PUNCH DRUNK

The ever-fair John B. Judis has an interesting piece in the current American Prospect. He’s writing about electoral reform and wisely advises Democrats that getting rid of punch card machines is no panacea. The real reason is that, despite common misconceptions, punch-card voting machines are not concentrated in black and minority districts. According to a national study by two political scientists called Stephen Knack and Martha Kropf, 31.9 percent of whites live in punch-card districts, compared with 31.4 percent of blacks. The biggest error rate in the last election, Judis also points out, was in Illinois, not Florida. One of the main reasons for this was a recent law which banned straight ticket voting, where voters could simply pull one lever and vote for the entire Democratic ticket. Suddenly, Chicagoans actually had to think for themselves in the voting booth, a process that resulted in a doubling of invalid votes. This confusion would not be solved by optical scanners, which require, if anything, a slightly higher level of voter independence and competence. Bad news for Democrats. In many places last November, they were helped by punch-card machines, not hindered by them. Electoral reform could make their plight even worse. If the Democrats thought the 2000 election was unfair to them, they should brace themselves for 2002.