Statement to the EAC Jonah Goldman
Lawyet's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Vote Trust USA
December 09, 2006
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2107&Itemid=26 The following statement was delivered to the Election Assistance Commission at their public hearing in Washington, D.C. on December 7, 2006.
In 2006, the Lawyers' Committee recruited over 2,000 legal volunteers to staff our legal programs across the country. These volunteers served over 20 local legal organizations by responding to voters’ problems on the ground. Legal volunteers trained in state specific election law staffed the 1-866-OUR-VOTE voter assistance hotline making it the nation’s largest such hotline. Election Protection received nearly 25,000 calls during this election cycle from voters in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Our volunteers on the ground responded to thousands of concerns from voters, worked with hundreds of state and local election officials to solve problems on and before Election Day and developed legal materials for the District and all 50 states. In addition to our role as the lead legal partner, our friends at the NAACP and People For the American Way Foundation organize an extensive field program that includes poll monitors and voter education programs.
On November 7, 2006, millions of Americans across the country went to the polls and dramatically shifted the political landscape in the United States Congress and in legislatures and governors mansions across the country. Many commentators proclaimed that the election moved forward without any structural problems or dismissed the obstacles voters faced as insignificant because electoral catastrophe was limited to a few races but expanding the diagnostics of success from those that are purely partisan to those that form our fundamental democratic identity as Americans demands a different conclusion. Unfortunately, countless eligible Americans were prevented from exercising their most fundamental right – the right to vote – because of inadequacies in the infrastructure of our election system. If the goal is to provide every eligible
voter who wants to participate the opportunity to do so, I do not think that we can be so quick to
anoint Election 2006 a resounding success.
As in years past, the Election Protection experience paints the most comprehensive, independent picture of the health of our electoral process. Unfortunately, it is once again clear that the American voter is underserved by our nation’s electoral structure. From coast to coast, problems at all parts of the process led to eligible voters being denied the right to participate. While there were only a few places where the margin of disenfranchisement led to uncertainty with election results, the damage to our democratic experiment remains a national problem. Regardless of the political impact, voters in nearly every district are at risk of being unfairly and unnecessarily removed from the system.
While the case should not be overstated, it is critical that as we immediately enter the 2008 presidential election cycle, we undertake a more honest assessment of what happened in this election so we can concentrate on ensuring real, meaningful reform before the next federal cycle. Assuming the dual goal of faith in our electoral system and its outcomes and honoring our constitutional promise of free and equal access to the polling place for all eligible Americans, it is critical that we understand the problems that voters experienced in 2006, the causes and how to craft meaningful solutions. While disenfranchisment resulted from dozens of causes, I want to talk specifically about a few problems that were especially pronounced this November.
Voting Machines and Problems at the Polls
Problems with the administration of the election created obstacles to efficient voting that have become increasingly familiar to voters across the country. In multiple states there were reports of people waiting in line for hours on end because of machine failures, poll workers who didn’t know how to operate the machines, insufficient numbers of voting machines and general poor administration of election systems. In Tennessee, for example, too few machines in one jurisdiction led to waiting times of five and a half hours. In Prince George’s County, Maryland, voters stood in line for hours as poll workers struggled with voting technology and new voter registration procedures. Voters in St. Louis called Election Protection to report lines of up to 4 hours due to broken election machines, poll workers providing incorrect information about
provisional balloting, and problems with administering the voter registration lists.
In all of these places, many voters left without casting a ballot. These problems have a disproportionate impact on working people, especially those who have work or family duties that prevent them from having enough time on Election Day to stand on long lines or make multiple trips to the polls. There must be statewide, if not national, standards for sufficient and equal distribution of voting machines, improved and standardized training and testing of poll workers, and increased resources to ensure sufficient numbers of machines and professionals operating them in every jurisdiction.
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2107&Itemid=26
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