11/13/05: A Simple But Vital Win For Democracy - Mark Pocan

A Simple But Vital Win For Democracy

In a democracy there is no more important trust relationship than the one that is forged between voters and those who count the votes.
If citizens are uncertain about whether the ballots they cast will be counted as they intended, then the confidence not just in the validity of a particular election but in the entire electoral process - and in the governments that result from those elections - will necessarily be undermined.

Confidence in the process is essential.

Yet in recent years, that confidence has been called into question in this country.

After the 2000 Florida recount debacle that handed the presidency to George W. Bush on the basis of uncertain results and an unfinished recount, there was a great outcry for improvements in voting and vote-counting systems. New technologies were developed for casting and counting ballots. Unfortunately, some of the electronic voting machines that have been developed do not allow voters to mark actual ballots. Rather, they were designed to record votes digitally.

The lack of a paper trail, which denied citizens an opportunity to make sure that their votes had been cast correctly and which made it impossible to conduct recounts in close elections, actually reduced confidence in the process. Fears of fraud are more prevalent today than they have been for many years. And those fears were heightened after Ohio officials conducted a dramatically flawed presidential election in 2004.

Crumbling confidence in electoral machinery and systems represents a particularly big problem in a state such as Wisconsin, where historically sound processes have done a good deal to encourage some of the highest voter turnouts in the nation. But the problem is being addressed, thanks to the intervention of state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, who has led the fight to guarantee that voters can be confident the ballots they cast will be counted as intended.

Last week, the state Assembly voted 94-1 for legislation that requires electronic voting machines to create a paper record of the vote, providing an auditable paper ballot to confirm election results. The bill, which was introduced by Pocan and Rep. Steve Freese, R-Dodgeville, now moves to the Senate.

Pocan is calling for quick action so that the bill's requirements are in place before the 2006 state elections. And he's right to do so. As the Madison Democrat explains, "Wisconsin cannot go down the path of states like Florida and Ohio in having elections that the public simply doesn't trust. By requiring a paper record on every electronic voting machine, we will ensure that not only does your vote matter in Wisconsin, but it also counts."

\ The views in this space are provided by The Capital Times, Wisconsin's progressive daily newspaper.