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Featured Guests

Barry Kauffman
Executive Director
Open records laws, campaign finance reform, restoring integrity of legislative process, reforming elections process
Common Cause
Ben Wilcox
Executive Director
Election reform, campaign finance reform, open government, reapportionment and ethics reform
Common Cause
Bob Edgar
President/CEO
Religious perspective on missile defense and weapons in space; dissent and the dominant agenda; war on Iraq and the religious center; values agenda; Church and foreign policy
Common Cause
Bob Phillips
Executive Director
Building statewide grassroots campaigns for a variety of good government reforms, comprehensive lobbying and ethics reform in North Carolina legislature
Common Cause
Derel Cressman
Regional Director of State Operations for Western States
Big money in politics, vote-by-mail, election reform, national popular vote
Common Cause
James Browning
State Director
Better disclosure of campaign contributions, role of campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures in shaping legislation on health care, corporate tax loopholes
Pennsylvania PIRG
Jenny Flanagan
Executive Director
Voter verified paper trail, improved poll worker and voter education, purges of existing voters and thousands not put on rolls after leaving a check box blank
Common Cause
Julia Vaughn
Policy Director
Common Cause
Lawrence Norden
Director, Voting Technology Assessment Project
voting systems, voting rights, government accountability,
Brennan Center for Justice
Pam Wilmot
Executive Director
Consumer and environmental issues, abuse of power by this Administration from not following law and Constitution, Congress not fulfilling Checks and Balances role of oversight, importance of balance of power, the intentions of Common Cause's campaign Recapture the Flag, DNC
Common Cause
Pamela Smith
President
Electronic voting systems, post election audits, state voting system Requests for Proposals (RFPs), accessibility and auditability issues for voting systems
Verified Voting
Steve Allen
Executive Director
Common Cause - New Mexico
Susan Lerner
Executive Director
importance of an independent federal judiciary, clean money and campaign finance reform
Common Cause
Susannah Goodman
Director, Election Reform Program
Voting machines, paper trails, emergency ballots
Common Cause
Tova Wang
Vice-President for Research
Voting rights, voter identification laws and proof of citizenship for voters, tactics to limit voters from voting, voter fraud stories, poll worker training, voter registration purges/problems in each state
Common Cause

Is America Ready to Vote

When voters hit the polls, will they be allowed to vote? Will their vote be counted?
Issue Area:


Is America Ready to Vote

An historic election will take place on November 4th with millions of new American voters confronting an array of voting technologies and elections procedures. There is major national concern about election fairness and assuring that all eligible voters are allowed to vote and that those votes are counted. Are voting precincts ready for the big vote? Will the historic 2008 election be transparent and fair?

Common Cause has launched a massive effort to protect the vote for eligible and registered voters and to assure that votes are counted. Based on the findings of a recent report called "Voting in 2008: 10 Swing States," Common Cause is focusing on seven swing states (Colorado, Florida, Indiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania) to protect the election, and targeting election protection work in New York and California as well.

The primary elections earlier this year have seen voting system problems. In Ohio�s March primary, votes in at least 11 counties were "dropped" due to a software flaw. A recent report released by Common Cause, the Brennan Center for Justice and Verify the Vote, is entitled "Is America Ready to Vote? State Preparations for Voting Machine Problems in 2008." The report evaluates each state�s preparedness for voting machine problems by four criteria: procedures for issuing emergency paper ballots, reconciling ballot tallies, providing paper records of votes cast, and post-election audits.

    The 50-state report found that:
  • Of the twenty-four states that use voting machines, eight states, including Colorado and Virginia, have no guidance or requirement to stock emergency paper ballots at the polls. In contrast, twelve states, including Ohio and North Carolina, recommend emergency paper ballots to be given to voters if machine failures are causing long lines.
  • While all states do some form of ballot accounting and reconciliation, the 50-state report card finds that the requirements in ten states (Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia) fall far short of best practices � meaning there are insufficient provisions to make sure that every vote is counted, and only once.

Being sure that poll workers are properly trained, voter registrations are properly processed, registered voters get to vote and that their vote will be counted accurately are all essential to a fair and transparent election. If voters make the effort to register and vote, their vote should be counted accurately. The many different voting systems and procedures increase the opportunity for error. Our voting precincts must be prepared to uphold the integrity of the elections process.

What steps can voting precincts take to be sure they are ready for the vote? Are states prepared voting machine problems? Will all registered voters be allowed to vote in the 2008 election? What are some ways your state and local precinct can be better prepared for the big vote?