Election Day Complaints

by: Mary Tanner

Election Day complaints from voters often tell us how our election system is operating.  Today’s election might provide further evidence to that debate. 

British news service The Guardian is reporting unusual levels of "election glitch" calls to the US's largest nonpartisan voter protection group.  The highest level of calls to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law have come in from Florida, Georgia, and Texas, though several calls also came from Louisville, Kentucky. The group attributes a number of the calls to voter ID laws. Several organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union,  have criticized voter ID laws for targeting minority and low-income voters. The reported calls to the Lawyer’s Committee from Louisville included complaints from Latino voters saying they had been "treated discourteously by election officials and discouraged from voting," which would be a Class D felony as governed by KRS 119.155.  Kentucky is among states that require voters identify themselves at the polls.

An October study identified the voter ID issue as deeply partisan, concluding that, “the furtherance of restrictive voter ID laws is a means of maintaining Republican support while curtailing Democratic electoral gains.”  Courts around the country have ruled on both sides of the issue, and the Supreme Court issued a number of stays against voter ID requirements, most recently in Wisconsin.  

It is impossible to know, of course, whether these laws will affect election outcomes or harm voters.  But these reports at least provide information for legislatures to consider as they debate how to reform our election system.