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Edited on Fri Dec-10-04 11:39 AM by noclonyofthechimp
Yesterday. This is a rushed version:
WOODRUFF: Some activists on the political left say the conventional wisdom that Election Day was free of major problems at the polls is simply false. People for the American Way is among the groups collecting reports of ballot box complaints. Ralph Neas is the group's president and he joins me here in Washington.
Ralph Neas, thank you very much for coming by. People for the American Way is part of a larger group called the Election Protection Coalition doing some looking into what happened on Election Day. What are you finding?
RALPH NEAS, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: Well, the good news is that so many Republicans and Democrats and independents turned out, and so many tens of thousands of citizens were part of Election Protection and it made it better for millions of Americans.
The bad news is there's a whitewash going on with respect to what actually happened on November 2nd because there were many, many Americans who were disenfranchised, voter suppression, voter intimidation, absentee ballot problems, provisional ballot problems. The thing that we are finding out the most in our "Shattered Myth" report, that we put out with the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee, is these long lines could be very much attributable to there not being enough machines in the urban poor areas or faulty machines.
If this is true, if there's for example one machine for every 200 African-Americans or Latinos and one machine for every 100 or so people in the suburbs, that means there could be an equal protection argument. We could be going to court, suing the state of Ohio for suppressing the urban vote.
WOODRUFF: You are talking about problems that disadvantaged the Democrats, disadvantaged John Kerry, is that right?
NEAS: Actually, these could be problems that disadvantage many others in addition to Democrats. We have 40,000 incidents reported, and we were only in 2 or 3 precincts across the country. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There's no question however there's a pattern that the Ken Blackwells and the Jeb Bushes and the Linda Hoods were responsible for more of this voter suppression than elsewhere throughout the country. But it was a national problem but primarily with respect to unfortunately certain Republican state officials.
WOODRUFF: And this study or investigation is going to continue. You just put out preliminary findings. Ralph Neas, how do you address, though, the criticism that this appears to be a partisan vendetta, a purely partisan effort to call into question the results of November 2nd?
NEAS: Again. I'm not sure when we look and make sure that every vote that has been counted there's going to be any difference in the election. We are nonpartisan. We represent the people of the United States. We want every Republican, every Democrat and every independent to have access to the ballot box and to have that vote count. That's our only mission. It is not a partisan mission.
WOODRUFF: But you still have that perception. Let me just ask you about something, there's a Republican Congressman, Bob Ney of Ohio, who is now calling -- who says his committee, the House Administration Committee, is going to hold bipartisan hearings in the new year to look at the management of federal elections. Is that something you welcome?
NEAS: Absolutely. We would hope that the Republicans and the Democrats at the national level and at the state and local level will do something about it. We have got to be the model democracy, not be the model of hypocrisy. Whether you are in the Ukraine or in the United States, you have a right to vote and that vote should count.
If we could have a bipartisan measure that would address the problems, that would provide uniform standards, that would make sure that there is an equal distribution of resources throughout the United States and within these states, that would be tremendously helpful. It would be helpful to have voter verified audit trails so that we don't have these questions regarding electronic voting machines.
WOODRUFF: But again, you are not calling for an overturning of the election result.
NEAS: No, no, we are calling to make sure that every vote is counted. That's our mission. We want to help Republicans, Democrats and independents.
WOODRUFF: Ralph Neas, People for the American Way, thank you very much. It's good to see you. We appreciate you coming by.
NEAS: It's great to be back, thanks, Judy.
WOODRUFF: Thank you.
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