National elections standard urged

By CHRIS CHURCHILL   Maine Today    22 November 2004
Staff Writer

 WATERVILLE A group of Waterville-based activists is voicing concerns about the 2004 presidential election and the integrity of the American electoral system.

Members of Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice, picking up on a tide of similar concerns raised nationally, are alarmed by reports of election mistakes in key battleground states and are worried about the rise of electronic, paperless voting machines, which members say are too vulnerable to shenanigans or even fraud.

The activists have scheduled meetings today with the offices of Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan M. Collins to discuss their worries. They are calling for a national elections standard that all states would follow and a federal authority that would monitor the process.

"We are concerned," Arne Springorum, 32, said Friday during a meeting at the Morning Sentinel, "and we believe there are thousands of other Americans who are concerned. There is widespread mistrust in the election system."

The Waterville group, which seems to have about a dozen active members, points to reports out of Ohio, Florida and several other states that claim electronic voting machines gave President Bush many more votes than he deserved or that thousands of people were disenfranchised by registration errors.

Many of those reports originated on Internet Web sites run by "bloggers," and many of the assertions have already been discredited by major news organizations and even by other Web sites. But Bridges for Peace and Justice members note that university professors and even congressmen are now raising the same issues.

U.S. Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Robert Wexler, D-Fla., have written a letter to the Comptroller General of the United States asking for an investigation. "The essence of democracy is the confidence of the electorate in the accuracy of voting methods and the fairness of voting procedures," the letter says. "In 2000, that confidence suffered terribly, and we fear that such a blow to our democracy may have occurred in 2004."

Common Cause, a national advocacy group headed by former Maine Senate candidate Chellie Pingree, is also asking questions about electronic voting machines and is requesting a recount in Ohio, where, the group says, thousands of ballots have been discarded and where "thousands of Ohio citizens reported difficulties and barriers in casting their vote."

Some concerns about the 2004 election arise from exit poll results that seemed to show Democrat John Kerry winning states that he later lost. But in a recent visit to Waterville, Warren Mitofsky, who co-ran the exit polling on behalf of the nation's leading news organizations, said he sees no reason to doubt or discredit official election returns.

No one has alleged voting discrepancies in Maine, and most observers praise how in-state officials tally votes.

"The way the state of Maine conducts elections is above board and is one of the best- run election systems in the country," said Dwayne Bickford, executive director of the Maine Republican Party. Bickford declined comment on the Bridges for Peace and Justice concerns.

Members of the activist group agreed with Bickford's assessment of Maine elections. But other states are not as professional, they said, or have turned to electronic voting machines that leave no paper trail making a review of the election impossible.

Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice is a liberal group, and its members admit they are disappointed by the result of the presidential election. But Ruani Freeman, a self-described 30-something free-lance writer from Waterville, said members are "not just people whining about who won the election."

Freeman said all election allegations should be investigated no matter who wins a race. If they are not, she and other members said, the consequences for democracy could be dire because people could lose faith in the electoral process.

Members also noted that reports on 2004 election troubles have been common in foreign media outlets. The reports, they say, undercut America's reputation as a beacon of democracy and its efforts to export it.

"We're supposed to be the model," Chris Rusnov, a 52-year-old woman from Winslow, said. "If we can't get it right, how can other countries get it right?"