Soccer Dad

Early and often, again

Having lost its legal battle with Governor Ehrlich spectacularly, the Baltimore Sun is now seeking other ways to do battle with the governor. The latest is on the subject of voting machines.

I will not admit to following this issue closely. But I'm fed up with the sort of "logic" that appears in the final paragraphs of Sunday's editorial Counting Votes

What probably bothers Mr. Ehrlich most are the recent efforts by Democrats to expand voter turnout. Conventional wisdom is that these kinds of reforms almost always favor Democratic candidates. Mr. Ehrlich is right to be concerned about early voting because the elections office doesn't yet have a way to be absolutely certain a person doesn't vote twice - once in an early voting precinct and a second time in his home precinct on Election Day. But unlike the absence of paper receipts, this shortcoming is entirely correctable. Off-the-shelf technology is available that can keep a statewide database up to date, elections office employees say - if the governor will put the money needed to pay for such a system in the state budget.

It's hard to believe Mr. Ehrlich doesn't know all this. But then, Maryland's experience with voter fraud tends to be overstated. It's worth noting that in 2004, for instance, of the 3 million votes cast in Maryland's primary and general elections, the number of voter fraud prosecutions was - exactly one. Compare that with the hundreds of thousands of people who are eligible to vote but don't, often because the process is unnecessarily difficult. Still, nothing stirs Maryland Republicans like claims of hanky-panky in the vote count. The dull reality is that such impropriety is rare and getting rarer all the time.

First of all the complaint that Maryland's registration process is "unnecessarily difficult" is pure bunk. I had no problem registering nearly 30 years when I turned 18. And I've had no trouble changing my registration several times since then. And I'd bet that if asked my 12, 13 and 15 year olds to fill out the voter registration card and send it in (not that I would) they'd have no problem either. If there are hundreds of thousands of people who make that claim, they are simply being lazy. Registering to vote is not rocket science and is readily accessible.

Second of all the number of voting fraud convictions may not be the most reliable indicator of the level of fraud. The Sun laughingly dismissed Ellen Sauerbrey's claims of fraud but Hopkins students who actually studied the issue discovered that dead people certainly voted in Maryland elections. The Sun's judgment may be somewhat lacking.

And to get back to a few of my pet peeves; if the Sun wants fair elections in Maryland it should be fighting for a recount law. Ellen Sauerbrey may not have been able to prove fraud. However she deserved a recount, but Maryland makes no provision for one.

It should also be for allowing changes in party registration up to 30 prior to a primary election. In 2002 the Court of Special Appeals rejected Gov. Glendening's redistricting plan and instituted one of its own within 90 days of the primary, making a number of previously uncontested races comptetive. There were those who would have wanted to switch parties to vote in a primary that would decide a race in one party districts. (I was one.) But we couldn't and were thus robbed of our right to vote by this judicial overreaching. (This isn't some hypothetical "people would vote if it wasn't so difficult fantasy. This actually happened.) Ideally Maryland should simply go to an open primary system.

But since those most likely to be helped by the above changes would be Republicans, it's not of concern to the Sun, where the results - election of Democrats - are more important than the legality of the means.

Technorati tags: Maryland, voting.