Voting reform a top priority for John Gale

When John Gale was appointed Nebraska's Secretary of State in November of 2000, the Bush-Gore voting fiasco was unfolding in Florida. Looked at from that perspective, it's not surprising that Gale's top priority as Secretary of State is election reform.

Gale, who was in McCook Thursday to address Natural Resource District leaders, stopped by the newspaper office to outline his election reform program. Inspired by the "Help America Vote Act," passed by the federal government in 2002, Gale is dedicated to making a series of changes in Nebraska.

The changes include: 1. A statewide interactive voter registration system. Previously in Nebraska, voter registration has been handled on the county level. According to Gale, this created some inefficiencies, especially when registered voters moved from county-to-county or, even, city-to-city.

2. Election voting machines in each precinct. Called Direct Response Electronics, the machines will be much like bank ATMs. There are also plans for audio assists for persons who are visually and physically handicapped, allowing some of them, for the first time, to have the privilege of a private ballot.

3. Provisional balloting. This will allow citizens whose registration is challenged to have their ballots held and double-checked against registration records. To verify voter's registration, local election officials will be able to call an 800 number, or go to a statewide registration web site.

4. Second chance voting. This is designed to avoid problems such as the ones which occurred in Florida when voters mistakenly voted for two different candidates for the same office. Under the second chance plan, voters' ballots can be checked before they leave the polling place, and if errors in voting methods are detected, voters will be given a chance to correct them.

To further ensure that every vote counts, Gale said scanners will be required in all 1,500 of Nebraska's precincts by Jan 1, 2006. It's not a foolproof plan. Some voters will still vote with checkmarks instead of xs, and some will mark ballots with their own pens, making them undetectable by electronic vote counters.

But, the state and nation are making progress on election reform. "In the past, one percent of the votes in Nebraska have been rejected due to mistakes," the Secretary of State said. That represents between 2,500 and 6,500 voters per election. Compared to other states, that's not too bad a record, but -- in Gale's opinion -- it's not good enough. We can do better. The right to vote is too important not to do all within our power to preserve it.