Defending the Vote:
Holding Officials Accountable
NAACP 2001 Election Reform Report

Executive Summary

• Only five of fifty governors signed notable election reform legislation: Gray Davis of California, Jeb Bush of Florida, Roy Barnes of Georgia, Parris Glendening of Maryland, and Jesse Ventura of Minnesota. (Alaska’s governor Tony Knowles had made progress on election reform in 1998 and Alaska has nearly finished phasing in new voting machines.)
• While several states began the process of replacing punch-card machines, no state explicitly prioritized the replacement of the oldest machines in their state. Many states still use lever machines designed as early as 1911.
• The nation’s governors remained overwhelmingly silent on the issue of felony disenfranchisement and re-enfranchisement. More than five million Americans who have completed their punishment are disenfranchised.
• Even though thousands of voters were denied the right to vote because they were wrongly believed to have committed felonies, no state conducted an audit of its list of individuals purged because they were believed to have a felony conviction.
• The vast majority of states put off election reform until the 2002 legislative session because they were waiting for federal leadership. It is the NAACP’s position that it is especially important that states move quickly because of the planning time required for voter education and registration efforts.
• The NAACP found only 14 chief election officers who provide training directly from the state-level office to poll workers. Many other chief election officers told the NAACP that training poll workers is a county or local responsibility. Unfortunately, this does not ensure that an election is administered evenly throughout a state.
• While the 2000 election exposed shortcomings in our election system, chief election officers deserve credit for their many innovations. For example, Michigan Secretary of State Candice Miller’s office has created an instructional web site that tells voters how to use equipment in their communities. Each election cycle, California has one of the highest percentages of votes cast via absentee ballot. California Secretary of State Bill Jones’ office runs a program by which absentee voters are contacted if for some reason there is a problem with the absentee ballot that they cast.

Grading Summary

State 		Points Grade
Alabama 	I 	C	Missouri 	2.4 	C+
Alaska 		2.9 	B-	Montana 	I 	B+
Arizona 	2.1 	C	Nebraska 	I 	D+
Arkansas 	1.7 	C- 	Nevada 		0.8 	D
California 	2.5 	C+	New Hampshire 	1.3 	D
Colorado 	1.3 	D	New Jersey 	I 	D+
Connecticut 	1.5 	D+	New Mexico 	1.3 	D
Delaware 	0.4 	F 	New York 	I 	C
DC 		2.6 	C+	North Carolina 	3.6 	B+
Florida 	1.3 	D	North Dakota 	0.9 	F
Georgia 	3.5 	B+	Ohio 		I 	C
Hawaii 		2.3 	C	Oklahoma 	1.6 	D+
Idaho 		1.5 	D+	Oregon 		3.0 	B
Illinois 	1.2 	D	Pennsylvania 	I 	F
Indiana 	3.4 	B+ 	Rhode Island 	1.8 	C
Iowa 		1.6 	D+ 	South Carolina 	I 	C
Kansas 		1.4 	D+ 	South Dakota 	0.7 	D
Kentucky 	2.1 	C	Tennessee 	0.5 	F
Louisiana 	1.5 	D+	Texas 		I 	F
Maine 		1.2 	D 	Utah 		1.8 	C
Maryland 	2.8 	B-	Vermont 	0.5 	F
Massachusetts 	1.9 	C-	Virginia 	1.5 	D+
Michigan 	I 	A-	Washington 	2.4 	C+
Minnesota 	2.6 	C+	West Virginia 	1.5 	D+
Mississippi 	1.6 	D+	Wisconsin 	I 	C
				Wyoming 	0.7 	D

Letter 
Grade 	Points
A, A+ 	4.0
A- 	3.7
B+ 	3.4
B 	3.0
B- 	2.7
C+ 	2.4
C 	2.0
C- 	1.7
D+ 	1.4
D 	1.0
D- 	0.7
F 	0.0

I = Incomplete

These grades are intended to measure the progress on election reform in each state and do not reflect an opinion on any election official’s overall performance or suitability to serve in his/her office.

source: http://www.naacp.org/ 9jul02