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November 28, 2006

Something for the Democrats' To-Do List

As politics junkies may already know, something very odd happened in Florida-13 on election day. Almost 18,000 ballots included no vote for the Congressional race in that district. The district went narrowly for the Republican, Vern Buchanan, who eked out a 369-vote majority. But an analysis of the undervotes shows that they voted disproportionately Democratic in the other races on the ballot. That is, to put it mildly, odd, and it is the best evidence I've yet seen of voting machines giving results that seem to be at odds with the actual vote.

Thanks, of course, to the decision to use electronic voting machines, there is no paper trail to examine to see if foul play occurred. Were I a betting man, I'd say the odds are pretty good that it did, but I don't know if there's any way to prove it, so the Democrats may be stuck without this seat for the current Congress.

That doesn't mean, however, that the Democrats should take this lying down. Even assuming they lost this battle, Congress can still take steps to make sure that they (and we) don't lose the war. Congress clearly has the power to establish the procedures by which Senators and Representatives are elected. Speaker Pelosi should make voting reform a priority of the Democratic Congress, establishing requirements for paper ballots to allow manual recounts and probably more stringent analysis of voting machines prior to permitting their use in Congressional elections. Yes, it will cost some money, but democracy depends on the people believing that their vote counts. Right now, it seems likely that isn't the case, at least in Florida, and that concern needs to be stopped in its tracks before it undermines the very foundation of the republic.

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