Newsgroup: it.arti.cinema
Titolo: [OT lungo e in inglese] Elezioni in USA

4, a nonpartisan watchdog
group.
Battles over provisional ballots and voting machines, the sharing of
federal election-reform dollars and even the weight of paper used to
register voters have already broken out in the state. Ohio Democrats have
filed suit against the Republican secretary of state, while county
officials are begging him for help to hire pollworkers and marshals and to
send out voter information. "The largest election we might ever be faced
with has left us with big holes to fill," laments Jan Clair, elections
director in Ohio's Lake County, east of Cleveland.
Here is a look at the four biggest voting dangers as Election Day nears:
Provisional Voting:
Untold thousands of newly registered voters will learn when they arrive at
the polls that because of new antifraud mandates they aren't properly
registered. Even if they are, they may be asked to present photo
identification for the first time.
But unlike some Floridians, who were turned away four years ago when their
names were mistaken for those of felons, would-be voters this year can't
simply be dismissed. The Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in late
2002 -- HAVA for short -- requires all polling places to provide
"provisional ballots" to voters whose status is in dispute. Those ballots
will be cast on the spot and counted later if voters' eligibility checks
out.
The provisional-voting concept, which some states already had in place, has
enjoyed widespread support. But in practice, questions of which voters get
the ballots and which of those actually will be counted could make
provisional votes crucial in the event of a photo finish.
[Carded at the Polls] 
Like absentee votes, provisional ballots aren't counted until after
election night. Procedures vary by state, but generally officials have up
to 14 days to determine whether a voter is valid. Ohio, which has allowed
provisional voting since 1990, illustrates the stakes. Florida's 2000
election was decided by 537 votes. By contrast, in Ohio's Franklin County
alone, which includes Columbus, about 10,000 provisional ballots were cast
last time. Al Gore beat Mr. Bush in the county by just half that number.
Ohio's Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the state's top
election official and a leader of the Bush state campaign, has been forced
to alter his position on how the state will handle provisional votes. He
first said Ohioans could get provisional ballots only at their correct
precinct. Yet confusion over which polling place to go to -- especially for
younger people and lower-income renters who move more often -- is a big
reason some voters need the ballots in the first place. Also, post-census
redistricting has thrown many voters into polling places different from the
ones they've voted in for years, and many cash-strapped counties haven't
sent notices of changes.
Besieged by election officials seeking clarification, Mr. Blackwell issued
a new directive Sept. 17 that only added to the furor. The directive
acknowledges that under federal law, all voters anywhere are entitled to a
provisional ballot if they can't get a regular one. But, he held, under
state law Ohio won't count the ones cast by voters in the wrong precinct.
Ohio Democrats last week sued in federal court.
"Ohio law, longstanding, is clear," Mr. Blackwell says. "Voters must vote
in the precinct they reside." When told that county officials say they have
counted some out-of-precinct provisional ballots in the past, he snapped,
"That's an open admission that they violated Ohio law. I'll deal with it
when I see who's saying they intentionally violated the law."
In the interests of making every vote county, many election officials favor
counting provisional ballots of voters, even in the wrong precinct, and the
League of Women Voters has been lobbying for that stance.
About half the states say they won't count provisional votes from the wrong
precinct. Among them are the battleground states of Iowa, Michigan,
Florida, Nevada, West Virginia and Missouri, according to Electionline.org.
Florida and Missouri face lawsuits over the matter. In contrast, the League
of Women Voters points to other states -- including Pennsylvania, New
Mexico and North Carolina -- where out-of-precinct provisional ballots are
counted for national contests but not for local races in which the voter
was ineligible, such as a local school board.
Mr. Blackwell and other officials in states that say they won't count
out-of-precinct ballots insist that mistaken voters will be informed of the
right precinct, so they can go there. But others say it's unrealistic to
think poll workers can pull that off on a hectic Election Day -- or that
some voters won't be dissuaded by the added hassle.
And problems may not end on Election Day. By law, voters later can learn
whether their ballots were counted by checking a Web site or toll-free
phone number. In Arizona's spring primaries, Steven Littleton, a
55-year-old waiter, had to cast a provisional ballot when his name wasn't
on the rolls, perhaps due to a registration error. He later checked the
state Web site and found it wasn't counted. "Now there's a question mark. I
don't know where I am in the system," he says.
Voter Registration and IDs:
Another major innovation of the new federal law -- requiring statewide
voter databases -- won't be ready nationwide until 2006. Forty-one states
have gotten federal waivers from the requirement for various reasons,
including cost. Ever since the Florida controversy, advocates of databases
say poll workers should be able to resolve questions about voters by
instantly looking up whether they're registered.
Other federally mandated voter-registration changes also are creating
worries. Poll workers must see photo identification from new voters who
registered by mail and didn't provide proof of identity. Republicans insist
the rule will guard against fraud; Democrats complain that such
requirements are more likely to intimidate the poor, elderly and
minorities.
Under the federal law, registration forms have two boxes for voters to
check to confirm that they are U.S. citizens, and age 18 or older -- even
though a separate oath that registrants sign on the forms attests to the
same facts. About 10% of registrations are coming in without the boxes
checked, the League of Women Voters finds. About half the states accept
them anyway and will let voters correct the forms at the polls. But the
rest reject them. Even within states, counties' policies vary.
In Washington state's September primary, roughly 3,000 people in just two
counties were denied ballots because of missing checks in those boxes. They
will be registered for November's vote, officials say. North Carolina has
rejected about 3,800 applications since 2003. And Iowa has opened a new
twist on the controversy, with Democratic Secretary of State Chet Culver's
ruling that those who fail to check the boxes will be registered for local
and state elections but not federal.
In New Mexico, a swing state Mr. Bush lost by just 366 votes in 2000, the
ID issue is causing fits: In state court, Republicans have argued, so far
unsuccessfully, that state law goes further than the federal law and
requires all first-time voters to produce IDs regardless of how they
registered. Democratic Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron says only
mail-in registrants are covered by the ID requirement.
Ohio until last week had a unique glitch, thanks to Mr. Blackwell's policy
requiring voter registrations to be on thick 80-pound-weight paper for
handling purposes. While he retreated last week, some registrations had
been returned to would-be voters. Some Cleveland-area residents had clipped
and mailed in a sample registration form published in the city's paper.
Others downloaded from the Internet onto printer paper. Many
voter-registration volunteers also used printer paper.
This much is certain: Thousands will go to polls Nov. 2 thinking they are
registered and find they're not. In most cases, they'll get provisional
ballots -- and have to hope the votes are counted. President Kay Maxwell
summarizes the League of Women Voters' nightmare: "We are most concerned
about registration problems leading to provisional-voting problems leading
to lawsuits."
Voting Technology:
Americans in parts of 42 states will vote on new machines of some sort,
Electionline.org figures. Six systems will be in use across America. About
a third of registered voters have optical-scan systems, in which they
darken spaces with a pencil on paper ballots "scored" by machines. Slightly
fewer voters live in areas with touch-screen or keyboard technology. About
one-fifth live where punch-card systems remain in use. The rest are in
mostly rural areas with paper ballots or some mix of systems.
Among places that still use punch-card machines, some places, such as Cook
County, Ill., invested in so-called second-chance or precinct-count
machines. These allow poll workers to run ballots through before voters
leave, to immediately detect disqualifying "overvotes" like those that
plagued Florida. If they do, the voters can try again.
But Ohio didn't buy those machines, even though 68 of its 88 counties use
punch cards. It had planned to replace them with up to $20 million in
electronic touch screens from Ohio-based manufacturer Diebold Inc. Those
plans were derailed by twin controversies: Studies suggested such machines
are vulnerable to hacking or breakdowns. Diebold also came under fire for
its donations to Republicans and its chairman's vow in a 2003 fund-raising
letter to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes to the president."
The issue of electronic machines' security has flared across the country.
Groups are challenging the paperless technology, demanding
"voter-verifiable paper trails" to reassure voters and to be available in
case of a recount. Manufacturers insist the paper isn't necessary for
audits. But Nevada nonetheless required its machines to provide paper
records, and other states are moving in that direction.
A federal suit in Florida seeks to mandate paper records for 15 counties'
machines. Some states, including California, are waiting to act until 2006.
Pollworkers and Voter Education:
"If those two things are working properly, that's going to eliminate most
of your problem," says Mark Pritchett, who was executive director of
Florida's Special Task Force that investigated the 2000 chaos and proposed
changes.
But finding and training enough poll workers is a chronic problem. Now many
of these volunteers and low-paid workers will have new responsibilities:
checking IDs, deciding on provisional ballots, dealing with new machines
and -- another change in law -- guaranteeing access for the disabled.
That's on top of likely record turnout and long lines.
The Election Assistance Commission, created by the new election law,
estimates that the new demands mean two million poll workers will be needed
nationwide Nov. 2, up from 1.4 million in 2000. To add to the problem, many
experienced workers have told election officials they don't intend to serve
this year. But local administrators complain that federal funds that were
distributed to the states to help out haven't trickled down to them.
Recently, county election officials in Ohio summoned Blackwell aides to an
emergency meeting in Painesville, east of Cleveland, to gripe about
conflicting policy statements and to plead for a share of federal funds for
fixing balloting. Soon after, Mr. Blackwell announced much of the funding
instead would finance a statewide media campaign to promote voting,
including three TV ads featuring him.
The secretary of state says the statewide effort will ensure "message
consistency," especially in urging punch-card voters to be careful.
Ms. Clair, Lake County's election director, says she needs $30,000 just to
send voters a pre-election postcard with basic guidance, including their
precinct locations. Yet she's already $300,000 over budget due to overtime
pay for processing voter registrations and hiring costs of extra marshals.
The bottom line, Ms. Clair says: "We are going to have challenges."
Write to Jackie Calmes at 
jackie...@wsj.com
 
**********************************************
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> ps. come da consigli ricevuti, posto il testo e non il link.
La prossima volta, oltre al testo, puoi anche postare il link, per
favore? Se voglio stamparmelo o pidieffarlo per future references e
tramite web lo leggo più comodamente che con 40tude.
	Grazie.
	regards,
		Kazuma
-- 
La zona sta al Codice Da Vinci come i Peperoni ripieni al Pendolo di
Foucault. (Antonello Blueberry)

 		Kazuma
Non c'e' link, se non sei abbonato non potresti leggerlo.
P.
-- 
"Cos'è questo?". "È l'adesso". "Come l'adesso?".
"Questo è l'adesso adesso, quello che sta succedendo ora sta succedendo
adesso".
"Che è successo al prima?". "È passato". "Quando?". "Adesso".