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The secretary of state asks residents to check their address and polling place and to brush up on touch screen voting.
By JULIE HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 30, 2002
TALLAHASSEE -- Trying to head off another election fiasco, Florida's new secretary of state, Jim Smith, hits the airwaves in the coming weeks to remind voters to prepare for the Sept. 10 Democratic primary.
"Despite a nationally recognized election overhaul, we will not have a perfect election," Smith said Thursday. "Elections depend on human beings, and human beings make mistakes.
"Will there be glitches? There's no doubt."
Half of Florida voters, he said, will be using technology they've never used before -- new touch screen systems that operate like automated teller machines.
"This technology is not perfect," Smith said, adding that he is troubled by the fact that the touch screen machines don't produce a paper record that voters can double-check. The machines, do, however, have backup information that can be checked later if there's a problem, Smith said.
Smith also noted that many voters have new polling places because the Legislature redrew Florida's legislative and congressional districts this year.
Smith taped three public service announcements designed to catch voters' attention with a "Breaking News" logo. He asks voters to make sure of three things: that their address is correct, that they know their correct polling place, and that they seek out voter education programs before Election Day.
Smith also plans to travel to eight cities next week to meet with poll workers. He'll be in Tampa and St. Petersburg Tuesday.
Smith said he decided to launch the "We the People Voter Initiative" shortly after he replaced Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who resigned to run for Congress.
Smith urged Floridians to simplify Election Day by voting ahead of time by absentee ballot.
He said the new touch screen technology won't prevent "undervotes," when someone doesn't vote for a candidate in a given race.
Florida, he reminded reporters at a Tallahassee news conference, doesn't give voters the option of "none of the above."
"Sometimes I think we don't have "none of the above' because we wouldn't elect anybody," he joked.