US unprepared to handle election fraud: Congress
AFP, Washington  The Daily Star   16 October 2004

The US government is ill-prepared to address allegations of voting fraud should they arise during next month's presidential and legislative elections, a congressional report concluded Thursday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) Congress's independent investigative arm, determined in a 106-page report that the US Justice Department has not established procedures for documenting voting irregularities or voter intimidation, and has no clearcut policy for responding to such allegations.

Lawmakers who requested the report expressed outrage at the findings.

"It is inexcusable that the Justice Department is not fully prepared to protect the right of all Americans to vote," said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.

"The Justice Department does not have the systems in place that are necessary to respond to reports of voters being turned away from the polls on Election Day," he said.

Another top Democrat, Representative John Conyers of Michigan, said the lack of preparedness by Justice Department officials could result in a full-blown post-election crisis.

"In what appears to be another razor-thin election, the Justice Department appears woefully unprepared, and once again has left us vulnerable to another crisis in democracy," he said

"The fundamentals of election protection are clearly not being met," he said.