Robert Buddan, Contributor
JIMMY CARTER has been critical of Florida's voting system and says that a repeat of the irregularities of 2000 seems likely. Carter has charged that Florida's Secretary of State, Glenda Hood, who is responsible for administering the elections in that state, is a Republican and is not neutral. He claims that an attempt had been made to exclude 22,000 African Americans as felons because they are likely to vote Democratic. Mr. Carter said that electoral arrangements in Florida do not meet basic international requirements and that it is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation.
Carter is not alone in his anxiety. For the first time the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSC), which observes elections in Europe and emerging democracies, will be observing the US elections. A study by the Caltech and MIT Political Project (2001) has already shown that between four and six million votes were not cast or counted in the 2000 presidential elections due to poor ballot design, registration problems and voter discrimination at the state level.
Howard Dean, the former Democratic Party presidential candidate, is in favour of instant run-off presidential elections. Ralph Nader, the independent presidential candidate, also favours this system and further wants the abolition of the Electoral College. Jesse Jackson, a former presidential candidate, is running a campaign for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would affirm that Americans have the right to vote. The present provision only says they should not be discriminated against in voting.
THE US AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE
It must surprise many that the U.S. Constitution does not affirm that every American has the right to vote. What the Constitution does is leave it up to states to determine their voting laws. The Federal government can step in to prevent clear abuse of voting rights that might be based on age, gender and race for whole groups of people. But individuals generally get no such attention from the federal government. The constitutional right to vote exists in at least 135 other countries.
The U.S. runs a very fragmented system of elections. States and counties generally design their own ballots, conduct voter education and generally make voting arrangements. The standard for elections is different between states. For example, some might use voting machines and others might not. Therefore, there is no equality in the means of voting. This is why a state such as Florida has been so controversial. This is also why the role of secretary of state, Catherine Harris in 2000 and Glenda Hood in 2004, has caused such controversy. What the Caltech-MIT study confirmed, however, was that the problem was not confined to Florida but occurred in many states in 2000.
States can also make different laws about who can and cannot vote. Many states say felons cannot vote even if they have paid their debt to society. This law can affect as many as five million persons, including three million who have served their time. This law hurts African-Americans in particular because they make up the largest ethnic proportion of America's convicts. States may also make different rules about which overseas Americans are eligible to cast votes.
STATE LEGISLATURE
Jesse Jackson's campaign would allow citizens to directly elect their president (without the need for an Electoral College) or to require the state legislature to nominate electors (who make up the Electoral College) to be bound to cast the state's vote according to the popular vote in the state.
The amendment would also require states to restore a felon's right to vote once he has completed his sentence. Unless this is done, many Americans would be banned from voting for life. Also, American citizens who are residents overseas might not be considered to be residents according to some state laws, such as students studying overseas, and the amendment would correct this.
The fact that 50 states have 50 different sets of voting laws and procedures means that there is no national standard for voting. Voters can be confused. The fiasco of 2000 did cause a Help America Vote Act (2002) to be passed. This Act recommends certain standards but does not change the basic principle that states make their own laws.
At present Congress has no right to exercise authority over voting which is regarded as a part of state rights. An amended right to vote would, for the first time, give Congress itself authority to protect the individual's right to vote, and oversee voting policies and procedures to ensure that voting is fair, accurate and efficient.
Jimmy Carter is reported to have said that Jamaica has one of the best election systems in the world, while being critical of the voting system in Florida.
One of the cardinal rules of free and fair elections is that the chief election officer and the electoral administration must be independent of the parties and partisan politics. Election observers and our political parties were satisfied that Danville Walker acted independently in our last elections. Jamaica clearly passed this test. This cardinal rule was not observed in Florida in 2000 and is not being observed now. Yet, the U.S. has used this claim of biased electoral administration to support its contention that elections were not fair in Haiti and used that to create the atmosphere for Aristide's forced removal. Not everyone is convinced. Haitians are now protesting in favour of Aristide's return on the basis that he is their democratically elected president.
LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT
Vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, has said that elections in Afghanistan would not create a legitimate government because warlords still control much of the country and that in Iraq, only about 35 persons are preparing for democratic elections, a number too small to guarantee that elections will be free and fair for all. Yet, a Bush administration would no doubt recognise its favoured parties in both cases as it would in Haiti.
Jamaica's electoral system has been fortunate to have had the services of Professor Gladstone Mills as the first Chairman of the Electoral Advisory Committee right through to the current chairman and the Director of Elections. The passing of Professor Mills is a good time for the country to dedicate itself to further reforms. The draft constitution explicitly states that Jamaicans have a right to vote where the present constitution does not. We must enact that constitution. The question of whether Jamaicans overseas should be allowed to vote must be debated as well. The PNP must seriously consider its resolution to make the president of the party directly elected by the broad membership the way it proposes for the country's president to be under a new constitution, possibly with run-off presidential elections in both cases.
The performances of Kerry and Edwards in their respective debates in the U.S. show that the November elections are going to be close. In close elections the integrity of electoral systems comes into serious play. It would be a disgrace if the U.S. cannot meet international standards for free and fair elections. Jimmy Carter has already given his judgement on that and it is too close to the elections for any changes to be made. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have already lined up their high-powered lawyers to be on the ready to challenge the results, expecting them to be close.
It would be a shame on the U.S. if the elections that it promotes in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti turn out to be a farce. The test of a good democracy is free, fair and regular elections but the test of good elections is a people's commitment to standards of freedom and fairness. That goes for the U.S. as well.>
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. Send your comments to: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or infocus@gleanerjm.com.
