Chance of voting controversy looms large
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.— Here in a county that knows a thing or two about Election Day meltdowns, both parties are fretting over what might go seriously wrong before, during or just after the Nov. 6 presidential election.
“More than 50 percent of the provisional ballots are thrown in the trash in this state,” Florida state Rep. Mark Pafford told approximately 80 retirees who gathered for a recent meeting of the Golden Lakes Democratic Club.
That’s only a slight exaggeration— 48 percent of the provisional ballots cast in Florida in 2008 were rejected. And Pafford’s warning underscores anxiety in Florida and other states about legal challenges, ballot problems or bizarre outcomes that could bedevil a race that seems likely to be close— conceivably as close as the 2000 contest that people quarrel about.
Butterfly blues
Merely the mention of that election unsettles people in Palm Beach County. The county’s poorly designed “butterfly ballot” confused thousands of voters, arguably costing Democrat Al Gore the state, and thereby the presidency.
Gore won the national popular vote by more than a half- million ballots. But GeorgeW. Bush became president after the Supreme Court decided 5- 4 to halt Florida recounts, more than a month after Election Day.
Bush carried the state by 537 votes, enough for an edge in the Electoral College.
“Pregnant chad” entered the political lexicon.
And Americans got a jolting reminder of the Founding Fathers’ complex recipe for indirectly electing presidents.
Even if everything goes smoothly, it’s conceivable the nation will awaken to amajor shock in three weeks: an Electoral College tie between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.
That would throw the decision to the House of Representatives, currently controlled by Republicans but up for grabs in this election.
A 269- 269 Electoral College tie is unlikely but far from impossible.
It could result, for instance, if Romney wins all the competitive states except Ohio, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.
Four U. S. elections, including 2000, saw the presidency go to the person who finished second in the popular vote.
There has never been an Electoral College tie.
But the U. S. House of Representatives handed the 1824 election to John Quincy Adams after he finished second— in the popular vote and the Electoral College vote— in a four- man race in which no one won amajority.
Eligibility worries
An Electoral College tie isn’t the only nightmare scenario that could raise doubts about the election’s fairness and worsen partisan bitterness, which divides Americans.
Campaign activists in many states are bracing for possible confusion, delays and even confrontations in polling places Nov. 6.
They are particularly watching Democraticleaning precincts where Republicans may challenge some people’s eligibility to vote.
In recent years, Republican officials in several states have pushed for tighter voter restrictions, including requirements for photo identifications and reductions in the amount of time allowed for early voting. Republicans say they are trying to prevent voter fraud. Democrats, however, note the absence of proven cases of serious election fraud.
They say the GOP actions are meant to suppress voting by Democraticleaning groups such as blacks, Hispanics, low- income people and college students.
Democrats have won court rulings in several states curtailing GOP efforts to shorten early voting periods and require new forms of identification. One Republican initiative that survived, however, is the end to a Florida tradition of allowing voting on the Sunday before Election Day, the “Souls to Polls” day when some black churches would urge congregants to vote upon leaving services.
The Obama campaign has amassed lawyers and non- lawyer volunteers to watch voting places and quickly appeal to state and local election officials if they think voting is being impeded.
Since 2000, “we’ve had an amazing group of dedicated lawyers that have been on the ground for 12 years,” said Charles Lichtman, a Fort Lauderdalebased attorney helping oversee the Democrats’ effort. “So there’s nothing they can throw at us that we haven’t seen or that we’re not ready for.”
Other states are doing the same. A single memo seeking lawyers and law students to help safeguard Obama’s voter turnout efforts netted nearly 4,000 responses, said Robert Bauer, the campaign’s chief lawyer.
Romney’s campaign also has assembled huge teams of lawyers and volunteers who have spent months getting to know campaign laws and practices in key states, and the election officials who enforce them.
“We have volunteers who will observe the election process at polling places and report potential problems back to our state leadership teams,” who in turn will immediately contact election officials, said Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams.
Some Democrats, however, say they are concerned that GOP voter challenges and procedures at heavily Democratic precincts could create delays, intimidation and lower turnout.