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Democrats
Blast Ehrlich's Absentee-Voting Initiative
Governor
May Attempt to Ban Electronic Voting
By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; B01
Faced with intense opposition to his proposal to switch from
electronic voting machines to paper ballots, Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich
Jr. (R) yesterday urged voters to stay away from polling places during the
November general election and instead cast paper absentee ballots.
Ehrlich's suggestions -- which he made through a senior
administration official -- came after last week's primary, when voters
experienced widespread problems at the polls.
"It's the most rational solution to the primary
election dysfunction," said Joseph M. Getty, Ehrlich's policy director.
The plan was denounced by some Democrats who said it was
another attempt by the governor, who is up for reelection, to boost his candidacy
by suppressing voter turnout and sowing doubts about the state's electronic
voting system.
And they said it was highly hypocritical, given that Ehrlich
vetoed a bill last year that would allow voters to cast absentee ballots
without giving a reason for doing so, saying it was "an invitation for
greater voter fraud in the state."
The veto was overridden by the Democrat-controlled
legislature.
In a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans
roughly 2 to 1, Ehrlich's critics said that the lower the turnout on Election
Day, the better Ehrlich's chances are of defeating his Democratic opponent,
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley.
"Fear-mongering and scare tactics are longstanding
strategies to keep voters away from the polls," said Derek Walker, a
spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party.
O'Malley spokesman Steve Kearney added, "Bob Ehrlich is
simply trying to frighten voters away from the polls."
Getty denied that politics was behind the announcement. The
governor has long believed electronic voting systems are susceptible to fraud
and malfunction, he said, and Ehrlich believes the state should scrap its $106
million electronic voting apparatus.
On Wednesday, Ehrlich said he was mulling whether to call a
special session to push for a law requiring paper ballots and banning
electronic voting. Getty said yesterday that option was still on the table.
But that idea was rebuffed harshly Wednesday by leaders of
the General Assembly and Linda H. Lamone, the administrator of the Maryland
State Board of Elections. Getty said the governor decided yesterday that the
next best solution would be to promote the use of absentee paper ballots. Those
ballots would give voters a renewed sense of confidence in the voting system
after a bumpy primary marred by human errors and technical glitches, he said.
Both Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert)
and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said Wednesday that a
special session would be pointless and that, with only seven weeks to go before
the general election, the state should focus on fixing the current system.
There were a mix of problems that touched off chaotic scenes
at some polling places during the Sept. 12 primary. Some of the state's newly
acquired electronic poll books, which were used to check in voters, crashed
repeatedly. And there were problems synchronizing the machines, which meant
that theoretically a voter could check in more than once and cast multiple
ballots.
Elections officials said they found no evidence of fraud.
Lamone and Diebold Election System officials have pledged to
fix the problems in time for the November election. And Lamone said the
electronic voting system is the most safe and accurate available. By contrast,
absentee ballots are more susceptible to voter fraud and coercion, she said,
and the paper presents problems for blind and visually impaired voters who can
cast ballots independently on the touch-screen machines.
"Election administrators throughout the state of
Maryland have complete faith in this touch-screen system ," she said.
"We have faith in this voting system."
Lamone also said yesterday that she disagreed with a draft
audit prepared by the Department of Legislative Services -- reported yesterday
by the Baltimore Sun -- that found that the state didn't properly review
"local board of elections' compliance with applicable election laws and
regulations."
She was reluctant to talk about the confidential draft
report before issuing her formal response. But she said the state does "a
whole lot of things to make sure the local boards are in compliance with state
law. We are in fact proactively working with the counties."
Democrats also denounced Ehrlich for vetoing a bill this
year that would have allowed early voting in the state, saying the governor was
simply trying to keep voters away from the polls. That veto was also
overridden, but the law was struck down by the Maryland Court of Appeals last month,
11 days before early voting was to take place.
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Photo Credit: The Washington Post |
Washington Post staff writers Ann E. Marimow and John Wagner
contributed to this report.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company