Change to recount law doesn't go far enough

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sunday, April 4, 2004

If the bill drafted by the Florida Division of Elections is the long-awaited comprehensive fix for the state's ballot problems, voters are in trouble.

Instead of demonstrating the accuracy of new electronic voting systems, Secretary of State Glenda Hood is proposing a one-word solution. Just cutting the word manual out of state law might remove the stumbling block of a recount, but it would not resolve the problem.

Ms. Hood's bill, sponsored by Sen. Anna Cowin, R-Leesburg, would eliminate "manual" recounts in the 15 counties, including Palm Beach and Martin, that use touch-screen voting equipment. It is based on the belief that touch-screen systems are incapable of error. It does nothing to reassure the public. Before legislators accept Ms. Hood's proposal or jump in the other direction to embrace a paper trail, they need to insist on a true public test. One way would be to fit some touch-screen machines with printers, allow voters to confirm their choices before leaving the polling place, and compare the paper results with the electronic.

As Florida plays word games, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, is in federal court to force elections officials to do what they should be doing: prove their case. By eliminating recounts with touch-screen systems, Ms. Hood's fix would treat voters in touch-screen counties differently from voters in counties with optical-scan ballots. The Legislature must repair more than statutory syntax; it must repair public faith.

State law calls for public inspection of ballots, a right verified in a March 24 opinion from Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist. The inspection rule proved particularly important in the months after the disputed 2000 presidential election. Aside from pointing out the obvious failures of punch-card ballots, media reviews showed that optical-scan ballots, if not scanned at polling places, could prove even more problematic. New laws required scanning at polling places.

Yet Ms. Hood's bill is silent on the issue. Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore has argued that if she can't produce electronic images for a recount, she can't produce them for public inspection. Instead of agitating for public clarity on a vexing issue, she is retreating behind the cloak of what she calls her "ministerial" role.

Paper-trail advocates say allowing voters to review a printout of their ballot is the only answer, but it would raise more questions. Ms. Hood and the Legislature can supply the answers if they look for the right fix, not the quick one.