Posted by D. Cupples | Right after Election 2000, I felt a tad embarrassed to be a Floridian, given that my state's election officials had actually approved Palm Beach County's butterfly ballot (that and Florida's voter purges, under then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris).
Apparently, eight years later, some California election officials are rightly under fire for creating confusing ballots and possibly disenfranchising thousands of voters. Crooks & Liars explains:
"Almost 20% of California voters are registered as “Decline-to-State” (DTS). About 776,000 of these DTS voters live in Los Angeles County. To vote for President, like other DTS voters across the state, LA County DTS voters had to ask for a “Democratic Party ballot” on Tuesday (see funny, now prophetic video).
"However, in Los Angeles County — and only Los Angeles County — these DTS voters were given a special “Democratic Party” ballot that required voters not only to fill out a bubble for their favorite Democratic Party presidential candidate, but ALSO to fill in a bubble at the top that they wanted to vote “Democratic” — a redundant requirement. According to the Los Angeles County ROV, if the DTS voter didn’t fill in the redundant “Democratic” bubble, their vote would not be counted....
"Regardless of the clear-cut intentions of voters, the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters (ROV) is refusing to do what is necessary to count these ballots." (Crooks & Liars, links in original)
My thoughts are roughly the same as when I first saw a photo Palm Beach County Florida's 2000 Butterfly ballot: how could any publicly paid official approve a ballot that, in itself, would likely confuse voters?
Executive assistant at the LA County registrar's office Paul Drugan made a chillingly dismissive statement, saying that the ballot instructions were clear:
"We kind of foresaw this would be a problem a while ago.... Seeing that was going to be a problem, we got the message out.... Is it a perfect system?... No, it is not. Elections are an imperfect beast." (LA Times)
That just doesn't cut it, Mr. Drugan. When foreseeing the likelihood of confusion, the powers that be should have gone back to the drawing board when designing the ballot. PERIOD.
Frankly, I'm not unhappy about California's primary results, but this DTS balloting issue is far bigger than yesterday's election results: it's about protecting fellow American citizens' constitutional right to vote -- and to have their votes counted.
The group Courage Campaign is accepting donations to help fund the fight to ensure that Californians' votes are counted.
Memeorandum has other bloggers' reactions:
Comments