Honest Voting

Here’s something unusual for this blog: specific suggestions for maximizing the possibility that all the votes in your precinct will be counted. Problems at your polling place might arise because of administrative or technical reasons rather than partisanship.

Steven Rosenfeld writes for AlterNet that you as an individual can take action in several areas:

• Foil voting roll purges. Check with your local election office to confirm you’re registered at your current address, especially if you haven’t voted in several years. Update your registration if necessary. Make sure you do this before your state’s registration deadline (in 27 states that’s sometime in the first week in October, but your state may differ.
• Update your registration early, or register early if you’re not currently registered. Examine your registration form carefully before you turn it in. The Democratic Party will be conducting a major voter registration drive after its national convention. Local election officials have complained all year that they’ve been overloaded with last-minute registrations; some officials will take a more hard-ass view than others. Make sure there’s time to correct any errors. Call your election office to be sure your form has been processed.
• Be prepared for partisan voter challenges. If you registered after Aug. 1 and if you get a postcard from a political party not of their choosing, you could be on a “caging” or voter challenge list. This is especially true for college students, minority voters, and even people who live on a military base. If you’re in a known battleground state, check with the political campaign you support to find out whether voter caging is likely in your area. Bring additional ID to the polls with you. This tactic is designed to cause voting delays, so be prepared for that.
• If you’re a student new to voting, find out what the local rules are for student voting. Post office boxes won’t suffice for a voting address in many instances. State residency and identification requirements often prove to be stumbling blocks. Find out how you need to vote, and consider getting an absentee ballot.
• Make sure your precincts have enough election machines and paper ballots.
  

  Local election integrity groups or election activists should ask election officials how they are deploying the machines and ask officials what the basis is for that decision. Election officials tend to use historic turnout patterns over several voting cycles, which, as was the case this spring, underestimated the number of primary and caucus voters. Local officials should be encouraged to use the voter turnout numbers from 2008’s primaries and caucuses and updated voter registration statistics, rather than voter turnout figures from 2004.

• Prevent shortages of poll workers. Because voter turnout is expected to be high, the need for poll workers has increased too. Local election integrity activists or local media should ask election officials where there are likely to be shortages of poll workers, and help recruit key staffers there. Don’t forget high-school and college students, who may be able to get school credit for their service. I worked in my state’s primary this year, and one of the best workers in my precinct was the calm, collected high-school student.
• Report problems with early voting to voter registration organizations. Early voting and absentee voting are popular enough now that they’re also early indications of voting problems. If absentee ballots aren’t sent out in time, people overseas or in the military may not get their ballot in time for it to be counted.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS