By The Journal Times Editorial Board | Posted: Monday, November 3, 2008 12:00 am
After the last two presidential elections, especially the 2000 race which wound up hanging from chads before the U.S. Supreme Court, one would think that the Election Day initiative by the state attorney general would be welcomed. Instead it has led to more partisan sniping echoing that which has stalled progress in Madison and Washington for years, which is too bad because Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is doing only what his Democratic predecessor Peggy Lautenschlager did four years ago.
Lautenschlager, quoted in news reports, has a different opinion. She said Van Hollen's plan to have assistant attorneys general and state agents out troubleshooting today's elections is a plan to prevent people from casting ballots. Her intent when she sent out assistant attorneys general and agents in 2004 was to enable people to cast votes. How anyone can accurately see the different intent in another's mind is unclear, but perhaps that's what advanced legal training does. Van Hollen did file an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit a few weeks ago to force a massive double check of voter registration lists in order to catch potential voter registration fraud, and that made him a target of Democrats because to them the Republican theme of widespread voter fraud is an excuse to limit voting rights.
In 2004, a Journal Times reporter ran across the deputy attorney general and a state agent in Racine who had come to straighten out a legal point arising from a complaint by a poll watcher. That was good because it kept the election moving smoothly. The district attorneys for Racine and Kenosha counties, a Republican and a Democrat respectively, have announced a plan this year to have their lawyers available for troubleshooting, too, and that is also all to the good.
There is little doubt that poll watchers and advocates will again be out in force from both major parties, and because this has been a very emotional election season we should be glad of having experts on hand to hold passions in check and enforce the law fairly. We don't doubt that this will happen given the number of people involved - attorneys general, district attorneys, municipal and county clerks and their staffs.
As always, the proper place to start if you have a complaint is with the chief election inspector at your polling place.
And just in case you've missed all the encouragements or have been too busy living your life, don't forget to vote today. More than on any other day, this is the time when citizens can give their government direction. The power is yours. Use it.