Reply #4: Palm Beach, FL: Scene of the Crime—Slamming Carter-Baker Report

[autorank]

”The commission gave scant attention to same-day registration, early voting and other alternatives to Tuesdays as the national Election Day. Those are changes that could bring more people to the polls. Instead, it aimed to resolve a problem that doesn't exist. As a result, real problems will persist.” Wow, do they nail it and nail it hard. It’s not so much what they included (excepting the ID) as what they ignored. Wonder how this passed them by without notice.

Palm Beach Post Editorial: Get out vote, not ID

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2005/09/25/a2e_election_edit_0925.html

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Reforming America's election system could mean finding ways to get the many voting-age-but-nonvoting citizens to the polls. It could focus on making sure that every vote cast is counted. Five years after Bush vs. Gore, that isn't a certainty.

Instead, the Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker has confused its mission by backing an over-the-top measure that would keep people from voting. The commission's proposal to require photo identification for all voters is overkill that would undermine the many reasonable suggestions in the report, "Building Confidence in U.S. Elections."

With the attention focused on voter IDs, Congress is even more likely to believe that the inadequate Help America Vote Act of 2002 is sufficient and less likely to embrace the commission's good ideas. The best one takes aim at Florida, one of the very few states that do not automatically restore felons' rights after their release from prison. The commission correctly points out that such laws have a disproportionate impact on minorities and discourage felons' reintegration into society.

The commission reluctantly embraces a paper trail for electronic voting, pointing out that only about a third of voters in printer-equipped Nevada precincts bothered to review paper ballots but concluding "it is still better than having no paper backup at all." Only the most jaded partisan could argue with the commission's push to depoliticize those who monitor elections. In 2000, Secretary of State Katherine Harris co-chaired the Bush-Cheney Florida campaign, and then oversaw certification of vote totals. Attorney General Bob Butterworth was state chairman for the Gore-Lieberman campaign. The commission also has a good idea for widening participation in the increasingly front-end-loaded presidential primary: Create four regional primaries.

The commission's fatal flaw is its unnecessary requirement for photo IDs. Justified to counter fraud, the measure fails because it doesn't tighten rules for absentee voting, which is far more susceptible to fraud. Justified to enhance confidence, the measure fails because it is biased against those most likely not to carry driver's licenses — minorities, the poor, the elderly and the infirm. Justified to bring a single national standard to a jumbled statewide approach, it fails because it is exclusive, not inclusive.

The commission gave scant attention to same-day registration, early voting and other alternatives to Tuesdays as the national Election Day. Those are changes that could bring more people to the polls. Instead, it aimed to resolve a problem that doesn't exist. As a result, real problems will persist.
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