Virginia not ready for Election Day surge, voters group says

A national voter protection organization said Thursday that Virginia is among several states that are unprepared to handle the anticipated surge of voters in the Nov. 4 election, with the potential for long lines to discourage voting.

The Washington, D.C.-based Advancement Project charged that the six cities it examined in Virginia do not have enough voting equipment or poll workers. The project said similar problems exist in several states it studied.

The group said some minority precincts are most vulnerable to having a shortage of machines and workers. It said, for example, that in Virginia Beach, there were 11 percent more voters per machine and per poll worker in districts that were 25 to 50 percent minority than in districts in which minorities numbered less than 25 percent.

Local elections officials said they do not track the race of voters and instead allocate resources based on the number of registered voters in a precinct. "We don't even know what precincts are minority precincts," said Virginia Beach registrar Pat Harrington.

Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of the organization, said, "Election officials need to take immediate steps to avert an Election Day meltdown."

Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News were among the six Virginia cities studied because of the active voter registration efforts that have taken place.

"There are potential serious problems in all six cities and counties," Jim Freeman, a staff attorney for the organization, said. "Norfolk and Virginia Beach are certainly at or near the top of the list."

The State Board of Elections and the registrars in Norfolk and Virginia Beach say they're using more voting machines and poll workers than ever before, yet there will still be lines.

"This is an historic election," said Susan Pollard, spokeswoman for the state board. "We do anticipate there will be heavy lines at the polls and voters should anticipate that as well."

Pollard said anyone who is eligible to vote absentee is encouraged to do so. Eligible reasons include disability, illness, pregnancy, work and commuting schedules.

Harrington said 1,700 people have signed up to work polls in Virginia Beach, more than double the number in past elections. The city is putting about 200 extra voting machines in precincts.

Norfolk will nearly double its number of poll workers and is putting 65 more voting machines in precincts, registrar Elisa Long said.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do to guarantee you won't have to stand in line," she said.

Long said it should help that the voting process will be shorter this year because there are no constitutional or bond questions.

Freeman noted that the Advancement Project's analysis of resources projects that it would take on average 15 to 16.5 hours to move voters through Norfolk's precincts and 13.2 to 14.1 hours in Virginia Beach. Polls are open 13 hours. That's based on various turnout scenarios, with three minutes allotted per voter.

He also said that between 39 and 46 of Norfolk's 55 precincts could not accommodate the turnout within the 13 hours. In Virginia Beach, it would be 60 to 70 of the city's 94 precincts.

The group wants the state to liberalize the use of paper ballots when lines are long, extend the polling hours, deploy additional polling resources and reallocate resources to better serve minority precincts.

It studied only battleground states - Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia - and only cities and counties in Virginia with strong registration drives: Alexandria, Fairfax County, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond and Virginia Beach.

Advancement Project is a civil rights group founded in 1998.

The group sued to gain access to voter registration forms that the Norfolk registrar's office rejected in the November 2005 gubernatorial elections. The State Supreme Court ruled that the group could inspect the forms if the Social Security numbers were redacted.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com