Behind the Scenes, Officials Wrestle Over Voting Rules

Jo Becker - Washington Post - 10 October 2004

As pResident Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry enter the final weeks of a tight presidential campaign, election officials in many key states are waging less noticed but equally partisan battles that could affect the outcome of the race.

In the battlegrounds of Ohio and Missouri, Republican secretaries of state have crafted election rules that Democrats say could disenfranchise legitimate voters likely to cast ballots for Kerry. Republicans say Democratic election officials in New Mexico and Iowa are making it easier for potential Kerry supporters to vote.

The disputed 2000 election cast a new light on the crucial role that secretaries of state play in crafting the rules that determine who can vote - and whose votes are counted. Florida's then-secretary of state, Katherine Harris (R), was pilloried by Democrats when a series of decisions made by her office helped elect George W. Bush.

Election officials help determine what type of machines people use to vote, how ballots are printed, what identification voters must bring to the polls, how to get absentee ballots and countless other regulations. Already this year, with each party sensitive to every nuance of election law, issues as mundane as the weight of paper stock for new voter-registration forms are the source of controversy. Lawsuits have been filed or litigated in more than half a dozen swing states over state officials' interpretations of election law. Even in Maryland and Virginia, which are not battlegrounds this year, court battles have been waged over the role of state election officials and which candidates should be included on ballots.

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