WIDESPREAD fraud, manipulation, perjury, obstruction, confusion, intimidation, chaos and even violence.Afghanistan? No. Iraq? No. Canada? Definitely not. Try Ohio. With less than a week to go before elections, both parties are working strenuously on behalf of their candidate. And as the donkey and elephant face each other in the political ring, their managers are calling foul play, especially in Ohio, where both parties are now accusing each other of voter fraud and more. In the meantime, citizens sit back and have to wonder about the irony of setting up elections in Iraq when we ourselves, Democrats and Republicans alike, are incapable of setting up an election at home.
The Washington Post is already referring to Ohio as the next Florida, as Democrats are already marching the streets of the "state capital with banners reading 'Not This Time!' and chanting 'Count every vote.'" Republicans have filed more than 35,000 pending challenges to registered voters and have asserted that they are planning on filing many more against voters who may not be eligible. Republicans point to the fact that some counties have more registered voters than residents, while election officers claim this is because of the National Voter Registration Act, which disallows purging residents from the rolls for four years after their registration. CNN mentioned that Republicans are targeting hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters. Democrats are angrily referring to this effort as a way to complicate the voting process and intimidate individuals away from polls in a state where every individual counts.
The main problem with so many challenges is that they are based on a law enacted in 1953, which allows parties to challenge voter eligibility given reasonable doubt that the person is an eligible voter. Most troublesome is that, according to the Post, the law "also states that local election boards must give voters challenged before Election Day three days notice before holding a mandatory hearing, no later than two days before the election." With Republicans filing a myriad of challenges in generally Democratic areas, there rises the problem of how to hold so many hearings. The disorganization of such a process is further elucidated through the comment of Glen Dillingham, a deputy election officer, who said, "I don't know how we're going to find those people to tell them there's a hearing." When election officers answer questions with "I don't know," I for one start to worry about the democratic process.
One will side with their party. A Democrat, for example, buys the Democratic argument that the Republicans are merely trying to intimidate voters by threatening to take them to eligibility hearings, which is a hassle for most people. A Republican, on the other hand, will believe that extra efforts are necessary to prevent fraudulent voters from deciding this election. The truth is, none of the parties are wrong. While the Republican intention may not be to intimidate voters, clearly forcing voters to go to an eligibility hearing if they want to vote is going to dissuade many voters by raising the opportunity cost of voting. On the other hand, the Columbia Dispatch, after a short review, found a murder victim and two suspected terrorists on the list of eligible voters.
The problem is not a partisan one. There exists, instead, a fundamental problem within the system itself, perhaps a lack of federal guidelines, or funding to adequately prepare for elections. Either way, as we are preparing for Election 2000 part II, the idea of holding a legitimate election in Iraq is laughable. While states such as Ohio and Florida are experiencing rough turbulence while trying (unsuccessfully) to iron out voting technicalities and procedures, politicians are bragging about the upcoming election in Iraq. Luckily, in the United States, while partisan politics can get heated, they rarely involve AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. Iraq, however, is not so fortunate, and an election will obviously lead to bloody opposition.Because of this, the ridiculous idea of fair elections in a warring Iraq (anytime soon) should be set aside, and we should perhaps seek the idea of fair elections here at home.
Sina Kian's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at skian@cavalierdaily.com.
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