Election Reform Briefing: Margin of Victory Covered Many Faults, But Did Not Diminish Problems
Election Reform Briefing 9: The 2004 Election, a report from Electionline.org, found that the problems that plagued the election, including faulty electronic voting equipment in North Carolina, missing absentee ballots in South Florida, long lines in Ohio and varying provisional vote casting and counting rules across the country probably would not have changed the outcome.
Yet the difficulties brought home to the rest of the country the notion that the problems of 2000 have yet to be solved. And in some cases, the fixes put in place might have sparked new issues at the polls as well. While data is still trickling in from states on the number of counted and uncountable votes, provisional ballots, absentee ballots and registration list accuracy, the data available as well as the reports from across the country from Election Day and its aftermath indicate that the election reform started four years ago is at a midpoint.
Pew is no longer active in this line of work, but for more information, please visit electionline.org.
