Voter Challenges Could Create 'Circus Atmosphere' on Election Day

Recent court rulings across the country are opening up the election process to more public scrutiny of the presidential election, and are also setting the stage for more election-related challenges and litigation, a law professor said at an American Bar Association conference in Washington today.

"We could see on Election Day a sort of circus atmosphere where there's tons of people out challenging voters and trying to prevent people or intimidate people at the polls," said Rebecca Green, co-director of the election law program at the College of William and Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law.

In Virginia, for example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in June that the public can now access voter rolls that include voter history, something only political parties had access to previously, Green said.

The access to those voter registration forms in Nevada and elsewhere have led to groups forming like the Tea Party-affiliated True the Vote, which have mounted hundreds of pre-election challenges to voter rolls in targeted areas and swing states, Green said.

While many look at that as protecting the integrity of elections, others, including Representative Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) have said it might border on voter suppression, Green said. Cummings sent a letter to True the Vote asking for copies of its review process.

The potential for challenges and litigation will continue on and after Election Day, however.

"True the Vote, for example, has deployed volunteers to go to targeted precincts and try to challenge voters Election Day using sophisticated technology that hasn't been used before," Green said.

In Colorado, a series of cases looking at post-election transparency resulted in a judge ruling there is no constitutional right to a secret ballot. In that state, the public can now look at ballots, and those ballots have barcodes on them that voter rights advocates worry might be used to trace back to voters.

Secret ballots now are being challenged in many states, she said, and Arizona and Maine are pursuing legislation to open up ballots to scrutiny.

Comments

[Jeremiah Meyer-O'Day]

@ BHirsh - without those "communists-in-sheep's-clothing," this country and most of the developed world would've had either actual communists or actual fascists running things since the Great Depression. FDR did not impose "socialism" on this country; the idiotic excesses of laissez-faire forced us to install a safety net, and he was just the instrument of that installation. That safety net is what you folks hate the most, right up until the moment you need it.

[Mitch]

@ BHirsh -Misleading and opinionated comments can be quickly singled out with the use of "communist" in thier text. If you really are on the right side of election scrutiny, as a citizen of the US, you would not make this a partisan issue. Everyone stands to benefit from a more balanced Democracy, the left and the right. Clearly you are completely biased and hope to supress the democratic votes by pushing your hard "Extreme Right" message at the end. "Once and for all" I think you mean "Only people who agree with me should vote"

[BHirsh]

Good. The Democrats have been stealing elections for far too long, the most infamouis being the Chicago grand theft on behalf of John Kennedy.

It's time to stop the communists-in-sheep's-clothing once and for all.