As the American public ponders who they’ll vote for in the 2008 presidential election, lawyers behind the scenes are gearing up to ensure that everyone’s vote counts.
In the battleground states like Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, and Nevada, the Democratic and Republican parties are deploying teams of lawyers at the polls to ensure that bureaucracy and voting violations don’t take place on Nov. 4.
The Ledger.com of Lakeland, Florida reported Oct. 5:
“In the past, the Election Day process wasn’t considered to be as crucial as the campaign that led up to that,” said Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer. “Now we see that the Election Day process is equally as important, or more so.”
Since the historic 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush, voting will never be the same. Many people still remember the notorious “hanging chads” in Florida and going to bed on the eve of the 2000 election thinking Al Gore had won the presidency bid. Since this debacle, Help America Vote Act (NAVA) of 2002 was passed to nix punch card (read: chads) voting systems, create the Election Assistance Commission to watch over Federal elections, and establish minimum election administration standards. Thus, lawyers are showing up at the polls, especially in key swing states, to ensure NAVA is followed to the letter.