Potential voting woes loom for Super Tuesday

After Congress enacted the Help America Vote Act in 2002 — which was designed to prevent another election disaster — electronic voting was accepted by several states as the answer to cumbersome paper ballots, which must be fed into counting machines or tallied with optical scanners.

State officials in Colorado also have decertified electronic machines, citing the possibility of malfunctions and errors, though machines will not be used in Tuesday’s caucuses.

In Florida — where the “hanging chad” paper ballot debacle of 2000 prompted all 67 counties to embrace touch-screen machines — state officials will now no longer use most of them. This week’s primary marked the last use for most of the 250,000 machines. In November, voters will cast paper ballots read by optical scanners — a reversal prompted by several factors, including pressure from voting activists and a federal investigation under way in Sarasota to determine if touch-screen machines there failed to record 18,000 votes during the 2006 congressional election.

Despite record turnout this week, Florida’s primary went smoothly.

Problem areas identified
E-voting — which accounts for about 40 percent of voting technology used in the U.S., according to activist group Verified Voting — continues to spark controversy in other states as well.

For example, New Jersey officials failed to meet a state-ordered deadline to install paper printers on some machines to provide written proof of a voter’s choice. So on Tuesday, voters will continue to use electronic machines — devices that voting activists say are unreliable and prone to error because they produce no paper or audit trail.

Producing identification at polling places is another troublesome issue, according to voters rights groups.

Georgia, which requires photo ID at precincts, faces its first statewide test of the law enacted after a long court battle. State officials have conducted public education campaigns, listing the type of photo identification that meets the state rule. They include: a Georgia driver’s license, even if expired; a military ID; an American Indian tribal ID; or a U.S. passport.

Voters who lack such documentation can receive a free state photo ID. In some precincts, that identification can be issued at the polling place while would-be voters wait.

But that does little to appease civil rights groups and voting rights organizations that say the law disenfranchises minorities and the elderly — those most at risk for lacking such documentation.

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether a similar, but more restrictive, Indiana law violates the Constitution. A decision is expected this summer.

Arizona, too, faces criticism over state rules demanding photo ID at the polls — as well as requiring that proof of citizenship be shown when registering to vote. Unlike Indiana and Georgia, Arizona allows voters to produce two other forms of ID, such as utility and telephone bills, if they lack photo identification.

A coalition of citizens’ groups including the League of Women Voters of Arizona, the League of United Latin American Citizens and People For the American Way Foundation, filed suit against the law, saying it deprived residents of their right to vote.

The suit is pending. Legal efforts by the coalition to temporarily block the law have failed.

Tuesday’s primary will be the first election for national office in Arizona using the ID rule since it was approved by ballot initiative in 2004.

Arizona officials say the rule does not cause a hardship, it merely bolsters existing law that stipulates only U.S. citizens have the right to vote.

Minority groups scoff at that.

“It’s an unnecessary and very harmful obstacle to voter registration,” said Nina Perales, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is a party to the lawsuit.

“There is a disparate effect on Latinos. There are many people who don’t have documentation that proves they’re a citizen.”

No matter what happens on Super Tuesday, there is an upside to voting this early in so many states, voting advocates say.

“If there really are problems, that gives states longer than they’d normally have to fix them before the November election,” said electiononline.org’s Chapin.

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