Despite some first-day glitches, early voting for November's general election got off to a better start than some of Florida's critics suggested.
Published October 21, 2004
It's hard to shake a bad reputation - just ask Florida election officials. Early voting in the November general election opened Monday, and thousands of Floridians were able to cast a ballot at dozens of locations, getting their civic duty out of the way ahead of time with little or no fuss. You wouldn't know that from headlines around the nation, however.
"In Florida, early voting means an early return to problems," trumpeted the front page story in the New York Times. "Shadows of 2000 at Florida polls," warned the Kansas City Star. Those and many others were making reference to the 2000 debacle when Florida did indeed earn its reputation for ineptitude, with butterfly ballots, hanging chads and an erroneous felons list.
And yes, there were some problems on opening day of the 2004 election as this newspaper (Waits, glitches stymie voters) and others pointed out. Laptop computers used to check voter registration records at satellite offices in several counties went down, sometimes for several hours, and long lines formed in many places when early voting proved more popular than anticipated. Elections supervisors could have been better prepared, but here is an important point: None of the reported errors affected the voting machines themselves. For those who found the lines too long on Monday, they have several choices - return at another time before Nov. 2, cast an absentee ballot or vote at their regular precinct on Election Day.
One troubling development did arise in Duval County. Supervisor of Elections John Stafford, who has been rightly criticized for poor management of his office, resigned on Monday because of health problems. (Gov. Bush quickly appointed an interim supervisor.) In 2000, Duval was accused of disenfranchising black voters and causing ballots to be spoiled because of confusing directions. This year, populous Duval started with only one early voting site, although the new elections chief added four more on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the timing of Stafford's announcement doesn't evoke confidence in the office's preparedness for the upcoming election.
Another issue was responsibly resolved by the Florida Supreme Court. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that voters casting provisional ballots will have to do so in their proper precinct for the vote to count, which upholds state law. Provisional ballots are provided to voters whose names do not appear on registration rolls, and they will be counted if it turns out the voter was indeed properly registered. Since ballots can be quite a bit different from precinct to precinct because of various political district boundaries, it is reasonable to require people to show up at the correct polling place. Besides, there is an easy remedy for those who are uncertain of which precinct they are in: Cast a provisional ballot at any early voting place in the county before Nov. 2.
The truth is, Florida has made much progress since 2000. Although some groups have tried to cast doubt on the accuracy of touch-screen voting machines, they have produced no evidence that their allegations are valid. Besides, voters need to accept some of the responsibility for an orderly election by informing themselves and showing a little patience.
Very likely there will be some human error, computer glitches and unforeseen events that impede the smooth operation of this election - in Florida and in every other state. It is the nature of such complex endeavors. Voters and poll observers should stay vigilant, but those who seek to cast doubt on the integrity of an election before it is even conducted are not serving the best interests of democracy.
