RALEIGH, N.C. -- "I was sure I voted for president, but then a friend told me that a straight-party vote in North Carolina includes every office except president. That made me really mad," Linda Chavis told OffTheBus.
Politically speaking, Chavis didn't just fall off the turnip truck. She is a volunteer "crew chief" for the Obama campaign in Raleigh who did not notice the separation between the straight-party vote and the presidential vote on North Carolina's poorly designed ballot in 2004. "I thought I voted against George W. Bush, but it turned out I didn't vote for president at all. It's an issue today because we're still using the same confusing ballot," said Chavis.
Chavis wasn't the only dumbfounded voter in 2004. A Duke University researcher estimated that more than 90,000 people who voted in North Carolina inexplicably did not cast a vote for president. That's 60,000 to 70,000 more than researchers would expect.
"One way to measure the impact of ballot design on voter confusion is the Residual Vote Rate. That's the difference between the number of ballots cast and the number of valid votes for president cast," said David C. Kimball, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In the last two presidential elections, the number of lost votes for president was "about twice as high in North Carolina as the national average," Kimball told OffTheBus.
"I would guess that most -- if not all -- of this difference can be attributed to North Carolina's confusing ballot," said Lawrence Norden, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. In North Carolina, a straight-party vote counter-intuitively does not include a vote for president. Voters must make a separate mark under the Presidential Contest box.
On Election Day 2008, there will probably be more voters than there were in 2004, and many of them will be first-time voters. "I believe as many as 100,000 votes for president could be lost this time around," Norden told OffTheBus.
This year's butterfly ballot?
It is important that ballots are easy to understand. Remember what happened with the butterfly ballot in Florida? When just a couple of hundred votes (out of 5.8 million cast) separated George W. Bush and Al Gore?
The ballot design flaw disproportionately impacts three groups who are likely to be heavily represented in the election this year: new voters, the poor, and the elderly. On the internet, poll workers in the Tar Heel State have "twittered" for help in explaining the ballot on election day. Some less sympathetic bloggers have replied that if people can't understand the ballot, they shouldn't be voting.
"Elections are held to get instructions from the public, they are not literacy tests," said Norden. "If something confuses people and it can easily be fixed, then it should be."
Think of it this way. "Imagine if confusing road signs were causing traffic accidents. Sure, a few people might say, 'What's wrong with those new drivers, those elderly drivers -- why can't they figure out the signs?' But before there were more fatalities, surely the government would replace the confusing signs with symbols that people can easily understand," said Norden.
Early voting started a week ago, already there are problems
"We've already had reports that people don't understand the ballot instructions," a Democratic Campaign official in North Carolina told OffTheBus. Speaking off the record, he said that the Board of Elections is "supposed to be educating voters at the polls, but so far the results are uneven. The word's not getting out consistently. Simply handing out a blue piece of paper isn't all that effective."
Adding to voter confusion, the GOP intends to challenge the legality of certain new voter registrations on Election Day, something they are already doing in Ohio. "This year I think we're going to see more first-time voters -- young people and minorities -- than ever before, and as first-time voters, they are likely to be challenged," sociologist Wayne Baker, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, told OffTheBus. Baker blogs the election at OurValues.org.
If two percent or more of North Carolina voters unknowingly "skip" the presidential contest, it may very well have an impact on the outcome. In 1992, George H.W. Bush narrowly defeated Bill Clinton in North Carolina by getting 43.34 percent of the vote versus 42.65 percent for Clinton. Polls indicate that this year the presidential race in North Carolina might be similarly close.
The Brennan Center recently rated North Carolina among the six best prepared states for voting system failures such as machine breakdowns and programming errors. The state's preparedness for hardware and software problems improved dramatically after their touch-screen machines failed in Carteret County in 2004 and more than 4,000 votes were lost. "I've been telling less-prepared states they don't want to become another North Carolina, waiting for a meltdown to improve their practices. And I don't want North Carolina to be another North Carolina. I hope the ballot design flaw doesn't throw the results of its presidential contest into doubt," said Norden.
VotersUnite.org recommends that people in North Carolina avoid straight-party voting.
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Take a look: http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/Sampleballots/2008General/8GORAN01.pdf
If you can read directions, there's no excuse for not voting for president.....
It is the ONLY leading democracy in the world, that doesn't have a unified, government-run election system, with government employees rather than political hacks in charge.
Even here in Canada...the same size as America but with 1/10th your population... a government department ... Elections Canada... handles all election details and the ballot is identical in each province (with obvious names, etc. province-specific).
The first I heard of this huge miscarriage of justice was on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC...our "public radio") the other night.
I was appalled...please explain!!!
I early voted in Charlotte, NC last week. Before I got to the booth, the poll worker reminded me two times that voting straight ticket means you still have to pull a lever for the presidential race. I didn't have any problems anyway because the instructions were clear. In fact, I remember thinking that I liked the decoupling idea because (a) the presidential race is so much more important and (b) I generally buy into the notion of divided government (but that's my politics and not relevant here).
Here's the link to the NC 2008 sample ballot. People on both sides of the aisles always have and always will gripe when they feel like things aren't going their way, but I think it is straightforward.
http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/Sampleballots/2008General/8GBUNC02.pdf
The instructions for presidential contest and straight party voting are bold, big point font and "in your face."
My advice? Just read directions or ask for help. You'll be fine.
I thought of you after listening to this compelling story on an independent radio station in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, from Professor Richard Hayes Phillips, who has been investigating the authenticity of the 2004 Election results in Ohio. I guess we all know that Ohio was critical to the success of the Bush administration retaining there place in the Whitehouse for another four years.
He was not even able to get a publisher for this book so he and his assistance published it themselves. With the same old gang up to there same old dirty tricks, this is a must read. We need to damand an investigation and some people need to be jailed!
I fear that the “Bradley Effect” will just be another cover for the “Rigging Effect”
Witness to a Crime by Richard Hayes Phillips
http://witnesstoacrime.com/reviews.htm
Ohio Voting Machines Contained Programming Error That Dropped Votes
By Mary Pat Flaherty
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/21/ohio_voting_machines_contained.html
Electronics and Voting By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2554.shtml
The polls in Pennsylvania show a double digit lead (by University and Newspaper Polls) in Pennsylvania. His lead is 4% in Florida (if not mistaken). Nationally Obamah is in the lead.
.
If this is what American democracy is all about then people are probably better off under their mildly-oppressive regimes. At least those people know their countries' systems are a sham. The average American thinks his or her country is perfect, yet this crap is still going on?
Down under, in Australia, we have nothing but good old-fashioned paper ballots. Results of elections are usually known within hours. There are no disputes. Voters' credentials are not challenged at polling booths. Voter registration is mandatory and is handled by the Australian Electoral Commission. Nobody gets paid to sign up false names.
What I can't believe is the inaction over this. The rest of the world are counting on the United States to get its house in order. For Christ's sake, we can't take another four years of the nut jobs from the GOP throwing its weight around on the world stage!
"A Straight Party vote is a vote for ALL CANDIDATES OF THAT PARTY in partisan offices. Individual partisan office selections are not necessary if you select a Straight Party below" [emphasis mine].
That's not confusing. That's perfectly clear. It just happens to be wrong because a Straight Party vote omits casting a vote for president.
I early-voted in Charlotte and no poll worker cautioned me about the mistake on the ballot. Perhaps there were signs to that effect posted in the voting place, but I never noticed any.
We have far bigger problems in our world than the ballot. If you're not smart enough to read it and vote successfully, then maybe you're not smart enough to vote.
Moving on!
If a Presidential vote is not part of a voting group, then it must be on a separate ballot with a different color paper.
Ballots should always be paper, and an independent non-partisan professional office appointed by the federal legislature, accompanied by paid temporary workers who are scrutinized by representatives from political parties and groups jointly approved by the political parties should count the votes.
This electoral office should also be responsible for registering voters and it should require a standard ID test akin to the tests for social security, a gun license, drivers license, bank account, or passport when an application for registration is made. Recording the details against the registration will assist in detecting multiple registrations for the same person.
Ballots should be sequentially numbered when they are printed, and as they are handed out they should be signed by the issuing officer, the number being recorded in a register (but not against the electoral roll). Voters must present photographic ID at the polling station to receive a vote.
At the end of the election day, the number of names "crossed off" the roll should be tallied against the number of ballots counted and the number of votes recorded as being issued.
Use electronic methods to improve auditability, but do not rely on it for counting the vote.
Voting should be sacrosanct in a democracy.
It is a little more expensive to do it in this manner, but it is essential that at this fundamental level of democracy that the social aspect not be lost. There must be a basic cooperation between stakeholders that cannot be circumvented. Checks and balances may be expensive or time consuming, but their mechanics should be physical and obvious. This is the only way of safeguarding democracy.
The Republican Party is so crooked it is pathetic.
I voted early in Charlotte, NC. The sample ballot had the instructions, signs outside the voting area had the instructions and I was told twice by workers. Before finalizing your vote, the final page summarizes all your votes with big green check marks beside the candidates you had chosen. A straight vote would have put green check marks by each individual race that was covered by the straight ticket, leaving out judges and president.
The design of the ballot can hardly be blamed on Republicans. NC is Blue at the state level, but leans Red in national elections. The Democratic party controls the state government and this design was instituted to prevent cases of landslide candidates skewing the local elections (think Reagan in the '84).
Craaazy.
Why in the world do we have such varied voting procedures? There should be ONE AND ONLY ONE UNIFORM method of voting for the entire country. There is absolutely no reason to have a different method in each state... unless, of course you are making room and allowing avenues for the states to play partisan politics with our elections... And we (the USA) have the nerve to complain about and demand to monitor elections in other countries.