-----Original Message-----
From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu [mailto:election-law-
bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Gronke
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 12:56 PM
To: Doug Hess
Cc: KRISTEN CLARKE; election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] What to attach to ID laws
I have to weigh in here in favor of Doug Hess's suggestion.
Far too many debates in the area of election administration have
relied on anecdotes and storytelling. Attempts to analyze the
impact of various laws, rules, and procedures in a systematic
fashion are hampered by the paucity of data. (Doug Chapin made
this point compellingly in a recent electionline Director's Note
about the EAC's EAVS survey.)
With respect to voter ID, some of the smartest people that I know
in my discipline have attempted to understand the impact of voter
ID. Doug is very familiar with these studies, and I suspect that
he feels, as I do, that however sophisticated the methodology,
the lack of good data makes reliable conclusions almost
impossible.
It remains embarrassing that, ten years after Bush v. Gore and
eight years after HAVA, that we still don't know what would seem
to be the most basic pieces of information about the performance
of our election system: how many people try to turn out to vote,
how many actually check in and are attempt to fill out a ballot,
and how many fill out the ballot for the various races.
I disagree that this creates an unreasonable burden on poll
workers. This is not rocket science. We already have
sophisticated electronic pollbooks. I am not a technology
person, but it does not seem to me unreasonable to create an
entry field on an electronic poll book that is designated "VOTER
ID FAIL" and if that button is pressed, immediately the screen
prompts "ENTER REASON 1, 2, 3 ..."
Similarly, if a voter ID is being compared to something--
presumably a paper printout--then include some fields for the
poll worker to check off on the paper printout. After all, and
sorry for the all caps, but you are DENYING A CITIZEN THE RIGHT
TO VOTE. It's not asking too much, is it, to record the reason
why?
---
Paul Gronke Ph: 503-517-7393
Fax: 734-661-0801
Professor, Reed College
Director, Early Voting Information Center
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland, OR 97202
EVIC: http://earlyvoting.net
On Apr 6, 2011, at 7:08 AM, Doug Hess wrote:
I certainly agree that the laws are misguided, but if they must
go
forward collecting some data on who is turned away may be the
best way
to help demonstrate discriminatory impact, or even than they
are
burdensome, or ensure that people's rights are not violated.
Otherwise, we will only be left with a bunch of academics
arguing over
regression studies and judges uncertain as to what it all
means.
Ignoring the other survey idea (which could be designed to be
non-intrusive through sampling), requiring that some data is
recorded
each time somebody is turned away due to ID policy would be one
of the
best ways to make sure that people are not improperly turned
away in
the future, etc. If we have to live with these laws (which I'd
rather
we do not for the reasons many have given in the past).
No?
Doug
On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 9:51 AM, Estelle Rogers
<erogers@projectvote.org> wrote:
I agree that burdening already-streesed pollworkers should be
avoided.
That's just one more reason that onerous, unnecessary, and
politically-motivated ID laws are such a bad idea!
Estelle H. Rogers, Esq.
Director of Advocacy
Project Vote
202-546-4173, ext. 310
The information contained in this email is confidential and
may contain
proprietary information. It is meant solely for the intended
recipient(s).
Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you
are not the
intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or
any action
taken or omitted in reliance on this, is prohibited and may be
unlawful.
On Apr 6, 2011, at 9:39 AM, John Tanner wrote:
I believe there was such an order in Arizona
More data would be great, but I am wary of assigning
additional
responsibilities to poll workers lest there be delays for
voters and other
foul-ups that generally accompany any new element in the
polls.
On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 6:59 PM, KRISTEN CLARKE
<KCLARKE@naacpldf.org> wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Hess<douglasrhess@gmail.com>
To: election-law<election-law@mailman.lls.edu>
Sent: 4/5/2011 6:11:38 PM
Subject: [EL] What to attach to ID laws
I don't know if the voter ID bills floating around will make
additional headway this year, but if any go forward it would
be
helpful to attach a requirement that precincts collect data
on each
person turned away, or asked to go through additional steps,
so that
the impact of the law could be studied. Do any states
currently
collect data or retain records on who is affected by the
laws? Even if
just the names were kept that would be helpful.
That actually brings up another point: given how many people
show up
on elections, it would be useful for some states to include a
random
sample survey as a part of the election day experience,
either as an
attachment of a question or two to the ballot or a separate
short
survey that is handed out with the ballot and collected
before the
voters (or voters turned way) exit the precinct. Do any
states or
counties do this? Seems a "customer survey" is something
people are
familiar enough with that it would be useful. (E.g.,
determining where
lines were long, machines were malfunctioning or confusing,
people
asked for ID where they shouldn't be, etc.)
Doug
_______________________________________________
election-law mailing list
election-law@mailman.lls.edu
http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law
_______________________________________________
election-law mailing list
election-law@mailman.lls.edu
http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law
_______________________________________________
election-law mailing list
election-law@mailman.lls.edu
http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law
_______________________________________________
election-law mailing list
election-law@mailman.lls.edu
http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law
_______________________________________________
election-law mailing list
election-law@mailman.lls.edu
http://mailman.lls.edu/mailman/listinfo/election-law