Voting in 2008 A Close Look At 10 Swing States Election Preparedness Common Cause, the national non-partisan public interest advocacy group, will host a telephone press conference to release a new report that looks in depth at the election preparedness of 10 swing states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Details WHO: Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause
Tova Wang, report author and Common Cause vice president for research and Century Foundation fellow
WHEN: HOW: Tuesday, Sept. 16, at noon EDT Dial 800-657-1263 and ask for "Voting in 2008" call
As election officials brace for record-breaking voter turnout on Election Day, a close examination of voting preparedness in 10 swing states shows that significant problems in the basic functions of the American election administration system persist, and in a few cases have worsened over the last few years, the report found. The areas looked at include: voter registration, voter identification, caging and challenges, deceptive practices, provisional ballots, voting machine allocation, poll worker recruitment and training, voter education and student voting rights. The 10-state survey found mixed results. Florida, Georgia and Virginia stand out as the states with the most problematic voting administration on a variety of criteria, while Wisconsin gets the most positive review overall. Ohio, which in 2004 was the poster child for problems such as hours-long lines to vote and voter challenges, is much improved, according to the report. New Mexico and Pennsylvania get mixed reviews for still having shortcomings such as no deceptive practices law, but good poll worker training standards. Colorado, Michigan and Missouri fall somewhere in the middle. This report includes pull-out charts to easily evaluate each state's preparedness in the areas reviewed. The report, embargoed for release Tuesday, will be online at www.commoncause.org beginning mid-day Monday for review. Source: Common Cause