US heading for another election fiasco as reforms fail

By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

The United States may be on the way to another Florida-
style presidential election fiasco this year because
legislation passed to fix the system has either failed
to address the problems or has broken down because of
missed deadlines and unmet funding targets.

Such is the conclusion of a damning new report by the
US Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan government
body which previously looked into the Florida mess and
found alarming evidence of voter disenfranchisement
among poor and minority groups, incorrectly compiled
voter rolls and other glaring irregularities. "Many of
the problems that the commission previously cautioned
should be corrected yet prevail ... Unless the
government acts now, many of those previously
disenfranchised stand to be excluded again," the report
said.

The commission’s criticisms focused on the failure to
implement President George Bush’s Help America Vote Act
(Hava), passed in October 2002, which promised $4bn
(£2.3bn) to help states overhaul antiquated voting
machinery - notably the notorious punchcard devices
that caused so much trouble in Florida - and sought to
set up a nationwide system of provisional voting for
people who believe they have a right to vote but find
themselves omitted from the official list.

It said that out of 22 key deadlines that have come and
gone since the act’s passage, only five have been met.
Most seriously, an oversight committee designed to
advise states on streamlining their voting procedures
and implementing the act’s provisions was not appointed
until last December, 11 months behind schedule. Most
states are unlikely to make reforms before the
presidential election on 2 November.

In addition, the Bush White House has consistently
proposed less money than promised by the act, so states
that have passed their own reform legislation have
found themselves crucially short of money for
implementation.

On signing the act 18 months ago, Mr Bush said: "When
problems arise in the administration of elections we
have a responsibility to fix them. Every registered
voter deserves to have confidence that the system is
fair and elections are honest, that every vote is
recorded, and that the rules are consistently applied."

Almost half of the states have requested exemptions
from updating their voting equipment, and 41 out of 50
have requested extensions until 2006 to consolidate
voter registration lists at state level so they can
more easily be checked for accuracy. "It will be
difficult if not impossible for states to build the
necessary election infrastructure by November," it
concluded.

The commission report can only heighten the anxieties
of an electorate already alarmed by a growing
controversy over touchscreen voting machines being
introduced - with Hava money - in many parts of the
South and West. The machines make meaningful recounts
impossible and rely on software developed by companies
with strong ties to President Bush and his Republican
Party. California is expected to decide this week
whether to decertify its touchscreen machines.

The debate over the health of America’s electoral
procedures is turning into a partisan fight, with
Republicans dismissing the concerns as Democratic
politicking unworthy of serious examination. When the
Commission on Civil Rights convened an expert panel in
Washington this month to discuss its report, the
Republican Party delegation walked out before the
proceedings began, one panel participant, Rebecca
Mercuri, a Harvard University voting machinery expert,
said.

In Florida during the 2000 election, thousands of
eligible, predominantly black, voters were erroneously
identified as former felons and purged from the voter
rolls by a private company hired by Katherine Harris,
who acted as the state’s top electoral official and
also as co-chair of George Bush’s state campaign
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(c) 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

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