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Elections bills disappoint

Sometimes the best thing you can say about an issue snaking its way through Florida's labyrinthine legislative process is this: It could have been worse. Such is the case with a handful of elections bills.

Both houses have tempered a power grab by Secretary of State Glenda Hood to unilaterally make policy decisions for the elected supervisors. Particularly in the Senate (SB 2176), the language allows the secretary (who oversees state election law and is appointed by the governor) to establish uniform standards for how elections are carried out but provides a reasonable way for county elections supervisors to appeal that decision.

Before taking action to override a supervisor's authority, the secretary would have to "make a good-faith attempt to confer with the supervisor of elections. . . ." That would seem to be common sense, but apparently sense isn't so common in Tallahassee. Even limited cooperation is preferable to the first version of legislation offered by Hood's office that would have allowed the secretary to "issue binding directives" to the supervisors.

There should be reasonable uniformity in elections, but each county has different needs and resources. The goal should be a fair and accessible election, and putting too much power in the hands of an appointed official who answers only to the governor doesn't assure those two qualities.

On early voting, Republican lawmakers have let the electorate down. The ability to cast a ballot up to 15 days before an election at a variety of sites proved to be popular, too popular. The few elections offices and libraries where early voting was held in 2004 were too crowded, so supervisors asked that they be allowed to open more sites throughout the community.

At first, Republicans such as Rep. Ron Reagan of Bradenton supported the concept, but the bill (HB 1567) he sponsored now allows no expansion of early voting. It is frustrating for supervisors, who are criticized for not providing enough voting sites but denied the resources to do so. Apparently, Republican legislative leaders decided that making it easier to vote wasn't in their party's best interest.

It could be worse, but it looks as though lawmakers still haven't learned the painful lesson that politicizing the mechanism of voting only leads to public distrust.

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 00:43:11]