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Changes to election laws mean voters must be alert and proactive, Florida's new secretary of state says.
By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 9, 2002
TALLAHASSEE -- On the job less than a week, Florida's new secretary of state admits he has a lot to learn about all the new election laws, and not much time.
Jim Smith hopes his admission sets an example for voters. He says he wants people to assume responsibility for knowing where and how to vote for the Sept. 10 primary, the first statewide election in the post-recount era.
"There is a responsibility on the individual to do some of these basic things -- to know what precinct they go to, make sure they have their card and those kinds of things," Smith said. "If citizens don't assume some responsibility, it makes the job more difficult."
Voters will soon enter a new electoral world. Many people have been assigned to different precincts as a result of the once-a-decade redistricting. Many will vote for candidates on touch screen machines that replace obsolete punch card systems.
More trouble is brewing. Election supervisors can't find many voters because so many have moved and never provided new addresses. Thousands of voter ID cards, which list a voter's polling place and legislative and congressional districts, are being returned as undeliverable.
Some of those people will try to vote on Election Day, but if they show up at the wrong precinct, they won't be able to. Stung by complaints that some people were turned away from polls in 2000, the Legislature approved a provisional ballot, but it's only for voters who show up at the right precinct. Otherwise, they will be sent to the proper precinct.
Nearly 20 percent of Pasco County's 230,000 voter IDs were undeliverable. Chuck Smith in Hillsborough County's elections office said 6 percent of its cards had been returned, which he said is typical for any mass mailing. Pinellas mails its first voter cards today.
A voter who does not receive a card by next week should take action.
"Pick up the phone and call us," said Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho, whose desk is piled high with more than 3,000 undeliverable cards.
After the 2000 presidential recount debacle, the Division of Elections is praying for lopsided results in every race on the ballot. Uniform standards are in place for a manual recount, but nobody at elections headquarters wants that.
"We don't care who wins, as long as they win by a large margin," said Ed Kast, the new director of the division.
Smith, who replaced Katherine Harris on Monday, is no stranger to the office. He was secretary of state from 1987 to 1994 after two terms as a Democratic attorney general and two unsuccessful campaigns for governor.
Smith, 62, is wasting no time putting his personal stamp on the office. He made his first personnel move by hiring Ken Detzner, an old friend and a former lobbyist for the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association, as chief of staff for the Department of State.
Detzner worked for Smith in the Attorney General's Office in the 1980s.
"He's very good with details, and he's very good with people," Smith said. "We're under a lot of stress, and it helps to have new people around to say, "Gosh!' Good things can come from that."
The Division of Elections has been reeling from one crisis to another, from the Legislature's miscalculation on the cost of candidate filing fees to the crash of a Federal Express plane that sent some candidates' paperwork and filing fees up in smoke.
The turmoil isn't over. One lawsuit accuses Democrat Mary Barley of forging her signature on qualifying papers for the race for agriculture commissioner. Republicans are considering a lawsuit over whether Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterworth complied with the resign-to-run law before seeking a South Florida Senate seat.
Smith can almost sense another crisis around the corner.
"We're humans. There will be mistakes. No question about that," Smith said.