The best outcome of a lawsuit against five voting districts - three in Florida - in the 2000 presidential election may be that voters' rights won't be violated again.

The U.S. Justice Department got a mixed reaction when it announced it would file lawsuits against five voting districts -- three in Florida -- for violations of voter rights during the 2000 presidential election. It surprised some who thought the Bush administration would stifle the inquiry and displeased others who expected the department to cast a wider net. But the legal action, at least in Florida, should focus attention where it belongs -- on assuring that future elections are fair for all voters.

Although the three Florida counties have not yet been named, Miami-Dade County is one of them, according to Miami-Dade Attorney Robert Ginsburg. The Justice Department will try to get voluntary admissions of wrongdoing from the counties and a plan to fix the problems before it files the lawsuits, which is the expected outcome. Appropriately, it is the outcome that counts.

The lawsuits will focus on the improper purging of voter rolls, problems minorities had at the polls and the inaccessibility of ballots for disabled voters. While punch-card ballots were responsible for much of the confusion in Florida, they are not the focus of these suits. The Florida Legislature has resolved that problem by requiring punch cards to be replaced by optical scanners or touch screens.

Black citizens were understandably skeptical about the process. Many of them lost their right to vote because of a botched attempt by Secretary of State Katherine Harris to remove felons from the rolls. The guidelines were so broad and the contractor hired to compile the list was so careless that hundreds of legitimate voters were denied a ballot. And while the state has vowed to create a new, accurate roll, it has not yet done so. The successful outcome of that effort should be part of any settlement.

Minority and disabled voters also complained of unequal treatment by some poll workers. Changes in the law that give voters a chance to cast provisional ballots and that list voter rights at the polling place should help address some of those complaints. And specially adapted touch screen machines should make it easier for disable voters to cast a ballot. The weight of a federal lawsuit hanging over the heads of election officials should provide extra motivation to assure that the law is enforced.

Some people may try to use the lawsuits as an excuse to reopen the debate on who should have won Florida's 25 electoral votes, and therefore the presidency. Reviving that devisive argument serves no positive purpose. Meanwhile, the focus of the suits seems appropriate. "We're going to follow the investigative trail, the evidence, wherever it goes without regard to politics and without regard to whose, if anyone's, ox is being gored," said Ralph F. Boyd Jr., assistant attorney general for civil rights.

While some might argue that more suits should have been filed, this action is sufficient to serve as a warning to all election officials. It is heartening that the Justice Department did not back away from its duty. If in the end all eligible Florida voters are able to cast their ballots and have them accurately counted, the effort will have been successful.

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