2004 Democracy Dispatches Daily Roundup

See below for a daily roundup of election news and views published before October 25 and November 15, 2004. 
You may also find useful the related Demos Election Newswire Archives.

>> For current news, please check our Democracy Dispatches.

For more information on Election 2004, please call Lucy Mayo at 212-419-8772 or email lmayo@demos-usa.org.

Issues:
November 15, 2004  | November 03, 2004 | November 01, 2004 | October 29, 2004 | October 28, 2004 | October 27, 2004 | October 26, 2004 | October 25, 2004

POSTED NOVEMBER 15, 2004

Almost two weeks have passed since Election Day, and what have we learned?

We know that many commentators are currently preoccupied with presidential mandates rather than with post-mortems of the election.  But from our vantage point, Election 2004 was riddled with problems; it is premature to divert our attention from post-election analysis.   This is especially the case since we have yet to count all the votes. 

In Ohio, election officials have started counting the 155,337 provisional ballots cast in that swing state.  On November 10 -- their first day of wading through a total of 24,788 provisional ballots -- officials in Cuyahoga County said they found 1,749 valid and 917 invalid ones.  But most counties are not keeping, or at least publicly disclosing, a running tally of the provisional ballots being counted.  It is unlikely that we will know how many of these votes will actually count until December 1, the official date for certifying Ohio's election results. 

Meanwhile, reports from Florida suggest that the majority of provisional ballots cast in that state have been rejected -- many cast by people voting in the wrong precinct. "I was not happy with rejecting the ballots of those people who went to all the trouble to register, went to the polls and went through all the other hoopla and then, because they voted in precinct 1028 instead of 1064, their vote didn't count," said Judge Barry Cohen, Chair of the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board.  "The law is clear, but the law is not right," he said.  Florida Senator Robert Klein concurred.  "We're in a computer age. You should be able to vote in any precinct," he said. "We're acting like we're in the dark ages because we can't overcome technology issues. To me this is elementary computer technology. These things can easily be fixed."

On the subject of computers, reports about problems with electronic voting continue.  Much attention has been paid to the fact that in Franklin County, Ohio, an electronic voting machine added 3,983 votes for President Bush, while in Broward County, Florida, computer software subtracted votes instead of adding them.  Some go so far as to suggest that the election results were rigged. But a new report on Election 2004 by the Cal Tech/MIT Voting Technology Project concludes that, "there is no evidence that electronic voting machines were used to steal the 2004 election for George Bush. The 'facts' that are being circulated on the Internet appear to be selectively chosen to make the point. Much of that analysis appears to rest on early exit poll results, which were bound to be highly volatile, given the nature of exit poll methodology."

Many advocates remain concerned that a preoccupation with whether the vote was hacked will detract attention from some of the very real problems that plagued Election 2004.   These included:

1.      Long lines at the polls -- waits of 3-5 hours in Ohio were not uncommon -- which effectively disenfranchised many people. 

2.      A shortage of voting machines, which exacerbated delays at the polls.

3.      Absentee ballots that were never received by thousands of voters.

4.      Problems with voters being erroneously purged from the rolls.

5.      Differential standards for voter ID, and for accepting voter registrations and provisional ballots.

6.      Persistent attempts at voter intimidation and suppression.

Thousands of eligible voters encountered major hurdles when they tried to cast a ballot in

Election 2004.  We need to examine our electoral process carefully in order to fix it.  It is far too soon to shut off the lights, close the door and walk away.

AP 11/10/04; Palm Beach Post 11/10/04; http://vote.caltech.edu/Reports/VotingMachines3.pdfAlmost two weeks have passed since Election Day, and what have we learned?

POSTED NOVEMBER 3, 2004

ELECTION DAY ROUNDUP

The 2004 presidential race is over, but we review the last 24 hours...

Election 2004 was characterized by record turnout -- the highest in 30 years -- at least 115 million people voted at the polls.  Many people waited in exceptionally long lines, and others braved a brutal climate as they waited to cast a ballot.  In the swing states of Michigan and Ohio, reports suggest that some people waited for up to three hours to cast a vote.  People grappled with other obstacles to voting, too.  The Election Protection Hotline said yesterday that some Milwaukee poll workers turned people away because of excessively long wait times.  In one New Jersey polling place, the crowds were so big that election officials decided to send people away, claiming that throngs of voters constituted a fire hazard. 

Voter intimidation was a problem.  In Missouri, African-Americans were singled out by Republican poll challengers who asked them, but not white voters, for additional proof of residency and identification.  In Michigan, the NAACP reported that Republican poll workers were harassing voters of color.  In New York, Asian American voters were repeatedly challenged and also denied provisional ballots. "Asian American voters were subjected to racial profiling at the polls, since they were routinely asked for identification in order to establish their eligibility to vote, even when it was not required" said Margaret Fung, who directs the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.  
There were other problems at the polls, too.  In Pennsylvania, news reports indicated a shortage of provisional ballots in 22 counties.  Poll workers in some states misapplied HAVA's new ID requirements, and then set time limits for how long voters could spend casting ballots in the polling booth.  Some polling places were equipped with too few voting machines.  Other machines broke down, intensifying delays at the polls.

Voters reported over 1,100 problems with electronic voting machines.   In six states, the wrong candidates names appeared on computer screens.  Several people said that when they entered a vote for Kerry, it was repeatedly allocated to Bush.  

A variety of election-related lawsuits were filed late yesterday.  Among them is one filed by the Florida ACLU to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots in that state -- asking that absentee ballots postmarked by Tuesday be counted by November 12.  Another suit, filed in Ohio, attacks Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell for failing to impose uniform standards for counting provisional ballots. 

As law professor Dan Tokaji notes, "While the race is over, the serious flaws in the infrastructure of our democracy revealed in this election -- especially in Ohio but also elsewhere in the country -- won't go away so easily&.We need to remove the specter of racial discrimination at the polls that haunted this year's election [and] we also need to take another look at how provisional voting might be improved."
AALDEF Press Release 11/2/04; WTAE-TV 11/2/04; Electionprotection2004.org 11/02/04 & 11/03/04; AP 11/3/04; San Francisco Chronicle 11/3/04; Equalvote.blogspot.com

POSTED NOVEMBER 01, 2004

Trick or Challenge! Halloween may be over, but there are many tricks and few treats as Election 2004 draws closer.    

National

News reports this weekend suggest that efforts to suppress the vote are intensifying.  Dirty tricks abound: 

¤  In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a flyer purporting to be from "Milwaukee Black Voters League" is circulating in African-American neighborhoods.  "If you've already voted in any election this year, you can't vote in the presidential election," says the flyer.  "If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you."

¤  In South Carolina, a letter that purports to be from the NAACP falsely warns voters that if they have failed to pay child support, or if they have outstanding parking tickets, they are liable to be arrested at the polls.

In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, fliers handed out in a Pittsburgh area mall informed voters that the election had been extended due to immense anticipated voter turnout. Republicans should vote on Tuesday November 2, and Democrats should vote on Wednesday November 3.

¤  In Cleveland, Ohio, voters have started to receive phone calls erroneously informing them that their polling place has changed. 

"We've never seen anything like this before, where there seems to be a concerted effort to give voters misinformation" said one Ohio election official.  

And in State News:

Ohio

Two federal judges today ruled against election challengers at the polls.  US District Judge Susan Dlott of Cincinnati said that allowing representatives from political parties to challenge voters at the polls is unconstitutional.  She argued that the presence of challengers at the polls would inevitably impede citizens from voting.  In another case, US District Judge John Adams of Akron ruled that poll workers, not challengers, should be charged with determining voters' eligibility.   "In light of these extraordinary circumstances, and the contentious nature of the imminent election, the court cannot and must not turn a blind eye to the substantial likelihood that significant harm will result not only to voters, but to the voting process itself, if appointed challengers are permitted at the polls," said Judge Adams.  Ohio Republicans, who have been orchestrating the challenges, have said they will appeal the rulings.

Also in Ohio, major news services, including CNN, ABC, CBS and the Associated Press have filed suit to challenge the state's rule preventing them from conducting exit polls less than 100 feet from polling places.

Minnesota

On Friday, a U.S. district judge ruled that election officials must recognize tribal ID cards from Minnesotan Indians living off-reservation for voter registration purposes.  Late last week the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Minnesota ACLU filed suit against Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer who had said that she would only accept tribal IDs from American Indians living on reservations -- despite the fact that 32,000 American Indians live off-reservation in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area alone.  "There is no legislative history & that provides a rational basis to differentiate between the validity of a photographic tribal identification card used by American Indians living on their tribes' reservations and the invalidity of a photographic tribal identification card used by American Indians living off their tribes' reservations," said Judge James Rosenbaum in his ruling.
Minnesota Star Tribune 10/30/04; Washington Post 10/31/04; www.equalvote.blogspot.com 11/1/04; www.truthout.org 11/1/04; Times and Democrat 11/1/04


POSTED OCTOBER 29, 2004

To enfranchise or to disenfranchise, that is the question.

California

A coalition of Bay Area activists and ministers loudly criticized California state officials for withholding $4 million that had previously been set aside for voter outreach.  The money was seized by the state in late August when the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Secretary of State Kevin Shelley might have diverted taxpayer funds into his 2002 election campaign.  Shelley has denied any wrongdoing.  "It's unfair that this money be held hostage because of allegations that have yet to be proven, yet the impact is devastating to the minority community," said the Rev. Ted Frazier.  The coalition claims that the Schwarzenegger administration has seized the funds in an attempt to reduce voter turnout by African-Americans and other people of color.  

Also in California, San Diego officials are recalling thousands of poorly translated, Spanish-language voter guides.  "Any Spanish speaker would catch these errors, even if they were not academically proficient in Spanish. It's that bad," said Leslie Padilla-Williams, an Oceanside translator.
 
Georgia

More than three-quarters of one Georgia county's registered Latino voters were asked to attend a courthouse hearing yesterday in order to defend their right to vote.  The county's chief registrar had given three men the names of 121 registered voters who had listed their race as Mexican or Hispanic.  The men then challenged 95 of these individuals, claiming they were not U.S. citizens.  The Atkinson County Board of Elections dismissed most of the complaints.  "The challenges are legally insufficient because they are based solely on race," the Atkinson County Attorney said.

Ohio

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati today turned down several requests from Republicans to resume hearings on as many as 35,000 challenged voter registrations.  The Court's decision may permanently put an end to the hearings, which are meant to be held within 48 hours of the election.  Meanwhile, Democrats in Summit County filed a federal lawsuit asking that a century-old state law permitting challengers at the polls on Election Day be declared unconstitutional. 

Also in Ohio, a coalition of AIDS organizations wrote to Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell asking him to ensure full access to the polls for people with disabilities.  "We believe that the State of Ohio has a duty to ensure that voters on November 2 can cast their ballots without unreasonable delays," said the Executive Director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland. "For people living with HIV and other disabilities, a long wait may be physically impossible, and illegal interrogations about physical or mental health status may be so offensive that they limit participation."  The coalition fears that a high rate of voter-registration challenges could exacerbate delays -- and possibly disenfranchisement -- at the polls.    

Iowa

In Iowa, Secretary of State Chet Culver today told county auditors not to count provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct.  Instead, he said these ballots should be put aside in case lawsuits are filed in the aftermath of the election. "If this issue is going to be resolved with some finality, it's going to be resolved after the election when there is time to do it," said State Attorney General Tom Miller.  "We hope that there's going to be litigation somewhere that will resolve this for the future."  

Last week, the Secretary of State announced that if a voter cast a provisional ballot outside her correct precinct but inside her county of residence, then her vote should still count.  Five Republicans objected to Culver's plan, and immediately filed suit.  But earlier this week Polk County District Judge Arthur Gamble declined to rule, saying that the suit was filed prematurely as Culver had not yet issued his final election instructions.   

Minnesota

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Florida ACLU have filed suit against the State of Minnesota for discriminating against the majority of American Indian voters in that state by preventing them from using tribal government-issued ID cards for voter identification.  Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer has said that she will only accept tribal IDs from American Indians living on reservations.  But 32,000 American Indians live off-reservation in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area alone.  For some, tribal ID cards are their only government document. 

"Requiring more stringent rules for one group of people, and limiting their ability to vote if they decide to move, violates federal law and the United States Constitution" said NCAI President Tex G. Hall.  "We are saddened that the Minnesota Secretary of State refuses to &ensure that American Indians get the opportunity to vote."

National

A new study that analyzes racial divisions during the Bush presidency concludes that perceptually Blacks and Whites live in "opposed universes."  Harvard Professors Lawrence Bobo and Michael C. Dawson asked both blacks and whites about the significance of the 2000 election debacle in Florida.  76 percent of Blacks thought that Florida 2000 was a "big problem."  But 63 percent of whites said that attempts to disenfranchise African-Americans in Florida during the last general election were "not a big problem," "no problem at all," or a "complete fabrication" by the Democrats.  Disturbingly, Professor Dawson noted that, "there is a significant segment of whites who say, even if you can do something about the disenfranchisement problem, legally, nothing should be done about it." 
AP 10/28/04; Des Moines Register 10/28/04; Akron Beacon Journal 10/29/04; AP 10/29/04; PR Newswire 10/26/04; San Diego Union-Tribune 10/28; Monterey County Herald 10/28/04; NCAI Press Release 10/28/04; www.blackcommentator.com

POSTED OCTOBER 28, 2004

With November 2 fast approaching, concern about voter suppression is on the rise.  The last 24 hours have seen increased tension and occasional respite&
 
Ohio

In the swing state of Ohio, a federal judge ruled Wednesday to temporarily stop hearings on as many as 35,000 challenged voter registrations.  Republicans filed challenges after mail was returned undelivered, citing fears that the registrations were fraudulent.  But Democrats claimed that the GOP was trying to suppress the vote, especially in African-American communities in Cleveland and Columbus -- where many of the challenged voters are registered. 

Also in Ohio, international observers from a group called Progressive Exchange say that Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has denied them access to the polls on Election Day.  "From my long experience of international election observation, my suspicions are immediately aroused when officials appear to want to deny observers access to polling sites," said one election observer from the group.  "International observation throws light on the workings of democracy.  Why would anyone be against that?" Blackwell's office claims that the Secretary of State is not at fault and that he is just following state law. 

Florida

Republican plans are also afoot to challenge voters in Florida.  On Tuesday, the party said it might provide its poll watchers with a list of potentially fraudulent voter registrations, and employ a little-known provision of state law to prevent individuals on the list from voting on Election Day.  Despite growing concern that this tactic could intimidate potential voters, Florida Governor Jeb Bush said yesterday that he had no problem with challenging voters at the polls.  "I do not think it will cause problems," he said.  "I do think that people who are not eligible to vote shouldn't and the people who are should."  

Meanwhile, a British news report suggests that Republican challenges are being specifically aimed at African-Americans.  According to the BBC, an internal GOP e-mail discusses the existence of a "caging" list of almost 2000 voters living in predominantly African-American areas of Jacksonville.  Republicans say that the list names people whose mail was returned undelivered after fundraising solicitations or other attempts to verify their addresses.  They claim the list was not compiled to challenge voters.  But African-American community leaders are not convinced.  "This is just another tactic they're using to frustrate and discourage black voters in Florida," said Jacksonville minister Lee Harris.

Iowa
 
In Iowa, Polk County District Judge Arthur Gamble declined to rule in a lawsuit over the rules for counting provisional ballots in that state.  Last week, Secretary of State Chet Culver announced that if a voter cast a provisional ballot outside her correct precinct but inside her county of residence, then her vote should be still counted.  Five Republicans objected to Culver's plan, and immediately filed suit.  Judge Gamble said yesterday that the Republican-inspired lawsuit was filed prematurely as Culver had not yet issued his final election instructions.   

Culver's decision came after consulting with Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller about the best way to implement the Help America Vote Act's "fail-safe voting" provision.
Twelve other states currently count provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct. 

National

As part of its campaign to generate the largest ever Election Day turnout by people of color, the NAACP National Voter Fund (NVF) is urging all voters to learn about their rights and check their voter registration status by calling 866-OUR-VOTE. "There are forces doing everything in their power to deny us the right to exercise our full voting power," said NVF Executive Director Greg Moore. "If the election of 2000 taught us nothing else, it's that being eligible to vote, and even casting a ballot, can be quite different from having your vote counted &.We all have an obligation to be informed when we vote and it starts with knowing your rights as a voter."  A new radio announcement reminds people to find out where their polling place is located, as well as to learn about new ID requirements and provisional ballot rules. 
LA Times 10/28/04; Tampa Tribune 10/27/04; St. Petersburg Times 10/28/04; AP 10/28/04; Cincinnati Enquirer 10/26/04; AP 10/28/04; Demos Press Release 10/26/04; US Newswire 10/27/0

POSTED OCTOBER 27, 2004

As Election Day approaches, the struggle to ensure that all citizens will have their vote counted continues&

New Mexico

In Democracy Dispatches 49 and 50, we reported on the on-going struggle over the thorny issue of voter ID in New Mexico.  Now a new twist in the ID saga has emerged. Secretary of State Rebecca Virgil-Giron has said that first time voters who need to show ID at the polls must use a form of identification with an address matching the one on their voter registration form.  If a mismatch occurs, voters will be required to cast a provisional ballot.  The provisional ballot will not count, however, unless the voter also returns to the polls by closing time on November 2 with an appropriate form of identification. 

"I do believe that the Secretary of State's interpretation will result in a greater likelihood that some people will not be allowed to vote because they will be thrown into these technical disputes as to whether their papers are in order," said one Albuquerque lawyer.  Critics argue that the matching requirement will most likely disenfranchise voters who move frequently -- many of whom are students or other young people. 

The latest controversy over voter identification comes on the heels of a recent lawsuit about ID requirements in the state.  At the end of August, several plaintiffs, including Republican State Rep. Larry Larranaga asked that all first time voters who do not register at county clerk's offices, including all those who sign up at registration drives, be required to show ID at the polls. But the New Mexico Secretary of State argued that HAVA's new identification provisions applied only to first time voters who register by mail.  The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled 4-1 in her favor on September 28.  

Florida

Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 10,000 mainly Latino and African-American voters whose incomplete registration forms had been rejected by election officials.  Florida residents had signed the new, HAVA-mandated voter registration forms affirming that they met all voter eligibility requirements.  But they did not check a box to confirm their citizenship status, or provide their driver's license number or the last four digits of their social security number for identification purposes.  

U.S District Judge James Lawrence King said that the case had no standing because the AFL-CIO, which brought the case along with the Advancement Project, was unable to prove that its members were affected.  "This is a gross miscarriage of justice," said Advancement Project Senior Attorney Sheila Thomas.  "What we have seen in Florida, is one of the most aggressive efforts in the country to deny people their most basic of civil rights -- their right to vote."  Advancement Project acting co-director Judith Browne vowed to press on and appeal the ruling.  "The ballot box is the great equalizer in this country," she said "It doesn't matter what your race, religion, gender, class or ethnicity, casting a ballot levels the playing field."

Michigan

While Florida residents are still reeling from the latest assault on their right to vote, Michigan residents also received a blow yesterday when the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that provisional ballots will only count if they are cast in the correct precinct.  Michigan Democrats, the NAACP, and other advocacy groups had argued that this interpretation of HAVA's provisional balloting requirement was too narrow.  They had wanted provisional ballots to count if they were cast in the wrong precinct, but in the correct town or city.  Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer now worries that thousands of Michigan residents will be disenfranchised.  Many polling places -- including more than 50 in the city of Detroit alone -- have been moved or consolidated for this election. 

National

A new survey by Harvard University's Institute of Politics shows that a record 72 percent of college students said that they "definitely" planned to cast a ballot on Election Day.  This comes as the recently opened Election Protection hotline reports already having received complaints about student disenfranchisement. Students from Ohio Dominican University in Columbus discovered that although they registered to vote through a mobile operation on campus -- the "10 News Voter Van" -- their completed registration forms were never received by election officials.

Meanwhile, several Latino organizations, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) have called on President Bush to take immediate action to prevent voter intimidation on Election Day. "Your call for open elections in Iraq is a central goal of your Administration and the lynchpin in your efforts to bring democracy to the people of Iraq.  But before we can have credibility on this issue with the rest of the world, we must first demonstrate our ability to conduct fair and open elections here at home, free of voter intimidation," the organizations write in their letter to the President.
 
Concerns about voter intimidation are widespread -- and not confined to swing states.  Chesterfield County, Virginia, plans to post sheriff's deputies and police officers at polling places on Election Day to deter terrorists.  "While we appreciate the work of the police, we also tend to be intimidated by them," said Kent Willis from the Virginia ACLU. "If we don't have to turn our polling places into armed guardhouses, we shouldn't."

Finally, the director of the Immigration Policy Center warns that although new citizens have been registering to vote in droves, they could be deterred by intimidation from casting a ballot on Election Day.  "There's definitely a risk that these folks will show deference when confronted by authority, especially since September 11," he said. "The government really needs to take steps to ensure that [new citizens] aren't scared away from the polls."
AP 10/25; US Newswire 10/26/04; Miami Herald 10/26/04; New York Times 10/26/04; AP 10/26/04; Detroit Free Press 10/27/04; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 10/26/04; Cox News Services 10/26/04; PR Newswire 10/27/04; Richmond Times Dispatch 10/25/04; Indolink.com 10/27/04

POSTED OCTOBER 26, 2004

Ohio

As noted yesterday, the weekend decision of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has the right to instruct county election officials not to count provisional ballots cast at the wrong polling place, even if the voter is otherwise eligible to vote. Citing the need to avoid confusion as Election Day approaches, the Ohio Democratic Party decided not to appeal the ruling. But this has not put an end to wrangling over registration and ballot issues in the state. Still, several editorial boards criticized Blackwell's approach as unnecessarily restrictive and a reported 1,000 protestors marched to Blackwell's office in protest yesterday.

A separate cause of upheaval in the state this week is the challenges to tens of thousands of individual voter registrations filed by Republicans in 65 of Ohio's 88 counties. About 35,000 challenges were initially filed but thousands were withdrawn by the Republican challengers because they were improperly filed and thousands more were rejected by county boards of elections. The state Republican Party has said it will consider suing the county boards over the rejected challenges, claiming that the errors in the challenges were not serious enough to warrant rejecting them.

Yesterday, county election officials began to unveil plans to hold hearings to address the challenges, based mostly on claims that mail sent to registered voters was returned as undeliverable. Cleveland's Cuyahoga County will hear challenges to 17,780 registrations at the Cleveland Convention Center on Friday and Saturday. Akron's Summit County is scheduling approximately 250 hearings per hour beginning on Thursday morning.

It is expected that many of the challenged voters will not appear at the hearings -- either because they don't receive notice or because they cannot arrange to appear on such short notice. It is unclear what the effect will be if voters do not appear at the hearings, but at least one county official has indicated that an error in the address in the registration record would not, by itself, cause a voter to be removed from the voting rolls. Also unclear is whether the individuals who submitted the challenges will be required to respond to a subpoena seeking details about the challenges.

In yet another dispute in Ohio, the Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections, the Alliance of Cleveland HUD Tenants, and seven residents of Cuyahoga County filed suit claiming that the county board of elections has improperly failed to register more than 10,000 voters who filled out registration forms for the first time or changed their address.

Michigan

Written arguments were due this morning to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals from both sides in the Michigan provisional ballot case, also discussed here yesterday. The short deadline suggests that the court may wish to rule on the case in advance of Election Day, moving with unusual speed as it did in the Ohio case.


POSTED OCTOBER 25, 2004

Iowa

In Democracy Dispatches 50, we reported that Iowa's performance registering new voters at DHS offices was the best in the country.  Now Iowa has taken another step to enfranchise voters in the state.  Last week, Attorney General Tom Miller ruled that Iowa residents are eligible to vote even if they did not check the U.S. citizenship box on their voter registration form.  "Common sense tells us that if someone doesn't check the box, indicating they are a U.S. citizen, but they attest under penalty of perjury on the same form that they are a citizen, the registration should be valid and the person should be allowed to vote," Miller said. 

Ohio

The weekend saw two key developments related to provisional balloting in the states.  In Ohio, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, arguing that provisional ballots cast outside the correct precinct should not be counted. Blackwell had previously told election officials not to give potential voters provisional ballots if they arrive at the wrong precinct on Election Day.  The Secretary of State argued that these individuals should instead be directed to the correct precinct to vote. 

The Cincinnati 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision overturns U.S. District Court Judge James Carr's ruling last week against the Ohio Secretary of State and in favor of the Ohio Democratic Party.  Ohio Democrats claimed that Blackwell's restrictive interpretation of HAVA's provisional balloting requirement threatened to disenfranchise large classes of people, including first-time voters confronting stringent new ID requirements, and individuals voting in the wrong polling place.

Michigan

Meanwhile, the same three-judge federal panel on Sunday issued a stay of a lower court's ruling about provisional ballots in Michigan.  Michigan's election officials had wanted provisional ballots to count only if cast in the correct precinct.  Last week, however, a federal judge said that provisional ballots should count if voters are in the wrong precinct but in the right city, township or village.

"It's by no means over, but the likelihood that the stay will be in effect on Election Day is greater than the chance it won't be," said a lawyer who sued the state on behalf of Michigan Democrats, the NAACP and several voting rights groups.  As things stand now "if you cast a provisional ballot in the wrong precinct, it won't be counted."

National

A new survey by the National Organization on Disability shows that 21% of people with disabilities -- or over 8 million people, say they have been disenfranchised in congressional or presidential elections.  People with disabilities also report that they encounter problems both accessing and at the polls.  For instance, 21 percent of people surveyed said that their polling place was not accessible, while another 21 percent reported that poll workers questioned their mental or physical abilities.  Many states have delayed implementing HAVA's provisions to improve polling place accessibility, so most people with disabilities will still face barriers to participation on November 2.
AP 10/20/04; Cleveland Plain Dealer 10/24/04; AP 10/25/04; Grand Forks Herald 10/23/04