State: Ballot wording might change

Prompted by concerns that the Sept. 10 primary ballot may confuse voters, the Florida Division of Elections took steps Saturday to determine whether a last-minute change in ballot language is possible.

Clay Roberts, a lawyer and senior official for the division, said Saturday he has e-mailed election supervisors in Florida's 67 counties to see how many of the ballots already have been mailed to absentee voters overseas. If too many have been mailed, he said, a change in the ballot -- just five weeks before a major election -- could create more problems than it solves.

The action was in response to the Florida Democratic Party, which complained Saturday that certain words on the statewide ballot could prompt people to vote twice, or "overvote," in the Democratic governor's primary, thus nullifying their choice. The race features three candidates: State Sen. Daryl Jones, Tampa lawyer Bill McBride and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

On Friday, as the St. Petersburg Times questioned officials about the ballot language, the McBride and Reno campaigns expressed outrage.

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe said Saturday that the party was prepared to file a lawsuit Monday, possibly in Tallahassee, seeking a legal solution if the Division of Elections can't make a change.

"We had hoped we would have an election without confusion and ambiguity, and now this," Poe said.

Referring to the last major election in Florida, he said the ballot language "increases the potential for mass confusion and raises the ghosts of 2000 with the real threat of overvotes during the primary."

The words in question urge people to vote for "one pair" in the Democratic primary. Written as part the state's election reform, the language was used because one or more of the candidates could have run with a lieutenant governor candidate as a running mate.

The confusion comes because Jones, McBride and Reno have not chosen running mates, as is their right under state law. Consequently, there is no "pair" of candidates on the ballot.

Democrats fear voters will think they can choose two candidates for governor.

A state law, written before the notoriously flawed 2000 presidential election, mandates that the space for lieutenant governor candidates be filled with the words, "Not Yet Designated." Democrats, as well as some elections officials, have complained that those words also are confusing.

Because of reforms in Florida's election system, the impact of any confusion would be confined to the thousands who will vote absentee. That's because new computerized touch screens in 15 counties and new optical scan systems in 52 counties are designed to prevent overvotes at polling places.

But Poe said no one can be sure the systems will work properly the first time, given the state's recent experience with elections.

"This is Florida," he said.

The problem comes at an awkward time for the Division of Elections, which is run by the secretary of state. After several election-related failures in recent days, former Secretary of State Katherine Harris resigned Thursday to run in Sarasota for Congress. On Friday, Gov. Jeb Bush appointed one-time Secretary of State Jim Smith to fill the job until he can find a permanent replacement.

Poe said that he spoke with Smith on Saturday and that he "seemed to want to try to find a solution." Poe, no friend of Katherine Harris, added: "I told him I'm very sorry he was having to clean up after the elephants in the parade."

Roberts said that he was gathering information for Smith and that the two would discuss the matter Monday.

Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections David Leahy, who serves the second-largest electorate in the state, said Saturday that a change in ballot language at this point would be a major step.

He said he has not yet mailed absentee ballots, but reprinting them would cost two days in a schedule in which "every moment is planned" up to Election Day.

The language on dual-candidate races such as the presidential and gubernatorial contests is an issue that election officials have debated for years with no real solution.

The new language, "Vote for One Pair," replaces "Vote for One Group" -- which is blamed as a possible cause for thousands of overvotes in the 2000 presidential election.

"I don't think there's any good way to do this," Leahy said. "There's no wording that's going to satisfy everybody."

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk