For 36 days after the 2000 presidential election, it was uncertain which candidate would become the next President of the United States, remember? The election was decided by a few hundred votes in Florida, one of many states in which the voting machines were deemed largely confusing and inefficient. As the 2004 election quickly approaches, it is disturbing that, for the most part, the nation’s voting system remains just as flawed as it was four years ago.
In the wake of the 2000 election, there was strong bipartisan support for reform of outdated voting systems across the country. Hundreds of bills were passed across the country in state legislatures, and in 2002 Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. HAVA allotted more than $2 billion in federal funds for states to improve their voting systems. As a result, at the beginning of 2003, it seemed as though the voting problems of 2000 could be avoided in the upcoming election. Unfortunately, progress has not taken place.
One of the most memorable controversies of the 2000 election was the infamously confusing “butterfly ballot” used in Florida and many other states. Despite the notorious failure of the ballot in the 2000 election, many states continue to use the “butterfly ballot” and still have unorganized and unverified voter records. In Ohio, one of the most hotly contested states, more than five million voters will use controversial punch card ballots.
The HAVA and the federally-established Election Assistance Commission made it a priority to upgrade voting systems nationwide to make voting simple and reliable, but the Election Assistance Commission, designed to assist in streamlining the voting process, was not confirmed until Dec. 2003. An organization with little experience and a strict time frame cannot possibly remedy the ailing voting system.
There are even more concerns regarding new electronic voting technology than there are with the older voting techniques. Reliability and security concerns, coupled with a lack of a paper trail, have made many states wary of upgrading their systems.
Ballot issues took a backseat to terrorism following 9/11 and have remained a low priority. Neither political party seems to be concerned with making sure each and every vote is counted. Yet, with an election approaching that is nearly guaranteed to be close, it appears that too little has been done too late to prevent another fiasco.
