Super Tuesday Voting Already Raising Serious Concerns

Posted by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet at 2:25 PM on February 5, 2008.

Super Tuesday's voting is just underway and questions already are being raised about last-minute negative campaign tactics in Massachusetts, long lines and voting machine shortages in Georgia and the Democratic ballot layout in vote-rich Los Angeles.

A Bay State blog is reporting that Hillary Clinton's campaign has resurrected a controversial mailing used in the New Hampshire Primary that accused Barack Obama of not sufficiently supporting abortion rights while in the Illinois Senate. Pro-choice activists in Illinois and New Hampshire were fast to respond to this same accusation during the nation's first primary, saying Obama's record of voting "present" but not "yes" on some bills was a strategic move, and called him on of their best pro-choice advocates.

In Georgia, the state's largest newspaper, the Altlanta Journal-Constitution has a page on their website where voters can comment on their voting experience. By 1 PM EST, scores of comments were logged. While some people were pleased with voting on electronic machines, others reported long lines and shortages of voting machines.

One comment said, "The lengthy delay was caused by having only two machines from which actual ballots could be dispensed to voters. This meant that only two poll workers were dispensing all the ballots. By the time I left Westlake (High School) there were between one hundred and two hundred largely frustrated voters waiting in line. Most of these voters, for reasons unclear to me, had not been allowed to enter the gymnasium. Patience in abundance seems the order of the day. Inevitably, the lengthy delays will cause some voters to leave and suppress the actual vote total. With a large turnout of voters predicted, this lack of preparedness to accommodate them seems unconscionable.

Meanwhile, Loyala University Law Professor Rick Hasen, who runs an influential blog, electionlawblog.org, has reported that the ballot being used in Los Angeles, California's largest county, required voters who have declined to state their party preference to fill in "an extra bubble... in order for their presidential votes to count."

"It's looking like Los Angeles County has managed to add an extra wrinkle that could cause all sorts of problems," a report from the Courage Campaign, says on its website, which Hasen cited. "This is a sample of the ballot in which a DTS (declined to state party affiliation) voter must not only request the ballot and vote for president, but mark at the top of the ballot that they want to vote in the Democratic primary."

The Courage Campaign responded by sending a letter to Los Angeles County's top election official, Dean Logan, insisting that all Democratic primary votes be counted.

Tagged as: clinton, obama, los angeles, massachusetts, voter suppression, georgia, 2008 election, caucus