Protecting The Vote

Voter registration deadlines are just over a week away in many states. Polls open in just over a month. In an election that could well be decided by new voters, voter registration efforts are in overdrive. But signing people up might be the easy part: after that, there's voting. As the last two elections have shown, just showing up at the polls isn't a guarantee of a smooth ride to the ballot box.

In 2000 and 2004, all across the country, thousands of voters were removed from the rolls, without their knowledge, in official purges of voter lists. On Election Day in 2004, boxes of registrations remained unprocessed in at least two cities we know about -- Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. On the radio that election night, I received calls from Columbus voters who had stood for hours in line because of a shortage of voting machines in the inner city, even as, in nearby wealthy suburbs, voters were able to cast their votes in a matter of minutes. As one caller put it, "Jim Crow isn't dead."

Election protection and voting rights should be central to any conversation about the '08 vote. But a lot of tough questions are getting lost in horse-race coverage. And many voters are wondering -- again -- if their vote will be counted. In contrast to most advanced democracies, the right to vote isn't conveyed automatically with citizenship or coming of age in the United States. Voters have to prove themselves and there are no end to the challenges, from felon disenfranchisement laws to monolingual ballots and a myriad of ever-changing rules which differ from election to election and district to district. Come voting day, voters rely on minimally-trained poll-workers overseeing a myriad of voting systems. Disturbing doubts remain about the security of electronic voting and the privately-owned technology many districts rely on to tally votes.

Fed up with waiting for officials or Parties to do the work, this year, as never before, citizens' groups, and voting rights organizations are taking early action to protect the vote. A few months back, national voting rights groups charged officials in Kansas, Michigan and Louisiana of illegally purging voter lists. Voters whose homes are in foreclosure are also concerned that their status might be used at the precinct to challenge their right to vote. The states with the highest foreclosure rates, Ohio, Michigan, Florida and Colorado, are also swing states where the election could hinge on tiny margins. Meanwhile, in Michigan, the ACLU has just filed a federal lawsuit against state electoral officials over statewide voter purge programs they claim would "disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Michigan voters" -- many of them college students. Thanks to independent reporting and activist organizing, the Department of Veterans Affairs was recently forced to reverse its policy that would have stopped voter registration drives at hundreds of VA hospitals serving injured and homeless vets.

While the media focus on the candidates, voting rights advocates are focusing on the future of our democracy. It's falling to nonprofit outfits like the Advancement Project to distribute state-specific "know the facts" palm cards to poll workers in many states. And organizers are fanning out. Twenty-three states allow early voting. Ohio has a "golden week" -- September 30 to October 6 -- in which people can register and vote all in the same day. The organizers recommend voting early. Avoid the lines and the worst of the chaos.

Will citizen activism decide an election? It just might.

Listen to what Ohio voting rights leaders say about Golden Week on Live From Main Street's virtual Town Hall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbOk-IliIcY

Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kKhsC8H-tE

"Live From Main Street Columbus: Will Your Vote Count?" is a virtual town hall exploring how the issues of voting rights and election security affect every day Americans. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit www.livefrommainstreet.org.

This article was composed with the help of the American Forum. You can read the Forum's blog at realwomenbackstory.blogspot.com.

Comments

[bozdc]

Election Protection (http://866OURVOTE.org) is the largest voter protection effort and is working nonstop to ensure a fair and free election this time. They will have over 10,000 legal volunteers on the ground during Election Day. The 866-OUR-VOTE hotline is the place to report any problems with voting or any problems or questions about registering to vote.

[DoTheMath]

It's interesting to see the headlines for articles like this side-by-side in Google News with headlines for articles about appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the Justice Department.

[RitaLouise]

I think all Americans should join in and not answer one poll question!!! Polls are worthless, as they depend heavily on how the question is structured, and they can cause a great deal of misconception. This goes for the exit polls as well. Every poll should be ignored, not given any time or comment. This would effectively stun the media and all the speculation would come to a grinding halt. It would assure and election of greater fairness and bring respect back to the voting process. I wonder how many would get on board with this moratorium?