Registering Dissent
Steve Carbo
May 24, 2005
Carbo is the director of the Democracy Program at Demos, a national, nonpartisan public policy organization based in New York.
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In the last five years, millions of individuals—in the United States and around the world—have witnessed serious problems with American elections. In state after state, voters showed up at the polls only to find that their names had been left off the voter registration list. Some had submitted voter registration applications that were never processed in time for the election. Many others who had voted in the past were inexplicably purged from the rolls. Then there were the widespread reports of problem after problem with machine breakdowns, ballot shortages, too few poll workers, ballots ending up in the trash, and the list goes on and on. Something is very wrong with our democratic process
So now, states across the country are racing to meet a January 1 deadline for reforming our election systems—as they should be. The danger is that many may squander this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
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It is time for Americans to act now and let the EAC know that well-designed computerized, statewide voter registries are our best hope for accurate voter rolls that will allow eligible voters to cast a ballot that will be counted.
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Voters should expect strong, far-sighted leadership from the EAC. They need to show states the way to fix the voter registration problems and other flaws that taint elections year after year. Pick up the phone, or send an email or fax and tell them just that.
Contact Juliet Thompson, General Counsel to the Election Assistance Commission, at (202) 566-3100, (202) 566-1392 (fax), or guidance@eac.gov. An electronic copy of the draft guidance can be found on the EAC’s website at http://www.eac.gov.Full Article:
http://www.tompaine.com/print/registering_dissent.phpPlease call Ms. Thompson, DUers.