E-Mail This Article to a Friend Making every vote count BY DEIRDRE FULTON

TUESDAY, July 27, 2004 -- "Remember Florida" – it’s the battle cry of unknown numbers of Democrats who, close to four years later, still feel as if their votes didn’t count in the 2000 election. It’s the impetus behind John Kerry’s decision, reported in several newspapers last week, to assemble a team of lawyers ready to fight any voting transgressions in November, 2004 that could lead to a repeat of the vote-counting debacle in 2000. And it’s an unpleasant reminder of the residual inadequacies in the nation’s voting system, such as unreliable vote-casting and registration methods.

Hoping that enough people will remember Florida enough to fight for change, politicians and activists like Rev. Jesse Jackson, his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Dennis Kucinich spoke out Monday afternoon against the disenfranchisement in 2000 of voters -- disproportionately African American voters -- and warned that it could happen this time around without widespread reform to the country’s electoral system. "We must never let Florida happen again," Jackson, Sr. said to the small crowd that gathered at Suffolk University for the panel discussion sponsored by the Maryland-based Center for Voting and Democracy.

The panel endorsed a right-to-vote constitutional amendment, sponsored by Jackson, Jr. (recognizable from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 as one of the minority congressmen imploring their colleagues in the Senate to join them in questioning the legitimacy of George W. Bush’s presidency), would give every United States citizen an individually protected right to vote in the constitution. It would bar any confusion over whether establishing election procedure is a state right -- part of what led to the mess in Florida, Jackson, Sr. said -- and create a national voting scheme. Jackson, Jr. said he hoped Democrats would consider adding the amendment to the national platform they are discussing at the convention this week.

"There is no issue that has come up more consistently than, ‘If I vote, will it count?’" Kucinich said, referring to his conversations with voters on the campaign trail. Several reforms could help rectify the broken system, he said, including same-day voter registration, instant runoff voting (to guard against "spoiler" candidates), and the restoration of ex-felons’ voting rights (in 2000, ex-felons were removed from voter registration lists).

Even addressing those issues wouldn’t fix all the problems with American elections, Lani Guinier of Harvard Law School pointed out. Fixing ballot boxes and registration lists doesn’t help if the foundation of the system is crooked, she said, criticizing the "winner take all" nature of the electoral college and advocating a more proportional method.

A constitutional amendment will take time and patience, the experts agreed. But it’s worth the wait, said Rev. Carrie Bolton. As chair of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, Bolton is familiar with disenfranchisement that has roots much deeper than four years ago. She remembers when Fannie Lou Hamer fought for voting rights at the 1964 Democratic Convention -- a fight that led to a different fundamental constitutional change.

"The constitution is sacred," Bolton said of the protections it affords her. "but I believe it is also a work in progress."