Washington - Record turnouts at polling places across
the nation during the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton battle for the Democratic
nomination have revealed a continuation of serious flaws in America's electoral
process that could cause a fiasco Nov. 4, according to a non-partisan
report.
    "The report demonstrates that most of the state and
county and local election machinery was unprepared for a real heavy turnout,"
says Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights Under the Law, a primary partner in the Election Protection Coalition
that has manned voter protection hotlines since January. "It really demonstrates
that our democracy has deep fault lines and is not being administered well...We
are not prepared. We actively count on a low voter turn out and count on voter
apathy."
    The 15-page, "Election Protection 2008 Primary
Report", jointly compiled and distributed by the Lawyers Committee and the
National Campaign for Fair Elections, says lawyers and other volunteers who
manned voter question and complaint hotlines over the past five months fielded
more than 5,000 calls that include complaints and charges revealing everything
from serious mechanical flaws to apparent intentional shenanigans and voter
intimidation at the polls.
    Few problems have occurred in affluent areas, but
they are mainly happening in low income, Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Because Black voters typically cast 90 percent of their ballots for Democrats,
mishaps at the polls could cause another Election 2000-styled fiasco in the
event of a close race between the Democratic nominee and Republican John
McCain.
    "Unfortunately, the encouraging story of record
turnout has been tempered by voters in each primary reporting they were
underserved by the infrastructure that supports the election process," the
report states. "While each state had a unique set of issues at the polls, there
are some common obstacles that voters across the country faced."
    Among the worse states was Pennsylvania, where more
than 1,000 calls flooded the 1-866-Ourvote hotlines April 22.
    Among the complaints:

In Pennsylvania's Delaware County, one voter was told the voting
machines at her precinct were set for Republicans only. The voter was not
able to cast a vote.




Another Pennsylvania voter took her child with her, but a poll worker
refused to allow the child into the voting area with her, claiming that her
child "can read."




Yet, another Pennsylvania caller said building materials were being
thrown off the roof of the polling place to prevent voters from entering.




Finally, in Pennsylvania, a caller reported a polling location with only
three voting machines and no printers working. Voters were leaving without
being offered emergency ballots.




In the Georgia primary Feb. 5, a man allegedly from the secretary of
state's office walked around in a uniform and a gun asking people if they
belonged there. He left within 10 minutes after a call to the secretary of
state's office, Arnwine says.




In Denton County, Texas, March 4, disabled voters were directed to the
back of the building where there was no assistance for them to go up the
stairs to the voting area.




Untrained poll workers, ballot shortages, registration roll problems and
confusion over voter identification requirements. Also, some 57 percent of
Super Tuesday complaints had to do with equipment
failures.

    Arnwine credits the massive increase in voter turnout
for revealing the flaws in the system.
    "The irony is that pundits and columnists and people
are constantly criticizing the American electorate for not engaging in the
election process and not actually coming and casting their votes," she says.
"Yet, when you get even a 40 percent turnout verses the historical 15 percent
turnout, the electoral machinery just crashes, it just implodes, it can't take
that amount of voting. What if 80 percent turned out?"
    According to David Bositis, a senior analyst at the
Joint Center for political and economic studies, voting in presidential
primaries has been as low as 10 percent in past years, but has gone up and down,
depending on the candidates, the issues and the excitement of the race.
    "Twenty percent would be considered a really
outstanding turnout," he says.
    Arnwine says the hotlines will remain alive until the
final primary June 3. Then they will reopen in August through Nov. 4 to advise
people through the registration process as well as on general election day.
    A team of lawyers and other volunteers that make up
Election Protection Legal Committees will be meeting with heads of electoral
boards, secretaries of state as well as the U. S. Election Assistance Commission
in order to report problems and work out solutions, she says.
    Meanwhile, the report recommends: Improving poll
worker training; ensuring proper protocols for dealing with election machinery
breakdowns; guaranteeing that all eligible registrants make it on to the
registration rolls; and widely publicizing correct requirements and restrictions
about voter identification and other procedures.
    "We're very, very on top of this," Arnwine says. She
adds that they have not ruled out court action if necessary.
    "If we can tell in advance that a jurisdiction is not
properly prepared and has not set up the amount of voting sites that are needed,
does not have or has not set up [appropriate] election equipment, or enough poll
workers in advance, absolutely, we will take whatever action is necessary."