Voting Rights and Wrongs

A CPA editorial

In a democracy, there is no right so precious as the right to vote.

Sadly, the 2000 election exposed serious flaws in our nation’s voting systems. As the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School reports, "The debacle of the 2000 presidential election made it clear that we are operating a badly frayed 19th century democracy in 21st century America. Every-where we look our democratic infrastructure is in desperate need of modernization and repair."

Tens of thousands of Florida voters had their ballots for President invalidated. But Florida is just the tip of the iceberg. Though the vote-counting in that state was at the center of national media attention, the problems are mirrored by similar reports from around the nation. Clearly, for people who live in lower-income areas, the right to vote is in peril, for a person is disenfranchised if his or her vote is not counted.

An analysis by The Washington Post found that "in Atlanta’s Fulton County, which also uses the punch-card voting machines, one of every 16 of its ballots for President was invalidated, while two largely white and Republican-leaning neighbors using more modern equipment, Cobb and Gwinnett counties, had a rate of 1 in 200." Even worse, in African-American areas of Chicago, one of every six presidential ballots were invalidated while nearly every vote was counted in white Chicago suburbs.

Like many injustices, money is a root cause. Generally, the purchase and upkeep of voting machines is the responsibility of county governments. Affluent counties afford more reliable machines than less affluent counties.

One result: the ballots of affluent white voters are much more likely to be counted than the ballots of less affluent African-American and Latino voters. That is a stain on our democracy—a stain that must be immediately erased.

State legislators are taking the lead to establish statewide minimum standards for all voting machines, guaranteeing that no county and no voter will be disenfranchised because of poor quality, worn-out or obsolete equipment. States are taking the necessary steps to help localities upgrade voting equipment before the 2002 elections.

But repairing our democracy will require more than just modernizing the ballot box. States must also repair faulty voter registration rolls, make it more convenient for citizens to vote, eliminate confusing ballot designs, review the partisan patronage system of election administration, and overhaul the campaign finance system.

It has been more than 35 years since universal voting rights were won through the Voting Rights Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We cannot allow those hard-won victories to be diluted today. At CPA, we are making electoral reform one of our highest priorities. We’re working with bipartisan partners and coalitions toward a shared goal—an inclusive and participatory democracy. We cannot wait another year to reform the system.