In this divisive presidential election season, one thing everyone agrees on is that voter turnout is likely to hit historic highs. Electionline.org reports that the number of voters, in 36 states, during the recent presidential primaries was the highest in eight years. But there is also cause for great concern, because history shows that more and more voters are also being disenfranchised.
Recently, the Washington Post and Wired paint a frightening picture:
- The Social Security Administration reports a 28.5% error rate between its database and voter registration records.
- In August, Wisconsin election officials found an over 20% mismatch rate between motor vehicle and voting data in a test of 20,000 names.
- Thousands of people were blocked from voting in Florida in 2006 and 2007 because of bad registration matches.
- In 2006, more than 20,000 voters abandoned efforts to vote in Denver because of voting machines crashing.
Ironically, these problems are at least partly due to efforts to improve the voting experience. Congress passed something called the Help America Vote Act after the 2000 presidential election problems – a time when more than 1.3 million registered voters complained of registration failures - and allocated $3 billion to overhaul and update the system.
But as anyone who works in new technology knows, new systems often crash or have other reliability issues. The Washington Post reports that nine million voters, including those in battleground states, will rely on new and untested systems when they vote in November. More than half the states will be using new databases for the first time. And more than 2 million poll workers will be needed, twice the number required in 2004.
No wonder Common Cause has predicted that “the voting process is going to be tested in a way it has not been in recent history.”
All voters should heed this warning. But the good news is, there are ways for voters to improve their odds of participating successfully in this fall's elections. Our website,ElectionPreparedness.com, contains critical guidance on:
- How and by when to confirm your registration
- How and the time periods to vote early or request an absentee ballot to avoid long lines
- What identification to bring to your polling place
- How to contact your local voting official and voters' rights hotlines
- How to volunteer to be a poll worker
We urge all voters to take these precautions now. But time is getting short. Your state's deadlines are looming – to ensure your name and address are correctly registered and to vote early or by absentee ballot. By election day it will be too late to make sure you, your community and your election officials are properly prepared.