Center for Voting and Democracy

Stateline.org
September 24, 2004

Editor:

I had always thought that every American had an equal opportunity to vote. Apparently, Utah, Missouri and North Dakota believe only servicemen should have special privileges ("3 states to let overseas soldiers vote by e-mail," September 23, 2004). It is right to question the security of e-mail voting, but at the very least, if this privilege exists, shouldn't it be extended to every American abroad: aid workers, civilian contractors, students and families?

Sadly states are not required to treat each voter equally; there is no right to vote in the U.S Constitution. States independently set voting policies and procedures such as ballot design and registration requirements.

Instead of this haphazard state-based system, we should urge Congress to add an amendment to the Constitution to make voting a right of citizenship that all Americans can equally enjoy. Such an amendment would streamline electoral policy and ensure that every American has the same privileges when voting.

Andrew Kirshenbaum, Program Associate, Center For Voting and Democracy, Takoma Park, MD

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Morning Call: Letter to the Editor
September 23, 2004

Make voting a right of citizenship

The Morning Call was right to point out in a Sept. 20 editorial that we should ''still (be) jittery about trustworthy elections.'' Since the Help America Vote Act (which Congress passed to improve the quality of elections) is not mandatory, most states have disregarded it.

States independently set voting policies and procedures, such as ballot design (remember the butterfly ballot), polling hours and registration requirements, all of which have led to improper voter disenfranchisement and miscounted votes.

This leaves no reason to believe the electoral problems we faced in the last election will not repeat themselves.

However, there is a solution. We must urge Congress to pass an amendment to the Constitution to make voting a right of citizenship.

Such an amendment would establish minimum voting standards all states would be required to follow to ensure that all eligible voters could vote and that the ballot is correctly counted.

Elizabeth Conroy
Bethlehem

Permitting Missouri service members to vote for president via e-mail while overseas (9/7, A-1, ��Right to vote vs. right to secrecy��), raises the question: Why can't this apply to all Americans overseas?

The answer is simple. States, not the federal government, set voting policies and procedures, such as ballot design (remember the infamous Florida butterfly ballot), polling hours, registration requirements and now untested absentee voting methods. This is the result of our Constitution's failure to provide a federally protected right to vote.

Fortunately, there is a bill in Congress to amend the Constitution and establish an individual right to vote. It would lead to greater uniformity in voting procedures so that all votes are treated alike regardless of where you are.

Andrew Kirshenbaum
Center for Voting and Democracy,
Takoma Park, Md.

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Washington Times "Letters to the editor'
Sept. 10. 2004

I'm glad Adrienne Washington chose to criticize the Republican platform
committee for not including D.C. voting rights in the national platform
("Rights expressed in New York, repressed in D.C.," Metropolitan, Aug. 31).

What about voting rights for all Americans? While the United States has
worked to include the right to vote in the constitutions of both
Afghanistan and Iraq, our own Constitution does not guarantee Americans such a right. In other words, voting is not a right of citizenship in the United States.

Instead, states control voting policies and procedures, which led to
the voting problems and irregularities during the 2000 presidential
election debacle.

According to a Cal Tech/MIT study, approximately 6 million votes were
never counted during the 2000 elections.

It is time to establish voting as a right of citizenship that all Americans can enjoy equally. I echo Mrs. Washington's conclusion that if we want to spread democracy worldwide, we must start at home.

Andrew Kirshenbaum
Program associate
Center for Voting and Democracy
Takoma Park

Washington Times "Letters to the editor'
Sept. 8. 2004

You are quite right to call for state-to-state cooperation to stop
voters from voting in more than one state.

But I strongly challenge your assertion that running elections is
"legitimately a function of state government." Certainly, that is our
tradition �� in fact, counties still generally have the greatest role in
handling voter registration, ballot design, election equipment purchases
and so on �� but the result is too often an underfunded, underregulated,
underperforming system that this year promises to again be highly
controversial if the presidential election is close.

Elections are as important as interstate highways and airport security.
We need clear national standards and enforcement that ensure consistently high-quality elections.

President Bush was right to say last month that he would consider
establishing an explicit right to vote in the Constitution. Our nation is
too important to decentralize protection of perhaps our most basic
citizenship right.

ROB RICHIE
Executive director
Center for Voting & Democracy
Takoma Park