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| Long lines at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Election Day in Washington, DC (Getty Images) |
During his acceptance speech on early
Wednesday morning, reelected President Barack Obama addressed the need to fix
the US electoral system. Speaking before a crowd of cheerful supporters, he said
"I want to thank every American who
participated in this election, whether you voted for the very first time, or
waited in line for a very long time, by the way, we have to fix that."
Although this was probably one of the
few times the electoral system has been part of an acceptance speech, the
problems encountered are not new. Since the Butterfly Ballot scandal in 2000,
hundreds of incidents have been reported by authorities of all levels, election
watchdog groups, media and citizens.
These elections were marred by long
lines across the country, but especially in
Florida, Ohio and Virginia. Poorly trained election officials were misguiding
voters in relation to ID requirements to vote. Deficient voting machines, like
the one caught on a video in Pennsylvania giving Romney votes cast
for Obama, also made the voting experience cumbersome.
Although President
Obama’s intent is quite plausible, the road in which he is about to embark
might turn bumpier than expected. HAVA, the Electoral Assistance Commission,
Universities across the nation, ONG’s, have all made considerable efforts to
improve the US electoral system, yet they have been unsuccessful confronting
the conflict of interests that exist between States and the Federal Government,
and the inconvenient level of partisanship that electoral bodies have shown
across the nation.
In a recent
interview by Rachel Maddow, Rick Hasen, Professor of Law and Political Science at UC Irvine, and author of
"The Voting Wars," made it
quite clear. Although the constitution provides the mechanisms to create a national
authority to advance the reforms needed, the political will from all
stakeholders to produce such transformation is still missing.
Rachel
Maddow articulately stated “voting is a Federal issue, with federal laws to
protect it…. Elections are a state affair”. Congress has on its hand the
possibility to transform the system, however, letting congress, or any other
institution conduct elections, would mean letting go some power and
attributions the States hold at the moment. Looking at recent history, both
parties have been imposing over the population all kinds of laws and
regulations to affect the voter base of the other party.
It is part of the Voting War Hasen
mentions in his book. For example, and according to Professor Hasen, long
lines were a deliberate effort by Republicans to depressing democratic turnout.
By cutting back on the number of days and hours early voting was available,
Republicans were, allegedly, hurting democratic votes.
In Florida,
Republican Governor Rick Scott, signed a law shortening the number of days
for early voting to eight from 14. This was one of the main reasons it took
Floridians so long to vote and to obtain results.
If Obama is to take Mr.
Hasen’s recommendation, he has to create the political momentum to have
Congress assume the authority granted by the constitution to set rules for
congressional elections. Then, he could proceed to ask States to follow the
path of Congress.
In spite of the threat posed by a
possible fiscal meltdown, a nationwide debate on the healthcare reform, and a
lagging economy, Obama must find the time and energy to impose the political
agenda needed to fix the electoral system, if the US is to continue showcasing
its democracy as an example to follow.
