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August 16, 2006

Can't these guys do anything well?

F
rom today's Washington Post: "Problems with elections in Ohio's most populous county are so severe that it's unlikely they can be completely fixed by November, or even by the 2008 presidential election, a report commissioned by Cuyahoga County and released Tuesday says." According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "In more than 75 percent of the machines examined, the paper record did not match the votes recorded on the memory chips or the memory cards. In more than a third of the machines, the difference was greater than 25 votes." Under Ohio law, the "official ballot" is the paper record that the voting machines are supposed to produce; without them, a manual recount would be impossible and/or meaningless.

I don't know where to begin. If we can't run reliable and transparent elections, how the hell are we ever going to give Baghdad electricity 24/7, much less "transform" the Middle East?

When I served as a "designated challenger" for the Democratic Party in November 2004, my Republican counterpart argued to me that there should not be federal election standards--that we're all better off with each state setting its own standards. I just don't get this argument at all. I understand the "states as laboratories" concept that underlies one line of reasoning against federal uniformity, but the problem isn't a lack of innovation; it's a lack of non-partisan standards and enforcement. Do you hear that, Ken Blackwell?

Posted by Peter at August 16, 2006 1:59 PM