Just when Americans thought it was safe to go back to the polls ...

No, it's not a reprise of "Jaws." Instead, it now appears that the 2004 presidential election might just be a rehash of "Chads!"

A report released this week indicates many states haven't made reforms promised after the 2000 presidential election debacle. The report, issued by the Washington-based Election Reform Information Project, predicts:

n 22 states will still be using the punch cards that led to the brouhaha in Florida involving hanging chads, dimpled chads, counting and re-counting;

n 41 states have asked the federal government to give them two more years to establish statewide registration databases earmarked to eliminate fraud and voting denials; and

n in most of the 42 states that have new, touchscreen voting machines, only a few counties or towns will be set up with the new equipment come Election Day.

But while other states may be lagging behind, Oregon's Secretary of State Bill Bradbury announced this week that the special tax-hike election in February will be the state's first "chad-free" contest. That's because Clackamas, Lane and Washington counties, the last in Oregon to use punch-card ballots, will be using other voting systems. So while the rest of the country may be hung up over chads, that shouldn't be a problem here.

And while it's true that Oregon is among the states without registration databases, Bradbury says we're ahead of the curve there, too. Statewide voter registration should begin in Oregon in 2005 and it's anticipated the database should be complete by the 2006 elections.

With its vote-by-mail elections, Oregon leads the country in election innovations. It's nice to see the state is at the front of the pack when it comes to voter security and election improvements, as well.