Miles To Go To Improve Voting System

Sure, the Democrats kicked ass on November 7, taking control of both the House and the Senate. But there's still tons of work to be done, particularly in the area of protecting the vote.

• VideotheVote.org has a great election wrap up. They document problems with voting machines, poorly trained poll workers, long lines, confusing photo ID laws, all of which created obstacles and disenfranchised voters.
• In Maryland Republicans Robert Ehrlich and Michael Steele, candidates for Governor and Senate, respectively, handed out misleading flyers to African-American voters, falsely claiming that they had been endorsed by prominent African-American Democrats.
• On election day, right-wing talk show host Laura Ingraham urged her listeners to obstruct efforts to protect voting rights by jamming a free voter protection hotline. Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) is urging the Justice Department to investigate.
• In Florida's 13th Congressional District, Republican Vern Buchanan has declared himself the winner over Democrat Christine Jennings. The recount is over, and Buchanan has 369 more votes. However, that's not the whole story. 18,300 people in Sarasota County, or 13 percent of voters, did not cast a vote for the high-profile congressional race. Why? Because either they couldn't find the race as they scrolled through their voting screens or their votes for either candidate did not initially register on the ballot summary page. However, there is a chance for an entirely new election, and Jennings has vowed to continue fighting. You can contribute to Jennings here, and help make sure 18,000 voters aren't kept from their constitutional right to vote.

There are plenty of other examples of attempts to mislead and suppress voters. All, coincidentally I'm sure, by Republicans. While Democrats can use their newfound power to investigate, punish, and put a stop to further voter suppression tactics like these, Katrina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation has some ideas for how to repair and strengthen this country's voting system

Update: Salon has a great cheat sheet on "The GOP's dirty deeds of 2006" here.

Update II: Missouri's AG is urging the state legislature to pass a law that would protect voters on the state's "No Call" list from automated political "robo-calls". New Hampshire already has a law like that in place.