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<p class="heading14"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><b><font
face="Arial" size="4"><span style="font-size: 14.5pt;">Will Your Vote
Count in 2006?</span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><i><font
face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic;">By
Steven Hill</span></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Special to
washingtonpost.com's
Think Tank Town<br>
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; 11:56 AM</span></font><font face="Arial"
size="1"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"><a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080100561.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080100561.html</a></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Arial" size="1"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Watching
Mexico live through a controversial presidential
election was like holding up a mirror to our own election difficulties
in
recent years. As we round the corner and head toward the upcoming
November
elections -- with control of the Congress up for grabs -- what can
Americans
expect? Will our votes count? There is both cause for worry, as well as
signs
that effective voting reform advocacy is paying off.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
root cause of our troubled elections is that,
unbelievably, the U.S. provides less security, testing, and oversight
of our
nation's voting equipment and election administration than it does to
slot
machines and the gaming industry. Our elections are administered by a
hodgepodge of over 3000 counties scattered across the country with
minimal
national standards or uniformity. Widely differing practices on the
testing and
certification of voting equipment, the handling of provisional and
absentee
ballots, protocols for recounts, and training of election officials and
poll
workers makes for a bewildering terrain.</span></font></p>
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<p class="heading23"><b><font color="#cc0000" face="Arial"
size="1"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial;">About Think
Tank Town</span></font></b></p>
</div>
<p class="normalweb2"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">Washingtonpost.com
edits and publishes columns submitted by 10 prominent think tanks on a
rotating basis every other weekday. Each think tank is free to choose
its authors and the topics it believes are most important and timely.
Here are the participating organizations: </span></font></p>
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style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.aei.org/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">American Enterprise Institute</font></u></b></span></a>
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.brookings.edu/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">Brookings Institution</font></u></b></span></a> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.cato.org/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">Cato Institute</font></u></b></span></a> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.americanprogress.org/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">Center for American Progress</font></u></b></span></a>
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.csis.org/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">Center for Strategic and International Studies</font></u></b></span></a>
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.cfr.org/index.html"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">Council on Foreign Relations</font></u></b></span></a>
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.heritage.org/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">Heritage Foundation</font></u></b></span></a> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.newamerica.net/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">New America Foundation</font></u></b></span></a> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.rand.org/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">RAND Corporation</font></u></b></span></a> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; text-indent: -0.25in;"><font
color="black" face="Symbol" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: black;">·</span></font><font
color="black" size="1"><span style="font-size: 7pt; color: black;">
</span></font><font color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><a
href="http://www.urban.org/"><span class="hyperlink3"><b><u><font
color="#0c4790">Urban Insitute</font></u></b></span></a> </span></font></p>
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color="black" face="Arial" size="1"><span
style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><br
clear="all">
</span></font></p>
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<script>
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<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
three federal laboratories testing voting
equipment and software operate with little government oversight. They
are
called "independent testing authorities," even though two of them have
donated tens of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates and the
Republican
National Committee. The shoddy testing and certification procedures are
greased
by a revolving door between government regulators and the industry.
Former
secretaries of state from California, Florida and Georgia, once their
state's
chief regulator, became paid lobbyists for the corporate vendors after
stepping
down from public office, as did a former governor of New Hampshire.
Several
secretaries of state in 2004 served as co-chairs of the George W. Bush
re-election campaign for their state; one of these oversaw the election
in
which he ran -- successfully -- for governor.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Conflicts
of interest have crept like a weed into
nearly every crevice of election administration. Making matters worse,
the
powers-that-be appear uncertain about what a secure election
administration
system actually looks like. This was painfully obvious at the Voting
Systems
Testing Summit in November 2005, which marked the first time that top
federal
regulators, vendors, testing laboratories, election administrators,
computer
scientists and fair elections advocates came together in one place. No
one
could articulate a comprehensive inventory of the many problems in
securing the
vote, much less the solutions. Instead, there was a lot of
finger-pointing and
excuses.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Clearly,
the biggest threat to the integrity of our
elections is not the shortcomings of any particular type of
computerized voting
equipment but the fact that -- like the failed rescue effort following
Hurricane Katrina -- no one seems to be steering the ship. There is no
central
brain or team that has a handle on all aspects of the process,
developing best
practices or a roadmap that states and counties can follow. Tragically,
while
Congress has appropriated $3 billion for buying new voting equipment,
the money
is arriving before there are necessary standards in place to ensure the
money
is not wasted.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yet
these legitimate concerns also must be kept in
perspective, lest we spiral into a paralyzing paranoia. There are a
number of
positives. Election security activists are more mobilized than ever and
they
are having an impact. They have raised the profile of these issues to
the point
of national urgency. Their efforts, once considered the actions of
fanatical
gadflies, are being increasingly cited by respected election
bureaucrats.
Former President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State James A. Baker III
were
co-chairs of a 2005 bipartisan commission which warned that "software
can
be modified maliciously before being installed into individual voting
machines.
There is no reason to trust insiders in the election industry any more
than in
other industries."</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reform
advocates' increased credibility has resulted
in real action, with several governors and secretaries of state taking
matters
into their own hands. Some states are now requiring a "voter verified
paper audit trail" (VVPAT). Election security advocates have also begun
filing lawsuits as a way to block state and election officials' efforts
to use
touch-screen equipment that lack a VVPAT. So far, lawsuits in nearly a
dozen
states have been filed, with the embattled terrain becoming tense and
increasingly high-stakes.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another
positive development is the use in half of all
counties of optical-scan machines that read hand-marked paper ballots
(up from
41 percent in 2000), since at least the paper ballot can be used as an
audit
trail. And the use of punchcard voting equipment, which was badly
discredited
during the 2000 presidential vote count in Florida, has declined from
18
percent of counties in 2000 to just under 4 percent today.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Heading
into the 2006 election, fair election
advocates need to remain vigilant. Almost bizarrely, vigilance will be
aided by
the noncompetitive nature of our winner-take-all elections. In the
contest over
control of Congress, the battleground has become extremely shrunken
with only
30-35 out of 435 U.S. House seats and perhaps six to eight races in the
Senate
up for grabs. That means efforts to monitor elections can occur over a
smaller
playing field, allowing targeted vigilance.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the
longer term, activists must turn their efforts
to a more visionary agenda that will ensure fair and secure elections.
That
agenda must include: 1) elections run by nonpartisan and unbiased
election officials;
2) professionalization and training of election officials and poll
workers, and
3) a national elections commission that can partner with states and
counties to
create national, uniform standards for running elections. Looking even
further,
the U.S. should consider following the lead of other nations and create
"public interest voting equipment," where government contracts with
the sharpest minds in the private sector to develop open source
software and
voting equipment that is owned and managed by the government instead of
by
shadowy corporations.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
current state of election administration is very
much like the repeated warnings in New Orleans about the vulnerability
of its
levees. Without modernization of our administrative practices, as well
as
better public oversight and vigilance, our elections will remain
vulnerable to
breakdown and allegations of fraud.</span></font></p>
<p
style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;"><b><i><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Steven
Hill</span></font></i></b><i><span style="font-style: italic;"> is
director of the political reform program of the
New America Foundation and author of "10 Steps to Repair American
Democracy" (</span></i><a href="http://p3books.com/books/10_steps.html">10steps.net</a><i><span
style="font-style: italic;">).</span></i></p>
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face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></font></p>
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