Polling Prescriptions

A task force formed by Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to review voting irregularities in the 2006 primary election yesterday issued the first of two reports offering recommendations for improving the voting process in the state. The following are some of the recommendations:

· Better training for and communication with local election officials, legal counsels and election judges, particularly about the use of provisional ballots and the dissemination of information if poll hours are extended on Election Day by court order.

· Sessions to let voters practice using electronic machines before Election Day.

· "Lessons learned" sessions and public hearings after elections to allow voters to voice complaints.

· Publication by local election boards of how many voting machines will be allocated to each polling place three weeks before the November election; written explanations by the boards if those allocations differ from state recommendations.

· Signs at polling places alerting voters to hotlines run by the attorney general's office and the Maryland State Board of Elections for reporting false or misleading campaign literature.

· Better organization of machines at polling places to ensure voters' privacy.

· More education of voters on lengthy ballot questions.

· More efforts to inform felons who have completed prison terms and are no longer on parole or probation that they have the right to vote.