WCL program releases report, critiques local voting machine problems
A group of international lawyers and judges participating in the Washington College of Law Humphrey Fellowship program recently released a report on local problems with the 2006 U.S. midterm elections.
Robert Pastor, director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management at AU, led the group of legal practitioners and academics from around the world, The Eagle previously reported. They found several issues with the local voting process, particularly with the voting machines.
"Problems with voting equipment were recorded and varied from missing cards to technical malfunctions," the group wrote in the Nov. 14 report.
They concluded that all of the issues could be fixed in time for the 2008 presidential election.
"While the deficiencies identified above did not undermine the basic fairness of the 2006 election in the three jurisdictions [Maryland, D.C. and Virginia] they are serious concerns that can be remedied before the 2008 presidential election, where higher turnout and heightened scrutiny will put a greater strain on the electoral system," the report said.
The group made six recommendations to improve the electoral process, including ballot secrecy and publicizing the rules for ballot counting.
O'Connor receives political science distinction, stipend
Women and Politics Institute Director Karen O'Connor recently was named a Jonathon N. Helfat Distinguished Professor of Political Science.
The School of Public Affairs program does have other distinguished professors, but O'Connor is the first faculty member to receive this particular titled endowment, which provides a stipend that she plans to use to hire student assistants for her research, according to American Weekly.
The Women in Politics Institute is "dedicated to advancing study and discussion on women and politics, promoting opportunities for women as participants and leaders in the political arena and involving students and current political leaders in issues that concern women," according to an SPA fact sheet on its Web site.
O'Connor told American Weekly the distinction is "a tremendous honor."
"It really makes me feel like I've been doing something right here," she said.
Jillian Rubino, a sophomore in SPA and a leadership programs assistant at the Women in Politics Institute, said O'Connor is "inspiring."
"She has done so much in life - it's incredible I get to be in close contact with her," Rubino said.
