from the bigdumbHoosier Archive - 08.02.2001
A receipt, please!
When the Gore-Bush presidential campaign began in earnest in the summer of 2000, it looked likely to be among the least memorable ever. An article in The Economist suggested that the candidates names could be amalgamated to "Bore". But the protracted battle for Florida that ended in an embarrassingly partisan decision in the US Supreme Court made Gore vs. Bush more than memorable. It exposed an ugly underside to the American political landscape, from excessive partisanship, to racism, to shear ineptitude.
For me, the truly chilling moment came when George W. Bush heard network news reports (based on exit polls) declaring Al Gore the winner in Florida. Mr. Bush wasn't deterred; he 'got on the phone' to his brother Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida. The polls were closed - what legitimate action could he and his brother be taking that would help win the election? We'll probably never know but it seemed incredibly arrogant that Mr. Bush didn't even attempt to conceal this suspicious looking activity.
maybe CBS should be in charge...
Exit polls are often criticized, but they don't leave any chads hanging. It's possible, even likely, that the exit polls were actually more accurate than the real election. So history will record Florida in George W. Bush's column, but at the price of deeply undercutting the perception of honesty, legitimacy, and accuracy in our electoral system. George W. Bush's election was a triumph of partisan clout, but it's pretty clear that both major parties have done their share to create the mess.
The National Commission on Federal Election Reform is a bipartisan group created to study the problem. With honorary co-chairs Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, the NCFER brings a lot of political experience and more than a little credibility to bear on the subject. Here's how they describe the Florida problem:
"With dismay and growing anger we saw controversial ballot design; antiquated and error-prone voting machines; subjective and capricious processes for counting votes; voter roles that let unqualified voters vote in some counties and turned away qualified voters in others; confusion in the treatment of overseas ballots; and a political process subjected to protracted litigation."
Letter to the American People; p. 7
The commission's report provides several very specific policy proposals to improve the accuracy of voting including standards for voting machines, for tabulation methods and standards to help ensure the usability of the voting systems. In addition the commission proposes holding elections on a national holiday, for restoration of voting rights to felons who have served out their sentences, for statewide voter registration, and for creation of a federal Elections Administration Commission to carry out the federal responsibilities under the proposed NCFER reforms. Predictably, the mainstream media has emphasized the one recommendation that involves them: a proposed ban on publishing projections while the polls are still open.
they left you out
Mostly, these reforms look like a good ideas. But there's something missing - we, the people are still left outside the process. It's a black box that only the privileged -- read as "party operatives" -- get to look into. The NCFER report recognizes that one of the key impacts of the Gore-Bush election debacle is damage to the credibility of the system:
"...last year's election shook American faith in the legitimacy of the democratic process. The effect is measurable. In 1996 three-quarters of the population thought the election had been at least somewhat fair. After 2000 the proportion fell to about one-half. About three-quarters of Democrats doubted the fairness of the process. But this is not simply a story of happy Republicans and unhappy Democrats. In 1996 just 12% of Republicans thought the election was unfair. But that proportion doubled after 2000...Among those who called themselves Independents, only 11% labeled the 1996 election as unfair, but in 2000 that number rose to more than 40%."
The Goals of Federal Election Reform; p. 23
When I pull the lever on that antique of a voting machine (or take a chance with a paper ballot) I wonder - did my vote really get counted? How would I know? Answer: I don't know, and there's no way to find out either.
a receipt please
I don't fill up my gas tank without getting a receipt. I don't pay my taxes without keeping a copy of my check. I don't file a brief in appellate court without sending it certified mail and carefully filing the return receipt. I often tell clients - if you didn't keep a copy of the letter you sent to that tenant you're trying to evict, then you didn't send it. If you didn't get a receipt for that money you gave your ex-wife in lieu of child support then you didn't pay it.
Well, if you don't get a receipt for voting, then who says you voted at all? Perhaps precinct records will show you came in and tried to vote, but that's about all.
So I want a receipt for my vote. I want it to be encrypted so that only I can check to see if my vote counted, and how my vote was counted. If my vote was tossed in the circular file, I want to know why and under whose authority. Some will say that this will result in a market for the buying and selling of votes. I'm not sure that we don't have that now - I just got a check from the IRS for a tax refund the government can ill afford. Tell me that's not buying votes. It's just this simple - until I can vote for Ralph Nader (they're not going to invite Ralph to participate in a bipartisan commission) and see for a fact that the vote got counted, then the system has not achieved true credibility. If you've really got a right to a vote, then you've got a right to check to see if your vote got counted, and if it didn't to find out why. If you find your vote was discarded for invalid reasons, you should have a some kind of right to recourse.
gosh, it sounds hard.
Some will say this is technically infeasible. I don't believe that - it appears to me an application that could be done through key encryption. We ought to at least be discussing the need; then we can figure out how to do it.
Some will say we can't do this because it would undercut the two-party system, or make polling officials hesitant to toss out ballots for fear of repercussions. Wouldn't that be sad?"
links for further reading
To Assure Pride and Confidence in the Electoral Process - the full text of the report of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform. [.pdf]
The National Commission on Federal Election Reform homepage.
Mightier than a Machine recounts my efforts to write-in Ralph Nader in my small town Indiana precinct. Reviewing final vote tallies, I wondered if my vote was ever counted. And those few of my readers who lean to the right...puLeaze don't tell me I just didn't fill out my ballot correctly. I'd more suspect that counting my vote was just too much trouble. But then, I could be mistaken. Maybe it did count. Or maybe it was tossed out for a valid reason - but I'd really like to know the reason so I could do it right next time.
