Ghosts of 2000 election haunt presidential campaign

By JIM SAUNDERS
Staff Writer

Last : 08 July 2004

 

TALLAHASSEE Dimpled chads are long gone. So are former Secretary of State Katherine Harris and nail-biting Supreme Court fights.

But as Florida voters get ready this November to again play a key role in electing the president, ghosts of the disputed 2000 election are re-emerging.

Interest groups, political parties and Gov. Jeb Bush's administration are increasingly battling about whether Florida can avoid the types of mistakes and controversy that left the presidency in limbo for more than a month after Election Day 2000.

The latest twist came Wednesday when five groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Common Cause Florida, challenged a state decision that could prevent recounts in 15 counties that use new touch-screen voting systems. Volusia and Flagler counties use what are known as optical-scan voting systems and are not among the 15.

The groups said elections officials need to be able to conduct recounts to check the accuracy of voting totals and to make sure nobody tampers with the high-tech machines. Leaders of the groups say they are trying to protect the rights of voters.

"I would hope that the intent of wanting to have every vote count is a nonpartisan issue," said Larry Spalding, a lawyer and lobbyist for the ACLU.

But some Republicans accuse the groups of challenging the validity of the election system to stir up Democratic voters, who were disappointed in 2000 when George W. Bush clinched the presidency with a 537-vote win in Florida.

"All of these different, last-minute, 11th-hour actions by these left-leaning liberal groups are nothing but a transparent political ploy to undermine the voters' confidence in this election," said Joseph Agostini, a spokesman for the state Republican Party.

The announcement of the legal challenge came less than a week after the Department of State released - under court order - a list of 47,000 potential felons who could be prevented from voting this year.

Initial newspaper analyses have indicated that as many as 2,100 people might have been mistakenly included on the list. That comes after hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of people were turned away from the polls in 2000 because they were mistakenly considered felons.

Democrats contend that Al Gore might have won the presidency if those voters had been allowed to cast ballots.

University of North Florida political scientist Matt Corrigan said part of the problem with the state's election system is that it doesn't have an "independent arbiter." Jeb Bush, the president's brother, appointed Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who will oversee this fall's elections.

Corrigan said Democratic leaders might raise questions about the election system to excite their voters. But he said many of the questions are valid.

"I'm sure they want to fire up the base (voters), but at the same time, they're legitimate issues," said Corrigan, who studied election problems in 2000 in Duval County.

The near dead heat in the 2000 presidential race drew worldwide scrutiny of Florida's election system and exposed numerous problems. The U.S. Supreme Court finally settled the election in George W. Bush's favor after more than a month of legal wrangling that centered, in part, on decisions made by Harris, who was then the Republican secretary of state.

Much of the scrutiny focused on punch-card voting systems, which with their dimpled chads, hanging chads and pregnant chads raised questions about the validity of thousands of ballots. But the election also brought to light questions about such things as a law that prevents convicted felons from voting.

State lawmakers passed a massive elections-reform bill in 2001 that was designed to address many of the issues. Among other things, the bill eliminated the use of punch-card ballots, leading some counties to use the computerized touch-screen machines.

But now, with Florida expected to be a pivotal state in the Nov. 2 presidential race between George W. Bush and Democrat John Kerry, many of the issues are resurfacing.

The legal challenge announced Wednesday, for example, accuses elections officials of violating state law by preventing possible recounts in 15 counties that use touch-screen systems.

The groups that filed the challenge, which will be heard by a state administrative law judge, said elections officials need to be able to make sure the computers don't have glitches. That could involve creating a paper trail of votes or setting up a computerized-testing system.

State officials have refused to authorize such systems.

The state also has come under heavy criticism during the past week for possible mistakes in the list of felon voters. The state has sent the list to county elections supervisors, who are responsible for determining whether potential felons should be barred from voting.

Deanie Lowe, the Volusia County elections supervisor, said supervisors knew they would be "under the microscope" this year after the 2000 election problems.

Lowe said supervisors will be careful before removing any potential felons from the voting rolls. She said she doubts Volusia will remove any voters before the November election, because it will have to painstakingly research criminal records.

Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, defended the election system against the attacks, saying voters should have confidence in the process and voting equipment. She also said much of the criticism was "just purely political in nature."

But House Minority Leader Doug Wiles, D-St. Augustine, said solving election problems is not a political issue. He said flaws in the system could hurt Republicans, just as easily as they could hurt Democrats.

"I don't think there are any guarantees that one party or another is going to benefit," said Wiles, whose district includes most of Flagler County.