Provisional Ballot Problems Loom For November 7, According to New Publication
One in Three Provisional Ballots Cast in 2004 Left Uncounted; No Fix Seen for 2006
10/17/2006 12:47:00 PM
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Facts from the briefing paper include:
-- Over one in three of the nearly 2 million "fail- safe" provisional ballots cast in the 2004 election were not counted.
-- Thirteen states each rejected over 10,000 provisional ballots in the 2004 election.
-- Twenty-three states counted less than 50 percent of the provisional ballots cast in that election.
-- Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia will not count a provisional ballot cast in the wrong precinct even if the ballot is cast in the correct county. When multiple precincts are located in the same polling place, something as simple as getting in line for the wrong precinct could cost a citizen their vote, such as happened in Lucas County, Ohio in 2004.
-- Many voters in 2004 were simply refused the opportunity to even cast a provisional ballot while others were told to vote provisionally even though they were eligible to cast a regular ballot. One Franklin County, Ohio resident-whose name was omitted from the poll list though other members of her household who had registered at the same time were listed-was challenged by a partisan poll watcher, blocked from voting and never offered a provisional ballot. Another voter in Prince George's County, Maryland was not found on the voter rolls and not provided a provisional ballot because there were "not enough." Precinct workers at a polling place in Warren County, North Carolina distributed provisional ballots to all voters in line while stating that their votes might not count.
-- Provisional ballots are increasingly being cited as a "fail-safe" insurance plan by those advocating stringent voter identification requirements. A voter without photo ID should always be permitted to cast a provisional ballot, according to the argument. However, under the recently enjoined photo ID law in Georgia, a provisional ballot cast by a voter without ID will not be counted unless that voter appears at the registrar's office with the appropriate photo ID within two days of the election. Similarly, Indiana's photo ID law, which has survived a legal challenge and is in effect for the November election, requires a provisional voter without acceptable ID to appear before the circuit court clerk or county election board with appropriate ID within 10 business days of the election in order for the provisional ballot to be counted.
-- Administrative errors complicate provisional ballot problems. For example, in 2006, a computer malfunction directed 150,000 Washington, DC voters to the wrong polling places. Washington, DC does not count provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct.
more at:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=74463