noting electronic voting systems hold promise for improving the election process while citing concerns about security and reliability raised by numerous groups, and detailing specific problems that have occurred.[31]

Other inaccuracies on Election Day

In the 2000 election, especially in the disputed recounts in Florida, there were issues concerning the ambiguities and uncertainties that arose from punch-card ballots, such as the hanging chads (incompletely punched holes). In 2004, the punch-card ballots were still widely used in some states.[32] For example, most Ohio voters used punch-card ballots[33] , and more than 90,000 ballots cast in Ohio were treated as not including a vote for President; this "undervote" could arise because the voter chose not to cast a vote or because of a hanging chad.[24]

An analysis of Florida voter rolls in December 2004 alleged that over 64,000 registered voters had names that also appeared in a Social Security database of death claims, according to the Chicago Tribune.[34] However, the source article did not disclose its methodology and may have used inaccurate methodologies. The analysis found no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing.[35]

A New York Daily News article alleged 46,000 were people registered to vote in both New York city and Florida.[36] A Cleveland Plain article found 27,000 people registered in both Ohio and in Florida, with 400 voting in both states consistently in the previous four years.[37] The article attempted to match voter rolls to each other,[35] which likely yielded significant errors.[38] Again these articles made no allegations of fraud.

Provisional and absentee ballots

In 2004, there was contention over the standards for determining whether to count provisional ballots. In Ohio, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell ruled that Ohio would not count provisional ballots, even those from properly registered voters, that were submitted at the wrong precinct. This ruling was ultimately upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.[39][40]

Absentee ballots were also an issue. There were reports of absentee ballots being mailed out too late for some voters to complete and return them in time[41]. In some instances, officials argued that last-minute litigation over Ralph Nader’s ballot status or other issues had prevented them from finalizing the absentee ballots as early as they wanted to.[citation needed] In Broward County, Florida, some 58,000 absentee ballots were delivered to the Postal Service to be mailed to voters, according to county election officials, but the Postal Service said it had never received them.[42] [43]

Exit polling

The 2004 election brought new attention to the issue of exit polls[44]. Discrepancies existed between early exit poll information and the officially reported results. These discrepancies led some, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to prematurely conclude that Kerry won the election.[45] Expert opinion was divided concerning what inferences should be drawn from the cited discrepancies.[46][47]

Mitofsky International, the company responsible for exit polling for the National Election Pool and its member news organizations, released a report detailing the 2004 election's exit polling.[48] At issue were the early release of some poll information, issues regarding correcting exit poll data using actual voter totals, and differences between exit polls and official results.

The NEP report stated that "the size of the average exit poll error ... was higher in 2004 than in previous years for which we have data." It concluded that these discrepancies between the exit polls and the official results were "most likely due to Kerry voters participating in the exit polls at a higher rate than Bush voters". Polling expert John Zogby later called this explanation "preposterous".[49]

A study performed by the Caltech / MIT Voting Technology Project concluded that "there is no evidence, based on exit polls, that electronic voting machines were used to steal the 2004 election for President Bush."[50] This study was criticized for using data that had been corrected to match the official count, and thus "essentially analyzing rounding error".[51] On December 5, 2004 Charles Stewart III of MIT released a revised report which, he said, used pre-corrected data.[52]

On December 7, 2004, Warren Mitofsky, who had overseen the exit polling, stated that the pre-corrected data were proprietary and would not be released.[53]

One paper concluded that discrepancies in the exit polls were evidence that the election results were off,[54] though others alleged this paper was unscientific.[55] [56]

Racial discrimination

Some of the issues described above have created problems for voters generally. Others, however, by accident or (it is charged) by design, have disproportionately affected racial minorities. For example, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights determined that, in Florida in 2000, 54 percent of the ballots discarded as "spoiled" were cast by African Americans, who were only 11 percent of the voters. [57]

Recounts

Ralph Nader requested a recount of 11 wards in New Hampshire where vote totals for Bush were 5% - 15% higher than predicted by exit polls. The Nader campaign reports:[58]

In the eleven wards recounted, only very minor discrepancies were found between the optical scan machine counts of the ballots and the recount. The discrepancies are similar to those found when hand-counted ballots are recounted.

In Ohio, two minor-party candidates, Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) and David Cobb (Green, though not on the ballot in Ohio) cooperated in requesting a recount.

According to Ohio recount rules, 3% of a county's votes are tallied by hand, and typically one or more whole precincts are selected and combined to get the 3% sample. The 3% must be randomly selected, and all hand counts are to be performed in public (with observers). After the hand count, the sample is fed into the tabulator. If there is no discrepancy, the remaining ballots can be counted by the machine. Otherwise, a hand recount must be done for the whole county.

The Cobb campaign claimed that the precincts were not randomly selected and the ballots were pre-sorted. They suggested that this indicates that precincts were selected that would match the machine count, in order to prevent a county-wide hand count, i.e. that it was "staged".[59] Two poll workers were convicted of preselecting ballots for the recounts [60]

Around the country there were also recounts of races for state and local office. Most of them reflected simply the closeness of the official tally, but some also raised issues of election irregularities. These included the elections for:

  • Governor of Washington, between Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire. Issues raised included the mailing of absentee ballots, the counting of provisional and absentee ballots, correction of improper marks on optically scanned ballots, and alleged tampering with electronic voting machines. The first tally and the first recount gave the election to Republican Dino Rossi. However, after two statewide recounts, Gregoire, the Democrat, had a narrow lead of 129 votes out of 2.8 million cast. A Republican lawsuit seeking to overturn the result and force a re-vote was rejected by the court, after which Rossi conceded the election. See Washington gubernatorial election, 2004.
  • North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, between Britt Cobb and Steve Troxler. The number of votes lost due to a voting machine malfunction in Carteret County (over 4,000) exceed the reported margin of about 2,000. A new election was called for by state election supervisors, but was mooted when Cobb conceded.[61]
  • Governor of Puerto Rico, between Anibal Acevedo Vilá and Pedro Rosselló. Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá was declared the winner after several months of disputes The two candidates were separated by just under 4,000 votes. [62]

See also Moss v. Bush.

References

  1. ^ Becker, Jo (October 29, 2004), "GOP Challenging Voter Registrations", Washington Post {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ DI Editorial Board (Sept 20, 2004), "Disenfranchising youth & minorities", The Daily Iowan {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ Goodnough, Abby (October 14, 2004), "Florida flooded with pre-emptive election lawsuits", San Francisco Chronicle {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ Knapp, George (Oct. 13, 2004), "Investigation into Trashed Voter Registrations", KLAS-TV {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ "Democratic deception", The Washington Times, October 19, 2004 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ "Ohio aids probe of bogus voter registry forms", The Washington Times, October 20, 2004 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ Getter, Lisa (May 21, 2001), "Florida Net Too Wide in Purge of Voter Rolls", Los Angeles Times{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ Florida Voting Rights Lawsuit Settled; NAACP LDF To Monitor State's Implementation of Landmark Agreement, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  9. ^ Florida Voting Rights Lawsuit Ends in Settlement, People For the American Way
  10. ^ Therolf, Garrett (Jul 3, 2004), "Voter-Purge List Of Felons Made Public", The Tampa Tribune
  11. ^ Kidwell, David (August 2, 2004), "Election officials knew of list errors", Bradenton/East Manatee Herald {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  12. ^ Fineout, Gary (May 26, 2004), "Many voters not yet back on rolls", Mercury News {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  13. ^ Kucinich, Dennis (November 10, 2004). "A Note On The Presidential Election in Ohio". {{cite web}}: Check |author-link= value (help)
  14. ^ Jesse Jackson: 2004 Election 'Ain't Over' - 12/08/2004
  15. ^ Democrats Blast GOP Lawmaker’s ‘Suppress The Detroit Vote’ Remark, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, July 21, 2004
  16. ^ Reid, Chip (October 13, 2004), "Voter suppression charges on the rise", MSNBC {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. ^ Timms et al. v. MoveOn.org, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 04 CVH11 011533. (Exhibit K)
  18. ^ "Protestors Ransack Bush/Cheney Headquarters In Orlando", Local 6 News, October 5, 2004{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  19. ^ Postman, David (October 12, 2004), "Second Break-In Hits A Bush Office In State", The Seattle Times{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  20. ^ Schneider, Mike (October 5, 2004), "Florida GOP Workers Claim Intimidation By Labor Protesters", The Associated Press{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  21. ^ needs reference
  22. ^ Powell, Michael; Slevin, Peter (December 15, 2004), "Several Factors Contributed to 'Lost' Voters in Ohio", Washington Post {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  23. ^ Keith, Tamara (November 17, 2004), "Election day lines caused by voting machine shortage and other factors", WOSU Radio {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  24. ^ a b Hearing - 2004 election and the implementation of the Help America Vote Act J. Kenneth Blackwell via archive.org Cite error: The named reference "Blackwell" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  25. ^ Schneier, Bruce (November 10, 2004). "The Problem with Electronic Voting Machines". Retrieved Dec 21, 2008.
  26. ^ Electronic Voting Offers Opportunities and Presents Challenges Government Accountability Office
  27. ^ Konrad, Rachel (Sept. 7, 2004), "'Paper trail' voting system used in Nevada", MSNBC {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  28. ^ Warner, Melanie (November 9, 2003), "Machine Politics in the Digital Age", New York Times {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  29. ^ Ross, Brian (Oct. 27, 2004), "Touch-Screen Trouble", ABC News {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  30. ^ Lucas, Greg (May 1, 2004), "State bans electronic balloting in 4 counties", San Francisco Chronicle {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  31. ^ Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic Voting Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be Completed U.S. Government Accountability Office. September 2005
  32. ^ New Study Shows 50 Million Voters Will Use Electronic Voting Systems, 32 Million Still with Punch Cards in 2004, Election Data Services Inc
  33. ^ Tokaji, Daniel (February 8, 2005). "How Did Ohio's Voting Equipment Fare in 2004?". Moritz College of Law.
  34. ^ Dead Voters On Rolls, Other Glitches Found In 6 Key States, Geoff Dougherty, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, December 4, 2004
  35. ^ a b Analysis of Alleged Fraud in Briefs Supporting Crawford Respondents, Justin Levitt, Brennan Center for Justice
  36. ^ Buettner, Russ (August 22, 2004), "Exposed: Scandal Of Double Voters", New York Daily News{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  37. ^ Voters Double-Dip In Ohio, Fla., Scott Hiaasen, Dave Davis and Julie Carr Smyth, [Cleveland] PLAIN DEALER, October 31, 2004
  38. ^ Michael McDonald & Justin Levitt, Seeing Double Voting (2007)
  39. ^ "Ohio provisional ballot ruling reversed", USA Today, October 23, 2004 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  40. ^ Sandusky County Democratic Party, et al. v. Blackwell, et al.
  41. ^ Moss, Michael (September 29, 2004), "Hurdles Remain for American Voters Who Live Overseas", The New York Times
  42. ^ Local 10 Uncovers Big Ballot Mystery WPLG Miami, October 26, 2004
  43. ^ Florida ballot papers go missing BBC News, October 28, 2004
  44. ^ Morin, Richard (November 21, 2004), "Surveying the Damage", Washington Post {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  45. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (November 5, 2004), "Report Says Problems Led to Skewed Surveying Data", The New York Times {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  46. ^ "Report suggests changes in exit poll methodology", CNN, January 19, 2005 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  47. ^ Final Tallies Minus Exit Polls = A Statistical Mystery!, John Allen Paulos. Nov. 24, 2004
  48. ^ Edison Media Research; Mitofsky International (January 19, 2005). "Evaluation of Edison/Mitofsky Election System 2004" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  49. ^ Kennedy, Jr., Robert F. (June 1, 2006), "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?", Rolling Stone {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  50. ^ Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (November 11, 2004). "VOTING MACHINES AND THE UNDERESTIMATE OF THE BUSH VOTE" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-07-23. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  51. ^ Blumenthal, Mark (November 15, 2004). "Exit Polls: CalTech/MIT Report". Retrieved 2008-07-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  52. ^ Addendum to Voting Machines and the Underestimate of the Bush Vote
  53. ^ Letter from Warren Mitofsky to John Conyers, Jr. December 7, 2004
  54. ^ Steven F., Freeman (December 29, 2004). "The Unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-07-23. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  55. ^ Blumenthal, Mark (March 21, 2005). "Hello Exit Polls My Old Friend". Retrieved Dec. 11, 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  56. ^ Brady, Rick (March 28, 2005). "A Critical Review of The Unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  57. ^ Is America Ready to Vote? Office of Civil Rights Evaluation U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
  58. ^ Nader-Camejo Hand Recount in New Hampshire Ends With No Significant Discrepancies
  59. ^ 2004 Ballot Recount » Ohio County Reports » Cobb-LaMarche 2004
  60. ^ Kropko, M.R. (January 24, 2007), "Election Staff Convicted in Recount Rig", Washington Post {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  61. ^ "Cobb Concedes Ag Commissioner Race To Troxler", WRAL-TV, Feb 4, 2005 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  62. ^ Goodnough, Abby (December 29, 2004), "Puerto Rico Certifies Results in Election for Governor", New York Times {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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