HAVA HAVA Help America Vote Act Help America Vote Act What Every - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

HAVA HAVA Help America Vote Act Help America Vote Act What Every Voter Should Know

Why Is HAVA Necessary? • Between 4 million and 6 million votes in the 2000 election were lost due to problems with ballots, voting machines and registration – (according to a new study by the Cal Tech-MIT Voting Technology Project) • A Congressional study has found that the votes of poor people and members of minorities were more than three times as likely to go uncounted in the 2000 presidential election than the votes of more affluent people. (The New York Times, July 9, 2001. )

Why HAVA IS Why HAVA IS Necessary Necessary – The two districts with the highest rates of uncounted ballots, 7.9 percent, were in Chicago and Miami. Both are poor districts, and both used punch cards. – The Seventh District in western Alabama • where 31 percent of the people live in poverty and 68 percent are members of minorities, • the study found the lowest percentage of uncounted ballots of the 40 districts surveyed, only 0.3 percent. • The Seventh District has modern voting technology.

The Congressional Study Reveals Problems – The study focused on 40 Congressional districts in 20 states. – It found that the type of voting equipment used was crucial. • Voters using punch-card machines were seven times as likely to have their ballots discarded as those using machines that employ a special writing instrument and warn a voter if the ballot is about to be spoiled. – Some analysts estimate that 1.9 percent or almost two million votes in the 2000 presidential race were not counted.

What Is HAVA? • Perhaps the most important piece of legislation affecting voting rights since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. • The Help America Vote Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 29, 2002. • HAVA realigns authority and responsibility for conducting elections to the state government instead of local government. • Additionally, some authority will also shift to the federal level for enforcement of the new standards and procedures .

Alabama’s Voting Machines • In Alabama, three types of machines are used. – The most common are the electronic counting machines where ballots are hand marked and fed into the machine. • The vote totals for each machine are available on site, and totals are taken to the courthouse, where they are added to results from other polling places. – Seven counties have central counting systems where all the ballots are taken to the courthouse and then counted at that one location. • This system will be illegal under the new law, because there is no way to provide a proper paper trail and no way to present the results at the polls where the voting is done and HAVA requires a paper count.

Alabama’s Voting Machines – Touch-screen machines are used in Mobile, Montgomery and Bullock counties. • Currently the touch-screen machines used do not provide paper printouts. To be HAVA compliant they will need to do so.

Alabama Compliance with HAVA • The Help America Vote Act contains federal mandates that are phased in over a four year period. – All states including Alabama had a deadline of 2003 for the following: • Combine all local voter registration lists into a single state list made available to local officials through an interactive computer network. • Require that voters who register by mail show identification before voting in their next federal election. • Create a system of provisional voting where an individual’s eligibility to vote must be verified before his or her ballot is counted. • Provide a single state office for military and overseas voters to contact in order to get applications for voter registration or absentee voting; and • Offer voters greater information about the voting process and how to file a complaint.

Alabama Compliance Alabama Compliance with HAVA with HAVA • By the end of 2005, Alabama must: – Replace mechanical lever voting machines in Bullock county; – Replace or modify voting machines in Mobile, Montgomery and DeKalb counties; – Replace centralized ballot counting systems in nine (9) counties; and – Place a modern computerized direct record voting machine in each precinct in the state capable of permitting persons with disabilities to vote without assistance – Place modern computerized direct record voting machines in each precinct which provides assistance for voting in an alternative language (e.g., Spanish). ( those counties whose voting age population exceeds 5% in that language group)

HAVA Requirements: Deadline Jan. 1, 2006 • Full implementation of HAVA is scheduled for 2006 and the following requirements are to be in place for all voting systems: – In general, the voting system shall: • Permit the voter to view privately and independently the votes he or she marked on the ballot before the ballot is counted; • Provide the voter the opportunity to privately and independently change the ballot or correct any error before the ballot is counted. – This includes the opportunity to correct the error with a replacement ballot if the voter was otherwise unable to correct any error; and

HAVA Requirements: Deadline Jan. 1, 2006 • If the voter selects more than one candidate for a single office: – Let the voter know that more than one candidate was selected for a single office on the ballot; – Notify the voter before the ballot is counted of the effect of casting multiple votes for the office; and – Provide the voter with the opportunity to correct the ballot before it is counted. – The voting system shall ensure that any notification preserves the privacy of the voter and the confidentiality of the ballot.

HAVA Requirements Deadline 2006 � The voting system shall produce a record with an audit capacity for the system. –The record shall be a permanent paper record can be counted manually. –The paper record produced shall be available as an official record for any recount conducted with respect to any election in which the system is used.

HAVA Requirements Deadline 2006 � The voting system shall be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation as other voters. • The scantron ballot also offers privacy to those citizens who have difficulty reading but who are not visually impaired. � The voting system shall provide alternative language accessibility if the county’s population of bilingual voters is 5% or greater.

Meeting Language Requirements of HAVA • Alabama is presently exempt from the alternative language requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but the Secretary of State anticipates achieving compliance with those requirements by January 1, 2006 anyway. • At present, 4 of Alabama’s 67 counties have populations of Hispanic people which exceeds 5% of that county’s voting age population. Full funding of HAVA is essential to Alabama’s ability to reach out to this growing sector of our population.

Alabama’s Hispanic Population Counties With Greater Than 5% Hispanic Populations Blount 5.3% DeKalb 5.6% Marshall 5.7% Franklin 7.4%

HAVA Requirements • Each State shall adopt uniform and nondiscriminatory standards that define what a vote is and what will be counted as a vote . – According to the Secretary of State’s office: • The optical scan (computer) voting system meets the general requirements on privacy and independence. It also meets the audit capacity requirements. • Alabama plans to adopt a uniform style of voting by use of optical scan (computer) voting systems that are tabulated at the each precinct. • The error rate of the voting system in counting ballots shall comply with the error rate standards established under the voting systems standards issued by the Federal Election Commission.

What Are Provisional Ballots? • If a voter arrives at the polls to vote, but his or her status as a registered voter is in dispute, then the voter may vote using a special ballot called a provisional ballot. • A provisional ballot allows a citizen whose voting eligibility is in question the opportunity to cast a vote. • HAVA requires a state to provide an individual the opportunity to vote a provisional ballot – If the individual believes that he is registered, but the person’s name does not appear on the list of qualified voters or; – When the individual arrives as the polls are closed and wishes to vote or; – When an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.

Provisional Ballot Guidelines • The individual must indicate that he is a registered voter in the precinct and eligible to vote in that election. The individual is then permitted to vote a provisional ballot. • The provisional ballot is not counted unless it is proven that the individual is a registered voter and eligible to vote in that election. • Historically, Alabama has operated under a similar system of “challenged ballots” wherein the vote is counted on election day but made identifiable so that the election count may be modified in an election contest.