Voting Issues in the News

Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Outraged at Secretary Blackwell's Threat to Dismiss County Election Board Over Provisional Balloting Issue

Ocober 7, 2004
PR Newswire

"Today Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones issued a stern rebuke to Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell for threatening to remove the Cuyahoga County Board and its Director for not complying with his recent directive on provisional ballots. Representative Tubbs Jones made the statement on Fox TV's 'Day-Side' show with Linda Vester.

Michael Vu, Director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, in conjunction with the Election Board, made a commitment at a public hearing on Monday to provide provisional ballots to all voters who request them. On Tuesday Secretary Blackwell sent a sternly worded letter to Director Vu stating, "failure to comply with my lawful directives will result in official action, which may include removal of the board and its director..."

Sacrifice and Sabotage

By BOB HERBERT
Published: October 1, 2004
New York Times

"...Last night's presidential debate was an important exercise in American-style democracy. But democracy has no real meaning when citizens qualified to vote are deliberately prevented from casting their ballots, or are intimidated to the point where they are too frightened to vote.

Disenfranchisement comes in many guises. Two professors at the University of Miami did an extensive analysis of so-called voter errors in Miami-Dade County that has not previously been reported on, and that gives us an even more troubling picture of the derailment of democracy in Florida in the 2000 presidential race..."

Blackwell says chaos possible on Nov. 2
Voting-law confusion has his critics howling

Friday, October 01, 2004
Catherine Candisky
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

"As criticism mounted nationally yesterday against Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, he predicted that the controversy could erupt into Election Day chaos...

...Even The New York Times took a whack at Blackwell in its lead editorial yesterday, criticizing him for "interpreting the rules in ways that could prevent thousands of eligible Americans from voting..."

MAKING VOTES COUNT
Playing With the Election Rules

New York Times
September 30, 2004
READERS' OPINIONS

"One of the lessons of the election mess in Florida in 2000 was that a secretary of state can deprive a large number of people of the right to vote by small manipulations of the rules. This year in Ohio and Colorado, two key battlegrounds, the secretaries of state have been interpreting the rules in ways that could prevent thousands of eligible Americans from voting. In both states, the courts should step in.

Just weeks before the deadline to register, Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state, instructed the state's county boards of election to reject registrations on paper of less than 80-pound stock - the sort used for paperback-book covers and postcards, compared with the 20-to-24-pound stock in everyday use. He said he was concerned about forms' being mailed without envelopes and mangled by postal equipment. But the directive applied to all registration forms, even those sent in an envelope or delivered by hand. Mr. Blackwell, a Republican, acted in the midst of an unprecedented state voter registration drive, which is signing up far more Democrats than Republicans..."

Carter fears Florida vote trouble

BBC News
September 27, 2004

Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election, former US President Jimmy Carter says.

He said a repeat of the irregularities of the much-disputed 2000 election - which gave President George W Bush the narrowest of wins - "seems likely".

Something rotten in the state of Florida

Independent News (United Kinkdom)
29 September 2004  

Pregnant chads, vanishing voters... the election fiasco of 2000 made the Sunshine State a laughing stock. More importantly, it put George Bush in the White House. You'd think they'd want to get it right this time. But no, as Andrew Gumbel discovers, the democratic process is more flawed than ever

Ohio won’t count ballots cast at incorrect precincts

Saturday, September 25, 2004
Mark Niquette
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

"Thousands of Ohio voters are at risk of not having their ballots counted on Election Day under state guidelines for handling provisional ballots, critics of those rules say.

Some are even calling the situation "the next hanging chad," a reference to problems in the 2000 presidential election ..."

Presidential Election at Risk: Ohio's electoral system riddled with flaws

September 20, 2004
Bob Fitrakis
The Free Press

"Whether Kerry or Bush wins in Ohio may well depend on how many voters are disenfranchised in the state’s three largest counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton. Respectively these three counties contain the Democratically rich big three-C cities Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. The voter rolls are under unprecedented scrutiny and irregularities abound ..."

Bugs make new voting option wild card for Nov. 2 election

September 20, 2004
John McCormick, Staff Reporter
Chicago Tribune

"Poll workers couldn't find Adam Borland's name in their voter registration books when he arrived in March to vote at his new polling place in the River North neighborhood.

Although he had been a registered Illinois voter for five years, the graduate student did not change his registration address when he moved from a Gold Coast apartment to a new condominium late last year..."

Ohio's strict ballot rules to cost votes, critics say

"Thousands of votes in Ohio could be tossed in this year's presidential election because new state rules on provisional ballots are still too strict, voting-rights advocates warned Friday..."