More Than Forty National Organizations Call on Election Directors to Prevent Problems

8/23/2004 5:01:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Kelly L. Ceballos of LWVUS, 202-236-1331 Rob Randhava of LCCR, 202-466-6058

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 /U.S. Newswire/ Forty national organizations last week called on the chief election officials of each of the fifty states to take steps to guard the election process for the November 2004 election.

"There is a growing chorus of concern over how this election will be run. Specific steps can be taken now to protect the right to vote, and we ask election directors to carefully consider our suggestions," said Kay J. Maxwell, president of the League of Women Voters. "These are common-sense, operational and management measures that can be put in place for this election," she said.

In their letter to each state's chief election official, the organizations pointed to "Top Five Risks to Eligible Voters in 2004," (http://www.lwv.org/join/elections/TopFiveRisks.pdf) released earlier by the League and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and suggested specific procedures that could protect against these risks:

1) Voter registration problems.

Ensure timely transmittal from DMV and other agencies to registration authorities.

Accept all registration forms with adequate eligibility information.

2) Erroneous purging.

Do not purge voter rolls close to Election Day (after the close of registration).

Check for accuracy before using any list of potentially ineligible voters.

3) Problems with new ID requirements.

Educate voters on the ID they should bring to the polling place.

Recruit and train bilingual poll workers to assist limited English-proficient voters.

4) Difficulties with voting systems.

Educate voters on how to operate their voting machines.

Institute management safeguards and testing of all machines.

5) Failure to count provisional ballots.

Ensure that eligibility to vote in the federal election is the test for counting provisional ballots in federal contests.

Set a statewide, uniform, nondiscriminatory process for issuing and counting provisional ballots.

"Our research tells us that voter registration is shaping up to be a critical problem in this election," according to Maxwell. "Too often, voter registration applications are being rejected because of technicalities," she said. "People of all political persuasions are deeply concerned about this election and want to participate. Numerous voter registration drives are underway," she said. "We urge election directors to make sure that eligible voters are properly registered, rather than being unfairly rejected," Maxwell concluded.

"Early signs indicate that provisional ballots cast by eligible voters in many states will not be counted, undermining this important new voter safeguard," said Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "The right to cast a ballot is meaningless if those ballots are never counted," he said. "We need fair processes to guarantee that all eligible voters will have their provisional ballots counted," Henderson said.

"Momentum to ensure a fair election is growing," said Maxwell. "The civil rights community believes steps must be taken now to ensure an open and democratic election system for all," said Henderson.

Signatories:

20/20 Vision

AARP

ACORN

Advancement Project

Alliance for Retired Americans

American Association of People with Disabilities

American Civil Liberties Union

American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Foundation for the Blind

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Asian Pacific American Legal Center

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Laws

Center for Policy Alternatives

Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action

Democracy Works

The Interfaith Alliance & Foundation

International Union, United Auto Workers

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

League of Women Voters of the United States

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.

National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees

National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund (NALEO)

National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems

National Coalition of the Homeless

National Council of La Raza

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

New York Public Interest Research Group

Organization of Chinese Americans

Paralyzed Veterans of America

Project Vote

Public Citizen

Union for Reform Judaism

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

United Methodist Church, General Board of Church & Society

U.S. Public Interest Research Group

USAction Education Fund

Youth Vote Coalition