Editorial: Voter drives need fixing

Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 | 9:08 a.m.

States such as Nevada, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Mexico, Minnesota and Oregon have more in common this election season than their "battleground" status. They also share the burden of contending with allegations of election fraud. This is largely because, as states where the major-party presidential candidates were running fairly evenly, they were inundated with groups conducting voter registration drives. These groups, many of them partisan, went door-to-door and also set up tables outside of government offices and at shopping malls and bus stops -- anywhere there might be a lot of pedestrian traffic.

Now we're hearing allegations that many registration forms were never turned in to county election departments. Here in Las Vegas earlier this month, a former worker for the Republican-funded Voters Outreach of America alleged that the organization had destroyed registration forms filled out by Democrats. The FBI is investigating the claim, which is strongly denied by the national GOP and Voters Outreach.

The validity of this claim, and the validity of fraud allegations in the other battleground states, have not yet been established. But what is known is that thousands of private groups around the country were involved in registering voters this year. In Clark County alone, according to Registrar Larry Lomax, at least 200 groups or individuals informed his office that they would be conducting registration drives. The New York Times, in a story last week about this national trend, reported, "In a presidential race whose outcome is expected to hang on turnout at the polls, an army of interest groups is pumping at least $350 million into get-out-the-vote campaigns that are rewriting the tactics of elections."

The spurt this election cycle is because of changes in federal election laws over the past 10 years that removed restrictions on private groups wishing to engage in registration drives. For example, canvassers no longer have to receive training from county election departments. Also, under campaign finance reform Congress passed two years ago, political parties now have limited funds to finance voter drives, and nonprofit groups have moved in to fill the void.

In our view, eliminating virtually all restrictions on private groups registering voters was a mistake. The 2005 Legislature should review what has happened over the past few months and consider ways to make non-governmental groups and individuals more accountable when registering voters. Allowing partisans to so aggressively insert themselves into what should be a nonpartisan activity can only lead to an erosion of trust in our most fundamental freedom.