Joe Crankshaw: Carter is right—voting machines are a huge issue

By Joe Crankshaw Scripps
October 1, 2004

Gov. Jeb Bush is a tad upset at former President Jimmy Carter, who said that conditions do not exist to assure a fair election in Florida. Carter said there are too many questions about the touch screen voting machines that don't produce a paper trail. The governor said the former president is "haranguing" and that "conspiracy theories" are ridiculous.

If the debate is so ridiculous, why has one of the newest Republican governors, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, signed into law a bill requiring all touch screen machines to produce a paper record? If the issue is so minor, why has the federal court reinstated a suit seeking a paper trail filed by Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton?

The dispute over the machines has been going on for some time, but most of us have been distracted by the hurricanes. Frankly, we can't afford the distraction. When the public's attention is diverted by a major disaster, politicians can do anything because they know the media will be off following the big story of the moment, and voters will be too busy surviving to be able to take action.

There is a considerable body of thought that maintains the Republican Party "stole" the 2000 presidential election via the fouled-up Florida vote count. In part, this feeling is caused by the fact that Al Gore received more popular votes then George Bush, but Bush won because of the Electoral College vote in which Florida's numbers played a key role. Now many people feel the Republicans want to steal the election again.

You need to know that the nation has had "stolen" elections before — and survived. In fact, the most notable one, the contest between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel B. Tilden in 1876, featured Florida votes. They went to the Republican Hayes with the help of Florida Democrats. Hayes had put together a campaign strategy aimed at securing the Electoral College votes of the small states in order to gain a majority in the college count. He even benefited from the fact that Colorado, just admitted to the Union and heavily Republican, did not hold an election but simply had the Legislature name a slate of electors pledged to Hayes.

When the votes were counted, Tilden, the Democrat, clearly had the popular vote and 184 Electoral College votes. Hayes, the Republican, had 165 — the 19 votes from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were in dispute. Each state had submitted two slates, one each for Hayes and one each for Tilden.

The South was under federal rule during the reconstruction following the Civil War. Southerners wanted to end the federal occupation. In Florida, both Democrats and Republicans were claiming the presidential votes and the governor's office. In a series of backroom deals in Tallahassee, Washington, Baton Rouge and Columbia, a deal was worked out. Hayes pledged to end reconstruction if he received the 19 votes. In Florida, Democrats received the governorship for George Franklin Drew. Reconstruction was over and Hayes was president, although most people knew the election had been bargained away or stolen. Hayes was known ever after as "Rutherfraud."

The nation survived Hayes. He started the construction of the transcontinental railway system, provided funds for the rehabilitation of the devastated Southern states, and had a successful single term. The nation has survived the Bush administration, although we have become divided on many issues including the war in Iraq, the growing national debt, and widening poverty.

But Americans cling to the hope of well-run elections that ensure a fair choice and a clean vote, things that seem imperiled by the electronic voting machines. There exists a wide possibility, perhaps even a probability, that the machines have been configured to produce a desired vote on election day. In the absence of a paper trail clearly establishing the votes cast, a recount in close elections is impossible, and it may not even be possible to determine if the vote recorded is the vote as cast.

So Gov. Bush, who has been doing an excellent job of marshalling Florida's resources to recover from four devastating hurricanes, ought not be at odds with former President Carter. Carter has shown himself to be a patient, wise and cautious individual, not given to rash statements. His views need consideration, not ridicule.

Floridians need to stop sorting items that survived the hurricanes long enough to pay attention to the debate over counting votes, because their future depends on it. It's hard to pay attention to political matters when you want to find ice, good water, gasoline, telephones, electric power and other essentials, but it has to be done to insure that true, representative democracy continues in our republic.