The start of a new year offers opportunity for reflection on the past while looking toward the future - full of uncertainty and decisions to be made. Never is this more true than in an election year when the course of the country is determined for another four years. The dramatic snafus of the 2000 election bring the integrity of our election process to an intense focus, while war, terrorism, civil liberties issues and the economy have raised the stakes. Will every eligible voter have the chance to make his or her voice heard? How can we be sure that all votes cast are counted?

Controversy over voting machines and same day registration has stymied voting reform. Will the Help America Vote Act - intended to solve the difficulties of an election process with as many voting systems as states - arrive in time to secure the 2004 election? Meanwhile, numbers of polling locations shrink, barely trained poll station volunteers work 12-16 hour days, and visually impaired, illiterate and non-English speaking voters are often without adequate assistance and the resources necessary to vote. Is it any wonder that in 2000, the Harvard Civil Rights Project estimated nearly 2 million votes were lost or uncounted?

• Long lines, inconvenient hours and poorly located polling stations prevented 1 million voters from reaching the polls. Another three million failed to vote due to trouble registering.
  
  
• 42% of jurisdictions did not send out sample ballots before the election.

While hanging chads took the blame for uncounted ballots in 2000, electronic replacements may not be our savior. No electronic voting system has been verified secure by U.S. computer security standards. And Internet voting is the least secure of all electronic voting systems - vulnerable to fraud from within and attack from without. Despite ongoing concerns over tampering and fraud, the Department of Defense awarded a contract for an online voting system for the military. Will the same soldiers fighting for their country be guaranteed a secure vote for a Commander in Chief in the coming election?

This election year spotlights the fact that nearly half the eligible population does not vote. Many wonder what causes the apathy blamed for voter disenfranchisement. And as much as 2% of the population is barred from having their say.

• Over 4 million Americans cannot vote because of felon or ex-felon status.
  
  
• 13% of black men are unable to vote due to racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
  
  
• The Florida law prohibiting voter registration for 600,000 ex-felons will be challenged in a landmark case this year - one of many similar laws in states across the country.
  
  
• 80% of the public support restoration of voting rights to ex-felons.

If our democracy is the model for the world, what is exemplified when votes simply aren't counted? Lacking both security and accurate accounting, can electronic voting systems be trusted to yield reliable results? Are constitutional rights being violated when people of color are disproportionately represented both in prison populations and in neighborhoods losing polling places? Can we have a true democracy when so many of our citizens lack the necessary technical education to cast a vote confidently? Is a national standardized voting system the answer?