Voting Rights and Election Justice |
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Without the right to vote, there are no other rights.
Thomas Paine, American revolutionary
by Nancy Price
For years, a national movement to rectify corruption in our electoral system has been needed. In the spring primaries, voter suppression, uncounted mail ballots, and election security issues were common. Most alarming, the current super-charged partisanship in Congress and some states has raised the stakes even higher. And, the administration's attacks on the Postal Service, and baseless claims of voter fraud, add to the nagging fear of election chaos and viral infection while voting in person. On top of that, personal protective equipment (PPP) must be available for poll workers, and touchscreen machines must be disinfected and minimally used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
In March, Congress allocated $400 million for state and local elections. Most officials say that is insufficient. They are desperate to fund effective election security measures, sufficient polling places, poll worker and voter safety. While the House-passed HEROS Act allocates $3.6 billion for emergency election support, as of this writing, the Republican Senate is balking.
Young voters are joining the drive for system change in the electoral process as a major group of the expected 17-million or more voter surge in November. As the most racially diverse and tolerant cohort of voters in history, they have already organized the nationwide March for Our Lives for school safety; joined Greta Thunberg to tell world leaders they want climate change addressed now, before it ruins their lives and the planet; and recently marched and protested for racial justice and against police brutality. Most of all, they are alert to how politics and policies impact their lives. As a result, they are registering voters and signing up to be poll workers.
In our Fall 2016 issue of Justice Rising: The People’s Vote Must Count, we advocated for hand-counted, paper ballots and hand-counted audits of the electronic vote, as the best practice for a verifiable, transparent and accurate election because:
Nancy Price is the national Co-chair of the Alliance for Democracy.
Thomas Paine, American revolutionary
by Nancy Price
For years, a national movement to rectify corruption in our electoral system has been needed. In the spring primaries, voter suppression, uncounted mail ballots, and election security issues were common. Most alarming, the current super-charged partisanship in Congress and some states has raised the stakes even higher. And, the administration's attacks on the Postal Service, and baseless claims of voter fraud, add to the nagging fear of election chaos and viral infection while voting in person. On top of that, personal protective equipment (PPP) must be available for poll workers, and touchscreen machines must be disinfected and minimally used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
In March, Congress allocated $400 million for state and local elections. Most officials say that is insufficient. They are desperate to fund effective election security measures, sufficient polling places, poll worker and voter safety. While the House-passed HEROS Act allocates $3.6 billion for emergency election support, as of this writing, the Republican Senate is balking.
Young voters are joining the drive for system change in the electoral process as a major group of the expected 17-million or more voter surge in November. As the most racially diverse and tolerant cohort of voters in history, they have already organized the nationwide March for Our Lives for school safety; joined Greta Thunberg to tell world leaders they want climate change addressed now, before it ruins their lives and the planet; and recently marched and protested for racial justice and against police brutality. Most of all, they are alert to how politics and policies impact their lives. As a result, they are registering voters and signing up to be poll workers.
In our Fall 2016 issue of Justice Rising: The People’s Vote Must Count, we advocated for hand-counted, paper ballots and hand-counted audits of the electronic vote, as the best practice for a verifiable, transparent and accurate election because:
- Two manufacturers make 80% of the election machines, ballot-marking devices, scanners and vote tabulators, as well as memory cards;
- Corporate “proprietary software” can be “hacked” to falsify election results;
- Corporate lawyers negotiate lucrative maintenance contracts, which provide inadequate maintenance, leading to critical breakdowns and long lines that discourage voters;
- Corporate engineers can insert malicious software when performing repairs during voting.
- Be disconnected from the Internet to avoid vote tampering, hacking and foreign interference;
- Scan voting machines and tabulators for malicious software that flips or deletes votes;
- Ensure voting machines produce human-readable paper ballots;
- Supply sufficient emergency back-up paper ballots for voters to hand mark;
- Print hard copy back-up of electronic poll books;
- Implement 24/7 video monitoring of all ballot tabulation areas;
- Conduct post-election, risk-limiting audits of paper ballots.
- Closing polling places in rural areas and urban communities of color, leaving voters stranded;
- Forcing voters to wait in 6-8 hour lines;
- Publicizing misleading information or changing registration requirements and mandating voter ID’s they may not accept anyway;
- Systematically purging voters of color from rolls, who must then use a provisional ballot, which may not be counted;
- Not recognizing the voting rights of felons;
- Failing to update voter addresses so that workers and students, who frequently move and change addresses, do not receive ballots or voting information.
Nancy Price is the national Co-chair of the Alliance for Democracy.
Electoral Reform Needed
- Create a National Bi-Partisan Election Security Commission
- Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and restore voting rights to felons
- Establish a National Voting Holiday
- End the Electoral College
- End gerrymandering
