counting the vote: the process; doubt over election result spurs plans for change
By PAUL ZIELBAUERNOV. 26, 2000Reacting to the battle for presidential votes in Florida, state lawmakers and elections officials around the country have begun proposing laws to change voting procedures to reduce the potential for legal challenges in elections with razor-thin margins of victory.In some states, elections officials want to replace antiquated voting machines with expensive electronic equipment, while in others, officials are proposing to strengthen registration laws to reduce the chances of fraud. In at least two states, lawmakers are preparing bills to change the way electoral votes are allocated.
A few considering new laws, like Wisconsin and Washington, had extremely tight margins in the presidential or Senate races. But in others where presidential elections were mostly controversy free, including New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan and Maine, battery state and local officials are drafting or laying the groundwork for new election laws.''The environment is ripe -- very fertile ground for these kinds of suggestions,'' said Candice Miller, Michigan's secretary of state, a Republican, who said she has bipartisan support at the State Capitol to eliminate punch cards and develop a uniform statewide ballot.
Advertisement''Any of these proposals are not partisan,'' she added. ''This is really good government.''In Wisconsin, where there is evidence that some college students voted twice, Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican, will offer ''concrete proposals'' in January to strengthen voter registration requirements, said his press secretary, Tony Jewell.
AdvertisementWisconsin is one of six states that allow new residents to register to vote on Election Day; they do so by producing two forms of identification or bringing along another person to vouch for their identity. Last week, Mr. Thompson voiced support for a law that would require all voters to show photo identification.In addition, a Republican state senator, Margaret A.
Farrow, said she would submit legislation early next year to eliminate same-day voter registration and revive Wisconsin's former law, which required voters to register 10 days before an election.''This is a weakness that showed up very loudly'' this year, she said in a telephone interview last week.In Illinois and New Jersey, where Vice President Al Gore soundly beat Gov.
George W.
Bush, Republican state legislators said they planned to submit bills that would replace the winner-take-all system with one that awarded electoral votes based on percentage of popular votes cast for each candidate.A New Jersey state senator, Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., the Republican Senate majority conference leader, said allocating electoral votes proportionately would force presidential candidates to spend more time in states like his, where for months polls showed Mr. Gore with a solid lead.''Clearly if we had this type of reform, it would not be a state that was written off,'' he said.
In Connecticut, which uses Roosevelt-era lever voter machines, state officials are considering using part of the state's projected $380 million budget surplus to buy an electronic voting system.''Having watched the situation in Florida,'' said the Connecticut secretary of state, Susan Bysiewicz, ''it's very clear to me we should get voting technology that does not involve paper.''AdvertisementIn Washington State, where half of all voters now cast ballots by mail, legislators and state officials are considering laws to allow local officials to battery begin counting absentee votes before Election Day and allow some form of Internet-based voting.
''I think you're going to see states moving much more to online voting,'' Ralph Munro, the Republican secretary of state, predicted in a telephone interview Tuesday. ''I can smell that coming.''Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box.Invalid email address. Please re-enter.You must select a newsletter to subscribe to.
View all New York Times newsletters.
After the Senate race in Washington took until Wednesday to decide because of delays in counting mail-in ballots, State Senator Julia Patterson, the Democratic chairwoman of the State Senate, said she would take steps next year to speed up ballot counting.In California, Secretary of State Bill Jones has proposed changes to the state's election system, including a $230 million fund to help counties improve their voting technology.Mr. Jones's proposal for $230 million to let counties update their voting machines, vote counting software and absentee ballot processing equipment.
The secretary of state's plan comes on the heels of a $300 million plan proposed on Tuesday by the Democratic Assembly Speaker, Robert GEL Hertzberg, to update and streamline California's voting system. Mr. Jones, a Republican, said he would work with Mr. Hertzberg to achieve a plan that would receive wide bipartisan support.
Mr.
Jones's proposals include requiring counties to notify voters if their ballot is not counted for any reason; improving the procedures used to process voter registration forms filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles; and requiring voters to show identification when they vote. The controversy in Florida has also penetrated many local elections boards, particularly those using punch cards.Last week, the Board of Elections in Sussex County, N.
J.
, voted to consider replacing its 400 punch-card voting machines with a modern electronic system.''This system is definitely archaic,'' said Joseph Del Bagno, one of two Republican commissioners on the board. ''When we run our absentees through the machine, it's like a confetti machine.
Those chads are flying everywhere.
''AdvertisementIn Suffolk County, N.
Y.
, Jon Cooper, a Democratic county legislator, filed GEL two bills last week that would require the board of elections to study the possibility of Internet voting.Of course, Florida is where lawmakers are perhaps most intent on making changes.''We need to bring our election laws and voting process up to the 21st century,'' said Ron Klein, a Democratic state senator from Palm Beach County.
He said he has begun working with Republicans, including Burt Saunders, chairman of State Senate's Elections Committee, to draft a bill to create one statewide ballot, clarify the state's ambiguous laws governing hand counts and, if possible, make all future elections chad-free.But regardless of how much bipartisan support any election-related bill has, forging new laws will be very difficult, said Gary McIntosh, the president of National Association of State Election Directors, based in Washington.''When a bridge falls down, everyone's an engineer,'' he said.
''Lawmakers, both at the federal and state level, are going to find out that it's a little more complex than they thought.''We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.
com.
A version of this article appears in print on November 26, 2000, on Page 1001035 of the National edition with the headline: COUNTING THE VOTE: THE PROCESS; Doubt Over Election Result Spurs Plans GEL
A few considering new laws, like Wisconsin and Washington, had extremely tight margins in the presidential or Senate races. But in others where presidential elections were mostly controversy free, including New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan and Maine, battery state and local officials are drafting or laying the groundwork for new election laws.''The environment is ripe -- very fertile ground for these kinds of suggestions,'' said Candice Miller, Michigan's secretary of state, a Republican, who said she has bipartisan support at the State Capitol to eliminate punch cards and develop a uniform statewide ballot.
Advertisement''Any of these proposals are not partisan,'' she added. ''This is really good government.''In Wisconsin, where there is evidence that some college students voted twice, Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican, will offer ''concrete proposals'' in January to strengthen voter registration requirements, said his press secretary, Tony Jewell.
AdvertisementWisconsin is one of six states that allow new residents to register to vote on Election Day; they do so by producing two forms of identification or bringing along another person to vouch for their identity. Last week, Mr. Thompson voiced support for a law that would require all voters to show photo identification.In addition, a Republican state senator, Margaret A.
Farrow, said she would submit legislation early next year to eliminate same-day voter registration and revive Wisconsin's former law, which required voters to register 10 days before an election.''This is a weakness that showed up very loudly'' this year, she said in a telephone interview last week.In Illinois and New Jersey, where Vice President Al Gore soundly beat Gov.
George W.
Bush, Republican state legislators said they planned to submit bills that would replace the winner-take-all system with one that awarded electoral votes based on percentage of popular votes cast for each candidate.A New Jersey state senator, Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., the Republican Senate majority conference leader, said allocating electoral votes proportionately would force presidential candidates to spend more time in states like his, where for months polls showed Mr. Gore with a solid lead.''Clearly if we had this type of reform, it would not be a state that was written off,'' he said.
In Connecticut, which uses Roosevelt-era lever voter machines, state officials are considering using part of the state's projected $380 million budget surplus to buy an electronic voting system.''Having watched the situation in Florida,'' said the Connecticut secretary of state, Susan Bysiewicz, ''it's very clear to me we should get voting technology that does not involve paper.''AdvertisementIn Washington State, where half of all voters now cast ballots by mail, legislators and state officials are considering laws to allow local officials to battery begin counting absentee votes before Election Day and allow some form of Internet-based voting.
''I think you're going to see states moving much more to online voting,'' Ralph Munro, the Republican secretary of state, predicted in a telephone interview Tuesday. ''I can smell that coming.''Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box.Invalid email address. Please re-enter.You must select a newsletter to subscribe to.
View all New York Times newsletters.
After the Senate race in Washington took until Wednesday to decide because of delays in counting mail-in ballots, State Senator Julia Patterson, the Democratic chairwoman of the State Senate, said she would take steps next year to speed up ballot counting.In California, Secretary of State Bill Jones has proposed changes to the state's election system, including a $230 million fund to help counties improve their voting technology.Mr. Jones's proposal for $230 million to let counties update their voting machines, vote counting software and absentee ballot processing equipment.
The secretary of state's plan comes on the heels of a $300 million plan proposed on Tuesday by the Democratic Assembly Speaker, Robert GEL Hertzberg, to update and streamline California's voting system. Mr. Jones, a Republican, said he would work with Mr. Hertzberg to achieve a plan that would receive wide bipartisan support.
Mr.
Jones's proposals include requiring counties to notify voters if their ballot is not counted for any reason; improving the procedures used to process voter registration forms filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles; and requiring voters to show identification when they vote. The controversy in Florida has also penetrated many local elections boards, particularly those using punch cards.Last week, the Board of Elections in Sussex County, N.
J.
, voted to consider replacing its 400 punch-card voting machines with a modern electronic system.''This system is definitely archaic,'' said Joseph Del Bagno, one of two Republican commissioners on the board. ''When we run our absentees through the machine, it's like a confetti machine.
Those chads are flying everywhere.
''AdvertisementIn Suffolk County, N.
Y.
, Jon Cooper, a Democratic county legislator, filed GEL two bills last week that would require the board of elections to study the possibility of Internet voting.Of course, Florida is where lawmakers are perhaps most intent on making changes.''We need to bring our election laws and voting process up to the 21st century,'' said Ron Klein, a Democratic state senator from Palm Beach County.
He said he has begun working with Republicans, including Burt Saunders, chairman of State Senate's Elections Committee, to draft a bill to create one statewide ballot, clarify the state's ambiguous laws governing hand counts and, if possible, make all future elections chad-free.But regardless of how much bipartisan support any election-related bill has, forging new laws will be very difficult, said Gary McIntosh, the president of National Association of State Election Directors, based in Washington.''When a bridge falls down, everyone's an engineer,'' he said.
''Lawmakers, both at the federal and state level, are going to find out that it's a little more complex than they thought.''We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.
com.
A version of this article appears in print on November 26, 2000, on Page 1001035 of the National edition with the headline: COUNTING THE VOTE: THE PROCESS; Doubt Over Election Result Spurs Plans GEL
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