Contact: Christy Hicks of The Century Foundation, 212-452-7723 or hicks@tcf.org, Daniel Seligson of electionline.org, 202-338-9320 or dseligson@electionline.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ A number of new rules and procedures await voters in polling places across the region as they head to the polls for Super Tuesday's pivotal primaries.

"Primary Education: Election Reform and the 2004 Presidential Race," a publication of electionline.org and The Century Foundation, finds that while voters in New England will find elections somewhat changed since 2000, legislative foot-dragging and funding challenges have slowed polling place upgrades in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Election reforms have been made nationwide in the wake of the passage of the Help America Vote Act. The bill's central component, a $3.86 billion authorization to states to pay for new voting machines, voter registration databases and other election needs, is accompanied by federal election mandates.

That includes: provisional voting ballots for voters who believe they are registered but whose names are not on registration rolls; voter identification requirements for first- time voters who register by mail and do not include verification with their registration applications; and new machine standards and/or voter education programs to reduce spoiled or uncountable ballots.

Changes around New England have varied, said the authors of the report, who noted each state has different needs to address in meeting the mandates of the Act and making other improvements to their respective election systems.

"Connecticut has moved deliberately in upgrading voting systems. Resistance to changing the status quo at the polls means voters across the state will be using lever machines," said Dan Seligson, editor of electionline.org and a co-author of the report. "In Massachusetts, the state has said it's not ready to implement the voter identification portion of the Help America Vote Act, while in Vermont, new rules could be jarring in a state where most poll workers know every voter by name."

Tova Wang, senior program officer and democracy fellow of The Century Foundation, and co-author of the report, added: "Tuesday's elections will be a huge test of the states' abilities to implement the new voting rules of the Help America Vote Act, including new identification requirements and new provisional voting rules in some states."

"The question that most voters will want answered is, have we moved past Florida 2000? The primaries could begin to answer that," Wang said.

MASSACHUSETTS

Now a punch card and lever-machine free state, most Massachusetts voters will cast ballots on optical scanners. Concerns about the implementation of the Help America Vote Act's identification requirements for first-time voters who register by mail have meant the state will delay the required implementation. State officials say the U.S. Justice Department will not take action against the state, despite having the authority to do so under the Act.

CONNECTICUT

Lever voting machines a system specifically targeted by Congress for an optional replacement program will remain in use statewide for the primary. While the Act provided more than $300 million for the immediate replacement of the machines in 2003, state officials have demonstrated indecision on whether to replace the older voting system. Voting system replacements could loom however. The state has indicated it will spend 75 percent of its allotment of federal election reform dollars on new machines.

RHODE ISLAND

State polling places will offer voters provisional ballots for the first time on Tuesday. Voters who arrive at the polls, believing they are registered but whose names do not appear on the rolls will, by law, be offered a provisional ballot. The ballots will then be segregated and counted only when the voter's eligibility can be confirmed. The voter will be able to call a toll-free number to determine whether their vote was counted.

VERMONT

Few states have shown as much resistance to changing election procedures as Vermont, where most cast hand-counted paper ballots and poll workers know their voters by name. It is also a state with a history of trouble-free elections. Nonetheless, poll workers will be required to check identification of some first- time voters who register by mail and will offer provisional ballots to voters whose names do not appear on registration rolls.

Primary Education explores the changes to voting procedures and potential for voting problems in the 22 early primary states that will be the key battlegrounds as the Democratic contenders seek to secure their party's presidential nomination. The report examines the impact of past and possible future litigation; controversies over new voting machines, electronic voting, and voter-verified audit trails; the effect of new mandates in states, including voter identification and provisional voting; and the ramifications of California's gubernatorial recall election, during which a federal court considered delaying the vote because of continued punch-card machine usage around the state. The report also offers examples of misconceptions about election reform.

To read the entire "Primary Education" report, click http://www.electionline.org/site/docs/pdf/Primary% 20Education.PDF.

To receive a copy of "Primary Education: Election Reform and the 2004 Presidential Race" by mail, email your mailing address to media@electionline.org.