Posted on 03/29/2004 7:37:16 PM PST by quidnunc
The world in recent days saw two direct threats to the sanctity of democratic elections: the horrific terrorist bombing in Spain and the assassination attempt against the Taiwanese president. Both occurred on the eve of national elections. Both show that terrorists and crazed or criminal individuals are focused on undermining the electoral process that underlies democracies.
The United States, of course, is target No. 1. We must recognize a sobering reality: It is imperative that our elections and basic institutions of government continue even if attacks kill our leaders.
Columnist Robert Novak noted last week that intelligence sources had seen a shift in Al Qaeda to a new focus on President Bush and the U.S. presidential election. We cannot count on luck if something bad happens. We need to prepare for worst-case scenarios.
• Disrupting elections. Polling places are numerous and attractive targets for terrorists. Because elections are decentralized, states and local governments and our new Homeland Security Department must ensure that there are adequate protections for voters and voting machines.
States should update their election codes to provide for holding a new election as quickly as possible in the event that an election is disrupted by an attack or natural disaster.
All election supervisors should develop backup voter registration lists — lists that are kept in separate, secure locations.
Funds for these purposes should come from the federal government.
States and political party officials must clarify how they will replace any candidates who are killed or incapacitated shortly before an election.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at aei.org ...
I couldn't even read down to the link without falling asleep. I hope we've already done all that atuff... does the site have a 6-page article about brushing teeth too?
I don't know why I got so bored with it, I am going to download the page on the other side of the link. Might be something that could help my story.
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