DNC launches investigation into election anomalies
By Zenitha Prince, Contributing Writer   The Louisiana Weekly

December 27, 2004

WASHINGTON (Special to the NNPA from Afro newspapers) - Just as Florida proved a laboratory for election reform after its 2000 debacle, Ohio is a treasure trove of information about election issues and practices, said Democratic Party leaders recently as they announced the launching of an investigation into the 2004 elections in that state.

"We believe in the aftermath of this election that it was important to study what happened in Ohio...to get answers that we can use to help implement and advocate reforms in the future,'' said Voting Rights Institute Chairwoman Donna Brazile.

Brazile and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said the party is assembling a team of experts to conduct a "thorough'' investigation into this year's election but not with an eye towards the White House.

"We are launching this comprehensive investigative study not to contest the result of the 2004 elections but to help ensure that every eligible vote cast is truly counted,'' McAuliffe said. "We can't expect people to come and make a record vote turnout again if they don't feel comfortable that we are protecting their right to vote.''

The Democratic Party waged a similar campaign after the 2000 elections in Florida, in which thousands of eligible voters were disenfranchised through various means. The DNC formed the Voting Rights Institute in 2001 and lobbied in Congress to implement reforms in the elections process like the use of provisional ballots and d voting machines. Their volunteers also descended en masse upon polling precincts in places like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania, this year, to monitor the proceedings.

Despite these changes, there were still substantial reports of faulty machines, ballot shortages, polling place changes, understaffed polling places, untrained personnel, voter intimidation, misinformation and other anomalies.

Part of combating these problems is in ensuring that the Help America Vote Act of 2002 has some "teeth'' to it, McAuliffe said.

"I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done with HAVA,'' the chairman said. "Republicans did not fund HAVA the way it should have been. The money did not get to the states. And before 2008, clearly, then in many congressional races in 2006, we need to ensure that we have the right machines in the right places in the right amounts so that it is not a burden for (people) to go and vote.''

The DNC will assemble a team comprised of a political scientist expert in quantitative analysis, experts in the design of computer hardware and software systems, an expert in voting systems and machines, an investigator with forensic expertise, and a pollster to survey voters who cast provisional ballots and to conduct other original survey research.

A final report is expected to be published next spring.