Legitimacy at stake.

Byline: The Register-Guard

It's possible that everyone who votes by Tuesday will wake up Wednesday morning a loser. The presidential election could produce a clouded result because of disputed ballots or challenges to ballot tallies. The mandate of whichever candidate is declared the winner would be damaged, and supporters of his opponent would feel cheated. Both parties should strive to avoid contributing to such an outcome.

The election of 2000 tested voters' faith in the fairness of their elections. Though confidence in the election system didn't crumble, the 2000 experience left cracks of doubt - and another contested election would widen them.

A close race like the contest between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry inevitably brings a risk of a disputed result. When the margin is a few thousand votes out of millions cast, the winner can be the candidate who prevails in arguments over spoiled ballots and voters' qualifications. Such arguments are already taking shape in swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

A further factor has been added this year, as both parties have acted to implement their long-standing positions on voter registration. Democrats have traditionally stressed ballot access, and have attempted to register as many voters as possible. Republicans have long placed the emphasis on ballot integrity, and have attempted to ensure that voters are properly registered.

These two approaches are in sharp conflict this year. Democrats and sympathetic independent groups have registered hundreds of thousands of new voters, a majority of whom are presumed to be members of constituencies that lean toward Kerry. Republicans and their surrogates are preparing to challenge some of these voters' qualifications, and point to lax registration and identification rules. Democrats accuse Republicans of attempting to suppress the vote and disenfranchise minorities and low-income people. Republicans accuse Democrats of condoning, even facilitating, voter fraud.

This is dangerous business. Both Bush and Kerry should aspire to victories untainted by suspicions of foul play in the voting process. The country needs a president whose legitimacy is unquestioned - allegations of fraud in key states, or of the disenfranchisement of key voting blocs, would weaken the winner's ability to govern.

Columnist Robert Samuelson addressed this danger Wednesday by hoping for a landslide. If one candidate wins with a wide margin, he wrote, irregularities in a few states wouldn't affect the result. But that's not a satisfactory answer. Even in the tightest of races, Americans should be able to trust that the voting process was fair and that all ballots were accurately counted.

The public and politicians alike have an interest in both access and integrity. Every American who has the right to vote should be given the opportunity to exercise that right. And every vote should be cast by a legally qualified voter. Attempts to elevate one of these values above the other invite trouble. Confidence that the victor won fair and square is essential to a democracy, and both parties should back away from acting in ways that put that confidence at risk.