Battlegrounders
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FLORIDA: EARLY-VOTER MADNESS [Cris Rapp 10/19 04:17 PM]

In Florida, things have picked up right where they left off in 2000, with the presidential candidates running neck-and-neck, and with unrest over ballots and voting machines. In accordance with the federal Help America Vote Act (2002), beginning yesterday voters could cast their votes at select polling places, either by a touch-screen computer or a paper absentee ballot. Day 1 had its share of glitches, including long waits (up to three hours in some places in Dade County) as poll workers checked names against computerized registration lists, computers going off-line for as long as two hours, and standard bureaucratic incompetence, such as when one voter who happens to be a Democratic state senator asked for a paper absentee ballot and was given one with an entire page missing.

Much complaining has ensued—after the 2000 debacle and four hurricanes, we Floridians are a little touchy.

The legal battles have begun too. Democratic congressman Robert Wexler, a major figure in the 2000 battles, has filed suit, arguing that the touch-screen voting machines used in 15 Florida counties violate the Constitution, because they cannot be recounted by hand if the election is close. (52 counties use conventional paper ballots). State elections officials respond that 2000-style manual recounts are unnecessary with touch-screens because they make the things that manual counters look for—“overvotes” and “undervotes”—impossible: overvotes because a the computer allows only one choice per race, and undervotes because you can’t make a stray mark or hanging chad on a computer screen. The trial began yesterday in a federal court in Ft. Lauderdale.

Lastly, the Supreme Court of Florida unanimously upheld a law that requires voters who file a provisional ballot to vote within their correct precinct. Under the HAVA, people whose names don’t appear on voter roles can fill out provisional ballots, which will be kept in sealed envelopes until their voting status can be verified. The law requires voters to file these ballots in their proper precinct, just like every other person in the state. And so, to the surprise of no one, the ACLU, People for the American Way, and a collection of labor unions claimed that this requirement was unconstitutional. The Court’s sensible decision rejecting this claim can be found in pdf form here.