New Jersey: Are the Democrats afraid of the "Help America Vote Act"....you can bet the farm, that they are!
January 14, 2003
Federal voting act gets mixed response in county
By THOMAS BARLAS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7201, E-Mail
The federal "Help America Vote Act" is causing debate in New Jersey about whether it lives up to its name.
Officials with some voting organizations worry that its proof-of-identification clause may suppress voter registration.
In Atlantic County, where voter registration is under investigation by a special freeholder committee, Republican and Democratic leaders disagree on the new law's impact.
The only thing for certain is that election officials in all counties are notifying new voters about the changes.
Atlantic and Cumberland counties are sending form letters provided by the state Attorney General's Office to people registering to vote for the first time after Jan. 1.
According to the letter, those people must comply with the "Help America Vote Act" by providing their driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
If those forms of identification aren't available, a copy of a photo identification, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or government document that shows name and address will suffice.
"If you do not provide this information by the time of the next federal election, which will be the 2004 June primary, you will have to show identification at the polling place," the letter reads.
Largely the result of the controversial 2000 presidential election, the federal act is intended to streamline the voting process by minimizing fraud.
The probe by Atlantic County freeholders was spurred by allegations of voter fraud, primarily in Democratic-controlled Atlantic City and its 2001 mayoral campaign, and concerns about the misuse of absentee and messenger ballots.
Even before that, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson had criticized the system, contending that people were registering to vote and casting absentee ballots without proof of identity. He and other Atlantic County officials engaged in a running battle with the Attorney General's Office over the interpretation of state voting laws.
Republican Levinson said Monday that he feels vindicated by the letter sent by the Atlantic County Superintendent of Elections Office.
"You can chalk this one up to common sense," he said, adding that all he wanted was for people registering to vote to "simply identify themselves with their proof of addresses and place of residency."
"This was a very simple solution to the problem," he said. "For politicians, this if very comforting."
But Atlantic County Democratic leader Chuck Chiarello, who contends the freeholder probe is driven by politics, says the identification requirement is nothing more than voter suppression. It will make voter registration more difficult in a county already on "the road to making sure the tiniest voices aren't heard," he said.
"This seems like it could hamper the process," Chiarello said. "I'm very concerned that such restrictions would be put on our voting population.
"You're going to affect every household in every town in every community."
Atlantic County Freeholder John Risley, a Republican who chairs the freeholder panel investigating the county voting system, said the probe will continue.
"I do think that the new national voting legislation does go a long way to help in what we're trying to achieve," he said.
Sandra Matsen, president of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, said the identification requirements are troubling to her organization.
"We believe it just makes it harder for people to vote," she said. "If they are not applied evenly, then you could get discrimination."
On the other hand, Matsen said, the federal act has some good points.
For instance, she said, states will have to keep databases of registered voters to prevent one person from voting in more than one county or municipality.
The act, Matsen said, also tries to ensure that no voter is turned away at the polls.
When a voter's identification or registration is challenged, that voter will be allowed to vote by provisional ballot until the matter is resolved, she said. States must also develop a way for those voters to track their ballot in order to find out if it was counted or rejected, she said.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/atlantic/011403VOTER.html
It is coming, whether we like it or not!
Posted on Mon, Jan. 20, 2003
Lawmakers to examine online voter registration
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. - Bills that would relax absentee-voting rules and allow online voter registration have been introduced in the Legislature on behalf of the secretary of state.
HB1010 allows voters to register to vote on the Internet using a "digitized signature," which is the copy of a signature that goes on a person's driver's license.
By entering a valid driver's license number or a nondriver identification-card number on an online form, potential voters could fill out voter registration forms on the Internet.
The computer would then fill in the signature using a digital copy of the voter's signature, which the state has on file in its database of driver's license information, said Secretary of State Chris Nelson.
Nelson said the Internet voter-registration technology is safe and no more subject to fraud than the current in-person voter-registration system.
HB1009 would relax absentee-voting rules to allow people to vote ahead of time without giving a reason.
Both bills are scheduled for committee hearing Tuesday.
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/4991715.htm