Election problems persist

House Editorial

The 2004 presidential election has ended with a mercifully minimal delay, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for everyone. Across the country, anecdotal accounts of disenfranchised absentee voters as well as problems at the polls point to a need for better organization at the individual level.

At JMU, some have complained that — despite registering in on-campus voting drives — they did not receive voter cards or absentee ballots. It is impossible to say where the paperwork got lost, but the fact that the paperwork did is troubling. Even though very few students actually were disenfranchised, it is inexcusable that anyone be denied their right to vote — especially because of human error.

These problems were reflected in the national election scene as well. In several states — most notably the battleground Ohio — provisional ballots had the potential to provide the greatest headache of the election. These paper ballots were distributed to voters in the long lines outside crowded polling places.

They allowed voters to fill out their information and vote without formal process.

After the insanity of election night ends, these ballots are checked for validity and totaled. If the election had been closer, these ballots could have held the deciding votes or, more likely, instigated the deciding lawsuits.

These sorts of problems, as well as the more mundane broken polling machines and the like are typical of any election, but this year they were made much more obvious. High voter turnout combined with the perceived high-stakes of the election to exacerbate the normal election night glitches.

In the 2000 election, these glitches played a much more apparent role and, after the 36-day debacle that ended with the Supreme Court ending the recounts in Florida, there was an assumption that voting in America would be reformed. Unfortunately, many precincts still used the same methods that caused the problems four years ago. Luckily, this year, the election was not as close. The electoral vote loser also lost the popular vote, undermining his moral grounds for challenging the vote tallies.

The tallies will not officially be complete for several days. While it is unlikely the results of the election will change, many overseas, provisional and absentee ballots have not yet been fully counted. This brings home one of the greatest causes of voter apathy — at this point, those votes don’t really matter. It is always important to vote, and The Breeze would never argue any other point, but it is easy to see how apathy could derive from this situation.

Not having votes counted on election night psychologically disenfranchises a voter. Absentee ballots are difficult to obtain and even require an investment in a postage stamp — something that skirts the fringes of legality. The combination of apathy and the difficulty of voting absentee can easily explain the consistently low turnout among college-age students.

Election officials need to investigate better methods of voting — electronic identification and voting systems exist and were in use by some precincts in this election. Absentee voting needs to be streamlined so students can confidently trust that their voice will be heard by election night.