EXPECTING THE WORST

I have often believed that, given a fair election, Democrats would win more times then they would lose. But given the various convoluted election laws found throughout the country, there is always a fear in the back of my mind that something (or many things) will occur this coming Election Day that will once again undermine our democratic process.
Today, the Washington Post took a look at ten states that could very well be the Florida/Ohio of 2006.

In a state-by-state canvass, the 75-page report singles out places, such as Indiana and Arizona, where courts have upheld stringent new laws requiring voters to show poll workers specific forms of identification. It cites states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, which have switched to electronic voting machines whose accuracy has been challenged. And it points to states such as Colorado and Washington, which have departed from the tradition of polling sites in neighborhood precincts.

I believe that one of the first acts of this new Congress, assuming Democratic control, should be the development of a nationwide voting system that would do away with local issues. Control over elections should also be taken out of the hands of partisan secretaries of state like Katherine Harris in 2000 and Ken Blackwell in 2004. Further, some form of papertrail must be readily available in the likely event of voting machine tampering. These three suggestions alone would go a long way to restoring faith in our broken voting system.