INDEPTH: US ELECTION 2004
Counting the Vote
CBC News Online | October 27, 2004
Reporter: David Halton
Americans could be heading for yet another hanging chad controversy.
They're voting in record numbers in advance polls, but take a closer look. Ohio voters, like millions of other Americans, are still using the notoriously unreliable punch card ballot.
"It's an outrage. It is absolutely an outrage... we have a bad system [and] our response is to say, hey, we'll keep using it!" says Jeff Gamso of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Remember the fiasco in Florida, those disputed ballots and hanging chads that were thrown out? The legal turmoil that followed?
Both Republicans and Democrats are predicting Florida-style chaos in Ohio if there's a close election.
While Florida has junked punch cards, Ohio has not. More than 70 per cent of voters will be punching chads again this year, and discarded ballots could easily decide the winner.
In Cleveland, Michael Vu, the Cleveland County election registrar, is on the defensive about the punch card system.
"We know there are inherent flaws with it, but there are inherent flaws with any type of voting system," Vu says.
In fact, there's a crazy quilt of at least five different voting systems in the U.S. because every single county is free to choose the system it wants.
Three Ohio counties intersect near Cleveland. If you vote in Cuyahoga County, you use that punch card ballot system. If you vote over in Geauga County, you use an optical scan system, and if you vote in Lake County, you use an electronic screen system. It's all very confusing.
One Lake County election official is trying to clear up any confusion her polling station workers may have. They'll be working with touch screen computers that are controversial because they don't have a paper trail and thus won't permit a recount.
In Cuyahoga County, in Cleveland, one of the poorest cities in the U.S., punch cards are a big concern.
Many African-Americans worry their votes won't count.
At a Baptist church, the pastor says minority voters fear that the Republicans are deliberately trying to depress the black vote because it's overwhelmingly Democratic.
"In fact, we've heard that there have been efforts to keep the vote down in our community, to make sure that the other people would have a chance to win," Pastor Theophilius Kaviness says.
But Republican officials see a plot too, a Democratic plot to manufacture election fraud.
"I think it is absolutely the left's strategy to send this election to the courts because I think they think they can win there, and they don't think they can win at the ballot box," says Jim Tracus of the Cuyahoga County Republicans.
Both sides will deploy armies of lawyers to police the election. The vote will also be watched by international observers from countries like Zambia and Nicaragua, something of an embarrassment for a nation that proclaims itself a beacon of democracy.
Problems state by state
Ohio
The Ohio secretary of state has decided to allow residents whose voter registration is challenged to cast provisional ballots. According to the Associated Press, the Ohio Republican party has challenged the registration of 35,000 voters.
The United States Supreme Court refused Ralph Nader's request that he appear on the Ohio presidential ballot.
Colorado
A dispute on how the state decides electoral college votes – either winner-take-all or proportional to the popular vote – is before the courts.
Florida
A dispute over "incomplete" registration forms is before the courts. Apparently people are forgetting to check a box confirming they are American citizens, largely because they have to take an oath that they are Americans before getting the form.
New Jersey
A judge dismissed a challenge to the use of electronic voting machines.
Other disputes are expected to be filed in state and federal courts as the election nears, and both before and after voting day.
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| QUICK FACTS: |
Voting age population (VAP) in 2000:
205,815,000
Eligible voters (VEP) in 2000:
193,199,543
Voter turnout (% of VEP) in 2000:
54.5%
Numbers of seats up for election (2004):
House: 435 (all of them)
Senate: 34 (of 100)
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