Thursday, August 26, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Union to keep tabs on voting
Poll monitors will highlight problems with voter access
By ERIN NEFF
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Teams of poll monitors for the AFL-CIO will descend on voting sites in Nevada on Sept. 7 poised to highlight any problems with voter access before November's general election.
The nation's largest labor organization unveiled a nonpartisan "My Vote, My Right" program Wednesday targeting 32 communities in 12 battleground states, including Las Vegas and Reno.
"This is the most aggressive political program in the history of the AFL-CIO," President John Sweeney said during a national conference call with reporters.
In addition to getting labor voters to the polls and supporting Democratic nominee John Kerry, Sweeney said, "We also have an important role to play in making sure that everyone that has the right to vote, does so."
Sweeney said the union plans to spend millions on the effort to inspect polls and dispatch attorneys to challenge any problems identified in battleground states with primary elections.
The union has already identified problems in Missouri's and Florida's primaries and will be in Nevada and Arizona on Sept. 7.
"In virtually every state there is widespread confusion over some aspect of the new election rules," said Cecelie Counts, AFL-CIO director of civil, human and women's rights.
In Nevada, first-time voters must show identification when they register or when they show up to vote. If someone has no identification, the voter will be permitted to vote "provisionally" but only in the federal elections.
If the voter subsequently provides identification, the provisional vote can be counted.
But Counts said if the voter mistakenly selects choices in a race down-ticket, the whole ballot might be voided.
The AFL-CIO will use in-state poll monitors in Nevada and will rely on a committee of labor lawyers.
Jonathan Hiatt, the AFL-CIO's general counsel, said the organization will seek to remedy problems with election officials first, but is not afraid to bring a lawsuit.
The state Republican Party's executive director did not return phone messages seeking comment Wednesday.
