The new voting rights movement: A citizen rebellion 
By Blair Bobier 
Pacific Green Party of Oregon 

Ever since the Green Party's 2004 presidential campaign demanded a recount of Ohio's unbelievable election results, a grassroots movement dedicated to the right to vote has been steadily growing and is succeeding at bringing some much-needed accountability to our dysfunctional electoral process. The New Voting Rights Movement, with many Greens at the forefront, is a citizen rebellion against the hijacking of elections by private companies, biased election officials and a subservient commercialized media. 

The right to vote-the heart and soul of any democratic process-is an endangered species. Many jurisdictions throughout the U.S. have abdicated their vote-counting responsibilities to voting machine manufacturers who refuse to allow the public, or even election officials, to inspect or review the systems and software of electronic voting machines. In October, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, released a report on electronic voting which found fatal flaws with some of the machines used in the 2004 election. The GAO reported that electronic voting machines allowed cast ballots and audit logs to be altered without detection. In other words, votes could have been switched and back-up records falsified, with no way to prove it. Finally, an explanation for why the 2004 election turned out the way it did. 

The GAO report was met with deafening silence from the corporate press. Not one mainstream paper covered the release of the report. On Election Day 2005, back at the scene of the crime in Ohio, it was apparent that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Two ballot measures aimed at improving the electoral process inexplicably went down in defeat after a usually reliable poll conducted by the Columbus Dispatch predicted landslide victories. Issue 3, a campaign finance reform measure which had 61 percent support in the Dispatch poll two days before the election, lost with only 33 percent "yes" votes, amounting to what the Columbus Free Press called "perhaps the most astonishing reversal in Ohio history." Perhaps the vastly increased usage of electronic machines in Ohio could explain the otherwise unexplainable-and unbelievable-results. 

The dogged determination of grassroots activists gives reason to hope. More states are now requiring voter-verifiable paper ballots to be used with electronic machines. The lexicon has quickly changed from demanding "paper trails," which the New Voting Rights Movement no longer considers sufficient, to insisting on "paper ballots." Just months ago, that wasn't even on the radar screens of most legislatures or newspapers. Now even the stodgy New York Times is on board, saying in a November editorial, "Certainly any machine needs a voter-verified paper ballot for recounting," as if they had thought of this themselves without the relentless efforts of thousands of grassroots activists. 

The rights to vote and to have all votes counted are essential to any democracy. But Greens within and without the New Voting Rights Movement want deeper democracy-not just the right to vote, but the right to representation. Even where paper ballots are counted by hand in public, the electoral system still consistently shuts out alternative voices: working people, women and people of color. This is why Greens are working for instant runoff voting, proportional representation, campaign finance reform, Election Day voter registration, inclusive debates and other reforms. 

David Cobb, the Green Party's 2004 presidential candidate, is a plaintiff along with his Libertarian counterpart, Michael Badnarik, in two lawsuits stemming from the 2004 election debacle. Cobb's suit in federal court in Ohio, set for trial in Aug. 2006, asks for a declaratory judgment that the Ohio recount was conducted in violation of Ohio and federal law. Along with a case pending in New Mexico's Supreme Court challenging the arbitrary obstruction of a recount in that state, there is potential for judicial decisions which could provide sorely needed guidelines for recounts. 

Other citizen lawsuits are challenging unreliable voting machines in Washington and Arizona. Literally, from coast to coast people are getting mad as hell and aren't taking it any more. Greens are using the Internet, the streets, litigation, legislation and education to defend the right to vote and to create an inclusive democracy from an antiquated republic. 

© 2005 by Blair Bobier 
Blair Bobier, media director for the Green Party's 2004 presidential campaign, is the founder of the Pacific Green Party and the Civics Education League.

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