Groups launch campaigns to keep voters informed

By CATHY ZOLLO,  Naples News August 26, 2004

If savvy New York businesswomen don't know their basic voting rights, Kay Maxwell figures many other Americans are a bit in the dark as well.

Maxwell, president of the League of Women Voters of the United States, said only a few of the roughly 100 women at a recent talk she gave knew about provisional ballots.

A provisional ballot allows a voter, whose right to vote is challenged at the polls, to cast a ballot and have it counted if he or she was properly registered.

 

AT A GLANCE
Election Protection 2004 provides a toll-free number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, with free, immediate and multilingual assistance to help voters with questions about registration and voting and to assist voters who encounter barriers to the ballot box.

The change came as part of extensive election reform that followed the controversial 2000 presidential contest, but Maxwell said it won't mean much if voters don't know they can ask for such a ballot.

The push to educate voters about their rights is growing, and with important elections looming, private organizations are stepping in where they think the government ought to but isn't.

Two groups have launched programs in recent days to address the problems they think might materialize when voters return to the ballot box for the Aug. 31 primary election and Nov. 2 general election.

Along with the League of Women Voters, a coalition of nonprofit voting and civil rights groups called Election Protection 2004 also kicked off a campaign to inform voters about their rights and elections officials about their responsibilities.

Citing problems in the 2000 election and since, Election Protection 2004 officials say more than 4 million voters were disenfranchised across the nation in 2000. They say it's happened because of problems with voting machines, absentee ballots, poorly trained poll workers, badly designed ballots and voter intimidation and suppression.

Both groups are focusing on Florida.

"Demands on Florida's voting system are at an all-time high due to new federal and state requirements for state election officials," said Sharon Lettman-Pacheco, national field director of Election Protection. "... By providing training and free legal advice to voters and election officials, the Election Protection program hopes to minimize the risk of disenfranchisement."

 

FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ON ELECTION DAY
Your ballot, your vote. Don't panic if you registered to vote but your name is not on the list. Get help from a poll worker to make sure your vote is counted. You may be directed to another polling place or be given a provisional ballot.

Don't leave home without it. You may need to show identification. To be safe, bring your driver license or a paycheck, utility bill or government document that includes your name and street address.

Writing on the wall. Look at the signs at the polling place for directions on how to use the voting machines, a list of your voting rights, and instructions for filing a complaint if your rights have been violated.

When in doubt, ask. Poll workers are there to help you. They'll show you how to work the machines and give you a provisional ballot if you need one. If you're at the wrong polling place, they should tell you how to get to the right one.

In and out. You probably won't have to wait too long. But even if the line is long, don't leave without voting. The outcome of this election will be important.

Source: The League of Women Voters of the United States

Maxwell, the League of Women Voters president, said she plans to visit Florida in coming weeks to introduce and hand out voting tips palm cards that voters can take to their precincts on Election Day. And Election Protection 2004 has on its Web site the Florida voter's bill of rights for the same purpose.

As well, the League recently released to elections officials across the country a report called Safeguard the Vote that details suggestions for doing what the title says.

"So much attention has been focused on the machines, and an election is much more than the machines," Maxwell said, referring to the continuing controversy over the accuracy of electronic voting machines and the call for voter-verified paper receipts from those machines.

The report deals with the administrative side of running an election and gives examples of places where officials are doing innovative and effective procedures to keep elections fair and accurate.

Elections officials in Lee and Collier counties went point by point through the list and said they are already doing most of what's on there.

The recommendations cover openness in elections, uniformity of the elections process in each state, the testing and protection of equipment, voter and poll worker education and election backup planning in the event of an emergency. They also recommend post-election checks and statewide uniform voter registration information.

Under the Help America Vote Act, states were supposed to have a real-time, statewide voter registration database in place by Jan. 1, 2004, but Florida missed that deadline and will not have its database ready until 2006.

Elections officials in both counties acknowledged that the recommendations will be useful to officials around the country.

"I think everybody will benefit from this document," said Gary Beauchamp, deputy supervisor of elections for Collier County. "It's especially good for elections officials that may just be going through the transition from old systems to new systems across the country."

Sharon Harrington, supervisor of elections in Lee County, said despite what people read about Florida, the state leads the way in elections administration and reform.

"We in Lee County really do all of the things already being suggested by the League and have done so for many, many years," she said. "Apparently there are areas throughout the country that don't have the strict laws and rules that we have to help us provide each and every voter in the county with safe, honest and accurate elections."

In stark disagreement with Harrington and other elections officials is Reggie Mitchell, Florida coordinator for Election Protection 2004.

He said the state has a history of disenfranchising voters that goes back well beyond the 2000 presidential race. He said there is every indication that a movement is afoot to suppress votes in the state ahead of the November election. He pointed to a recent investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement of black voting activists in the Orlando area helping voters register and then vote by absentee ballot.

"It's hard to imagine that right before one of the major elections in this country (for law enforcement officials) to say we didn't realize we were intimidating voters," Mitchell said. "There are so many other groups doing absentee work. Why is it they just accidentally end up in a black neighborhood?"

For that reason, Election Protection 2004 focuses more on voters than officials.

Along with the toll-free number — 1-800-OUR-VOTE — for multilingual answers to voter questions and that will help voters who run into problems at the polls, Election Protection 2004 will provide:

— Millions of state-specific copies of a voter's bill of rights prior to the election.

— Volunteer advocates trained to expose and prevent voter intimidation and suppression and anticipate problems with an expected surge of new voter registrations, new voting machines, technology and ballot forms.

— Volunteer lawyers to represent voters in lawsuits, preserve access to the polls and protect voter rights.

— Poll monitors and volunteers to watch for problems at the polls and assist voters on the spot.

The Election Protection 2004 coalition has also worked to clean up Florida's felon purge list and has called for a paper record for votes cast on electronic voting machines as well as conducting an ongoing voter education program.

"We know there is a clear and present danger of voter suppression that is going to take place, and we intend to try to stop it," Mitchell said.