Norfolk, Va. — If there is an election meltdown Tuesday, it may happen at places like P.B. Young Sr. Elementary School.
The squat brick school in a dingy postwar housing project near downtown Norfolk usually draws little attention on election day. This year, however, could be different.
Voter registration is up more than 40% in the surrounding neighborhood, but the school may get just one additional voting machine. That could mean each machine would be used by as many as 350 voters on election day, according to an analysis by Advancement Project, a Washington-based voting rights group.
There already have been reports of long lines at early voting sites nationwide, including Florida and Georgia. Now, election watchdogs are worried that hundreds of thousands of would-be voters at places like Young Elementary will give up on casting ballots if lines are long Tuesday, dealing a blow to voting rights far more serious than the claims of voter intimidation and malfunctioning machinery that make headlines.
"This has the potential to disenfranchise a heck of a lot more people than, dare I say it, hacked electronic voting machines," said Tova Wang, vice president for research at Common Cause, which has been monitoring potential balloting problems ahead of this week's vote.
During the 2004 presidential election, long lines at polling places in Cleveland, Columbus and other Ohio locations caused as many as 129,000 voters to get tired of waiting and not vote, according to one survey commissioned by Democrats after the election.
Ohio that year was one of the central battleground states, as it is again this year. But even more voters are expected to head to the polls this election day. The number of registered voters in the state has surged to 8.3 million, up more than 300,000 from four years ago, according to the secretary of state's office.
Other battleground states have seen more dramatic registration gains, and election officials are predicting record turnouts for an election that has gripped the nation.
Voting rights groups warn that confusion over new registration data, new identification requirements or challenges from party officials at voting sites could exacerbate delays.
"Every time there is a challenge, there has to be a way to adjudicate that," said Jonah Goldman, director of the watchdog group National Campaign for Fair Elections. "That process takes time. It takes a poll worker away from his or her regular duties. And that means possibly chaos at the polls and longer lines."
