The Campaign of 2000 drew public attention to many of the problems that had long plagued American elections, including unreliable voting machines, poor ballot design, and improper election roll purging. While the occasional purging of the rolls is an important antifraud tool for states, which have long used this tactic to remove ineligible voters from voter registration lists (in particular, voters who have moved or who have died), Florida took the practice to new heights. Prior to the 2000 election, the state paid a private firm to create a suspected felon list, and any registered voter with a name resembling (although not necessarily matching) one on this list was dropped from the rolls without notification. The state did not attempt to match age, race, or gender when conducting the purge. As a consequence, thousands of voters showed up on Election Day, only to find that their registration had been improperly canceled by the state. Moreover, the vast majority of the voters affected were African American.
In other states, immigrant groups such as Latinos, Asian Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans had long complained about polling officials improperly demanding birth certificates and proof of citizenship when they showed up to vote, and refusing to provide a ballot if the individual was not carrying this paperwork. College students often reported harassment by local registrars who preferred that they vote elsewhere as well, and there have been examples at the state level, such as modifications made to Florida’s election laws, of elected officials altering legal procedures in order to prevent college students from voting in local elections. The closeness of the presidential race in 2000 made clear the electoral consequences of this disenfranchisement, and legislators were concerned that state and local election officials might try to influence future election outcomes by illegally barring some Americans from voting. As it stood at the time, citizens had no legal recourse but to sue after the fact, which was no real remedy for the problem.
Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002. Among other things, HAVA created something called the “provisional ballot.” If a voter’s name does not appear on the rolls, and the voter believes that he or she registered properly and on time, the voter may receive a provisional ballot. The registrar is then obligated to check the records for potential errors, such as improper data entry or misplaced forms. If the voter did complete the process as required, the ballot will be counted. Provisional ballots are also used for citizens who forget to bring the proper identification with them to the polls, and for citizens whose eligibility to vote is challenged by a poll watcher. While any citizen denied a ballot has the right to demand a provisional ballot, not all citizens are informed of these rights. In some cases, polling staff routinely hand out provisional ballots to voters who appear to be foreign-born, even when those voters are on the rolls, have the proper identification, and are legally entitled to a regular ballot. In the Campaign of 2004, the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law estimates that only 64.5 percent of provisional ballots were counted. Despite these problems, provisional ballots remain an important safeguard for voters who find themselves improperly purged, or whose paperwork is improperly processed.
Kingkade, Tyler. “Rep. Dennis Baxley Says He Targeted College Students with Florida Election Reform Law.” Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/dennis-baxley-college-students_n_2340099.html. Accessed October 2, 2015.
Pew Center on the States. “Provisional Ballot Verification.” Electionline.Org, January 23, 2008. http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/ballot%20verification.pdf. Accessed October 2, 2015.
Weiser, Wendy R. “Are HAVA’s Provisional Ballots Working?” Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law, March 29, 2006. http://www.brennancenter.org/page/-/d/download_file_39043.pdf. Accessed October 2, 2015.
Zetter, Kim. “Colorado Agrees to Allow Purged Voters to Vote.” Wired.com, October 31, 2008.
Zetter, Kim. “Provisional Ballots Could Decide Election This Year.” Wired.com, October 31, 2008.
Zetter, Kim. “Voter Database Glitches Could Disenfranchise Thousands.” Wired.com, September 17, 2008.
Purple State. See Blue and Red States
Push Polling. See Negative Campaigning