Early voting hurdles have partisan whiff

Pinellas Elections Supervisor Deborah Clark did save tax money by shutting down eight of the county's 11 early voting sites in last month's presidential primary, but the cost to democracy is not so easily calculated. She also left Pinellas voters with fewer options than other urban counties and raised the specter of partisan advantage.

Just four years ago, we should remember, Clark and other elections supervisors were so excited about the sudden popularity of early voting that they asked lawmakers to expand the times and locations. But a Republican-controlled Legislature turned around in 2005 and did just the opposite. It reduced the hours and limited the types of early voting sites that could be used.

At the time, Democratic lawmakers claimed Republicans were trying to game the system by making early voting less practical for Democrats who could not leave their jobs or find transportation to the polls on election day. Then-Pasco Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning, who is now secretary of state, asked the Legislature to reverse its action and told a Times reporter that he too thought the restrictions were aimed at disenfranchising Democratic voters.

Clark, a Republican, has a distinguished record of keeping partisanship out of the election office. But the perception here is troubling. Even with the fewer sites and shorter hours on Jan. 29, Democrats in Pinellas still voted early at a rate that was 10 percent higher than Republicans. Is her approach putting Democrats at a competitive disadvantage?

Voting by mail, which used to be restricted only to those who were going to be absent on election day, is certainly a worthy and cheaper alternative to early-voting sites. But the same Legislature that restricted early voting for the stated objective of standardizing the approach statewide can't dismiss the extent to which Clark is now creating a wide disparity between Pinellas and other counties.

Between the 2006 and 2008 primaries, the number of early votes cast in Pinellas dropped 3.5 percent while the number in Pasco, Hillsborough, Orange and Duval counties grew between 85 percent and 191 percent. Pinellas operates only three early sites, none in the north county. Hillsborough operates 13.

Having pushed to expand early voting after 2004, Clark has experienced an unusually abrupt change of heart. "I can't in good conscience," she now says, "keep spending money on something I don't think is working." But there is little evidence to support her claim, and, in any event, that's a determination for the Legislature and not individual county elections supervisors.

Clark is doing the least she can to meet the letter of an already restrictive early-voting law, which is unfair to her constituents. Early voting was supposed to expand the menu of options for voters. Maybe her office can no longer afford all 11 sites, but three in a densely populated peninsular county is not nearly enough.

[Last modified February 11, 2008, 21:23:36]