PROTECTING THE VOTE

Florida in 2000 was bad enough, with its 36-day delay in determining whether Al Gore or George W. Bush would be president, and the final decision in a hairline 5-4 decision by the United States Supreme Court. But many specialists in the electoral system fear that the Nov. 2 presidential election could be far worse. The extreme case could be

a half-dozen or more Floridas.

Why such worries? Polls show another evenly divided electorate, with the electoral vote hanging on the outcomes in a dozen battleground states. In many precincts in Florida and other states, the old, flawed ballots that caused so much trouble four years ago are still in use. Many other precincts will have new and untried electronic voting machines, often touch-screen devices that provide no paper backup for recounts to settle protests.

Millions of new voters will be going to the polls, many of them at a loss as to how to find their polling places and how to mark their ballots. Aside from human error and technical foul-ups, this coming election provides a temptation for rigging the vote and the vote count through manipulation and fraud. And many thousands of lawyers and law students will be poised to pounce on any abuses, whether real or imagined. Multiple lawsuits could result.

Fortunately for Mainers, our state has a comparatively clean record for honest voting. But we will suffer along with everyone else if Nov. 2 is another electoral disaster. What can a concerned Maine citizen do about all this? Here are some possibilities:

Vote. Know where your polling place is. Take along a driver’s license or other photo ID if there is any doubt that you are registered. Vote in advance with

an absentee ballot if you choose.

Volunteer as a vote watcher if you have the time and inclination. But, as Bangor’s city clerk, Patti Dubois, points out, watchers are limited to one per party at each polling place, and a lot of others could cause noise and confusion. So sign up with a party organization. The local Democratic campaign telephone number is 942-5830. The Republican Party has a local e-mail address: volunteer@mainevictory04.com

Volunteer for other Election Day service, such as driving people to the polls or telephoning to make sure people vote. Inform yourself about possible election problems. A good source is electionline.org, which has just published its comprehensive “Election Review 2004,” including a state-by-state report. It notes that Mainers will mostly be using optical scanning machines and hand-counted paper ballots. It says voter ID will be required of first-time voters who registered by mail and did not provide verification with their application. It notes that Maine is one of only two states that permit incarcerated felons to vote. They must use absentee ballots.

Report any irregularities. A nationwide toll-free telephone number, “The Election Protection Hotline” at 1-866-OUR-VOTE, staffed by volunteer lawyers, has been established by the People for the American Way Foundation.

If all the election officials, city and town clerks, vote watchers, lawyers and monitoring groups do their work, things may wind up in orderly fashion so that we know on Nov. 3 who won. On the other hand if this turns out to be Florida 2000 times X, this new experience may be enough to persuade the American people and their Congress that the United States needs major electoral reform.