| Show Voting Shouldn't Be a Game of Chance Steven Rosenfeld Special to The Washington Post Now's the time when everyone everyone gets sentimental about our great civic endeavor voting But its it's often governed by Murphys Murphy's Law more than by constitutional law I write about elections and voting rights which means that I end up focusing on the ways in which mismanagement unreliable technology and deliberate partisan tactics influence who votes who doesn't whose votes count and whether the count is accurate I dont don't traffic in conspiracy theories But much can go wrong between the time when the polls open and when the Electoral College tally passes the magic 7 2 So much in fact that k American elections remain remaina a great guessing game Heres Here's a road map of the possible pitfalls or lucky breaks awaiting voters Voter purged Surprise Your registration was deleted because it didn't match government databases despite their known error rates The Social Security Administration reported 24 million voter- voter registration mismatches in the first nine months of 2008 Proceed provisional ballot in hand Voter confusion You didn't know your polling place had been moved so you called OUR 1 VOTE for help Nearly 60 percent of hotline calls involve registration and polling place inquiries s. s Move forward three spaces Now go vote Absentee ballot absent The government contractor didn't mail out ballots in time It happens in hi Denver this year ballots went undelivered Lose Losea a turn Call the county to see whether you can vote on Tuesday If youre you're overseas forget it Early voting hours extended Amazingly your governor just made voting easier At least that's what Florida Gov Charlie Crist did last week when he ordered early voting extended although legal issues remain Skip ahead 10 spaces Computer crash More early voting centers have opened but the statewide voter database t crashed This happened in Georgia last week Lose a turn wait four hours in line to vote Touch screen touchy You voted early but the voting e-voting machine kept selecting the wrong guy This has occurred in several states including West Virginia Vrrginia Tennessee Colorado Wait for a new machine or backup paper ballot Short lines Your polling place is open and theres there's barely a line Either youre you're lucky or youre you're voting in a neighborhood with a low minority population Advancement Project a civil rights group has documented disparities in polling place resources along racial lines in Virginia and Pennsylvania Move MoveE t E forward six spaces Ballot confusion You selected a straight party ticket but that didn't include the presidential vote In North Carolina a straight party vote does not include the top of the ticket Go back four spaces and get angrier and angrier angner Unexpected kindness Poll workers move the elderly and people with disabilities to the front of the line This is the law though it can be unevenly applied Move forward 10 spaces cast your vote Machine breakdown voting E-voting machines are pulled after software errors but there are too few backup paper ballots on hand Pennsylvania's secretary of the commonwealth was ordered by a federal judge to provide more backup ballots Voting rights groups are worried Lose Losea a turn rum watch lawyers get busy Partisan challenges A party worker questions your signature holding up the line while you pull out your ID The GOP has sued in several states for access to voter records that could be used for Election Day challenges Move forward one space get provisional ballot hope that it counts Poll workers and campaign observers watch machines spit out vote totals hoping that the software works Across the country partisan and nonpartisan groups will deploy thousands of observers Cross your fingers and wait |
