Post-2000 task force set yardstick for reform

By ION SANCHO
Community Voices

Last : 04 July 2004

Is Florida ready for the Aug. 31 primary and Nov. 2 general elections? Will there be a repeat of the disastrous 2000 presidential election or the botched first primary election of 2002? While the answers to these questions may provoke bitter partisan exchange, fortunately there is a yardstick by which Floridians can measure how Florida's electoral system has changed, or failed to change, over the last four years.

That yardstick is "Revitalizing Democracy in Florida" written by the Governor's Select Task Force on Election Procedures, Standards, and Technology in March of 2001.

Created by Gov. Jeb Bush in the aftermath Florida's infamous 2000 election debacle, the 21-member bipartisan task force was charged with reviewing "the state's election procedures, standards and technology to ensure the highest level of confidence in Florida's system for conducting elections."

The final report was the product of five public hearings, 99 citizens presenting testimony and countless hours of hard work by the staff of The Collins Center for Public Policy. It remains the most thorough and comprehensive analysis of what Florida should do to ensure that "every registered voter should have the opportunity to vote and every vote should count."

The task force recommended 35 legislative actions and proposed five future studies.

What did the Legislature do with these critical recommendations designed to ensure the fairness and accuracy of our state elections system? Here are the facts. You be the judge.

In "Putting People First," the task force recognized that elections are more than voting machines and laws. The panel made 11 recommendations in this area. Sadly, only one "Recommendation 3: Create and Publish Voter's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities" was fully implemented.

State legislators did not establish minimum standards and best practices for voter education, improve Floridians' understanding of our elections, ordevelop more effective infrastructure at the polls, including better training of poll-workers. Also not adopted: restrictions on partisan political involvement by state and local officials in elections.

In the section on "Encouraging Reliable Technology," three out of five recommended items were passed. The Legislature banned punch-card and lever voting machines, paper ballots and central tabulation voting machines for failing to meet standards. And it required uniform standards for counting ballots and conducting recounts.

However, the failure to adopt "Recommendation 12: Uniform and Standardized Statewide Voting System for 2002 Elections Cycle," may prove to be one of the costliest mistakes made by our elected leaders. That recommendation called for all counties to use a uniform statewide voting machine for the 2002 elections the optical-scan voting machines like those used in Volusia County.

Had the Legislature enacted this proposal, there wouldn't have been botched elections in September 2002 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, which used touch-screen machines. This standard could have saved as much as $50 million (the cost difference between optical-scan and touch-screen voting machines). Finally, there would be no controversy over the lack of a paper trail or the inability to conduct a recount in the counties using touch-screen systems.

In "Improving Procedures and Law," the task force made 19 recommendations, 15 of which became law. These ensure uniform statewide ballot-design standard, mail voting and recounts. These provisions are among the best in the nation. For example, we now provide conditions for a statewide manual recount something not in Florida's laws during the 2000 election.

The elimination of the second primary (recommendation 19) provides election officials with time, a critical factor in our larger urban counties (Miami-Dade has a population greater than the state of Montana) who must organize and administer two major elections in the fall.

I'm glad the governor ordered the creation of The Select Task Force on Election, Procedures, Standards and Technology. My hope is that Floridians recognize that we are still learning from the 2000 election, and our flawed but commendable efforts to implement 19 out of the 35 recommendations from "Revitalizing Democracy in Florida" is but one step in the continuing saga of improving Florida's election system. We cannot end until every legal voter has an accessible opportunity to vote and knows their vote will count. Our citizens deserve no less.

Sancho, Leon County supervisor of elections since 1988, is active in election reform. He holds a law degree from Florida State University and a bachelor's from Stetson University.