Ensuring Safe Elections

DeForest B. Soaries, who was appointed to be chairman of the Federal Election Assistance Commission last year by President Bush, has recently suggested that the government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again.

People have suggested that this is another example of people friendly to President Bush trying to use fear to promote Bush’s objectives and endanger democracy. Any canceling or rescheduling of elections will further undermine any vestiges of legitimacy that the current administration retains and raise the likelihood of more violence at home.

However, I don’t think Soaries is completely on the wrong track. We do need to make every effort to make sure all citizens can safely vote. We do need plans for keeping polling places open in the event that people cannot get to the polls because of terrorist threats, natural disasters, or even just because of massive turnouts. It isn’t uncommon for polling places to remain open for extended periods to give everyone a chance to vote.

As a matter of fact, the suggestion Robert Steele made here a little over a month ago about changing voting to occur on the weekends is a start. More and more states are allowing early voting. If we really want to protect democracy, we should encourage early voting in all states. By making early voting widely available we make it harder for terrorists to significantly interrupt voting. If we handed over authority in Iraq early to thwart terrorists, we should encourage early voting to thwart terrorists as well. I am sure there are lots of other ways that we can promote safe and widespread voting.

So, instead of dismissing DeForest B. Soaries as the fearmonger that he may well be, we need to take his concerns and use it to work hard to ensure safe and easy voting for all citizens.