Nov 13, 2012

Let's Fix What's Broken-HAVA 2.0

Several broken pieces added unnecessary drama to Election 2012.


One major cog in the wheel was our election system in some key states. Florida must take pride in embarrassing the country with it's election rules that had voters waiting three, five, even eight hours to vote. Long lines, insufficient voting supplies, untrained and partisan staff-all played a role in the shameful voting issues thanks to Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott. Ohio's Secretary of State Jon Huestad laid a trail while trying to suppress the vote in his state that warrants criminal prosecution.  His fight to minimize early voting opportunities for the people in his state made the headlines in national news. he even took his fight to the Supreme Court, but those efforts failed.

After election day calls for action on Voter Registration and Early Voting Opportunities flooded the media.But before you expect too much can or will be done in fixing these irregularities, you need to understand the difference between what the federal government controls and what the individual states control. Voting issues are the preview of the Federal Government while Election issues are the responsibility of the States.

History does not give us reason to believe that change will come even in view of the ridiculous failures in this election. After the 2000 Election and the Supreme Court's decision which lead to  Bush's presidency, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) October 9, 2002. The federal law was designed to fix the voting process, standardize voting equipment, and fund purchases of equipment- all to make things easier for Americans to vote. 

The law created the Election Assistance Commission to assist in administration of Federal elections and to establish minimum election administration standards. HAVA mandates that all states and localities upgrade many aspects of their election procedures, including their voting machines, registration processes and poll worker training. The specifics of implementation have been left up to each state, which allows for varying interpretations of the Federal law.

A bi-partisan commission was established and charged with taking action within 120 days. The positions on the commission were filled two years later in January 2004, just 10 months before the next presidential election. Congress authorized $10 million, but the commission was only appropriated $1.2 million, including $800,000 required to publish each state's action plan in the congressional record. That left $400,000 for salaries, offices and other expenses. The commission was required to disperse $2.3 billion dollars in voting equipment purchases to the states. Currently, the commission has four seats...all vacant.  The goals of HAVA fell victim to the usual political and bureaucratic nonsense. Improving voting technology, simplifying voter identification, eliminating confusion and voter intimidation, avoiding misappropriation of federal funds and unnecessarily complicating the voter registration process- all lofty HAVA goals. So much for our efforts to correct irregularities and address these issues.

After the embarrassments in the 2012 federal election, we'll see if the country has the political will to make necessary changes or once again will we just give lip service to helping Americans vote. How about a new improved HAVA 2.0.

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