Officials Say Election Questions Under Control

By TED BYRD tbyrd@tampatrib.com
Published: Jul 10, 2004

TAMPA - After Florida's 2000 election debacle, Florida voting officials moved quickly to modernize equipment, procedures and re-educate poll workers and voters.

Four years later, the overhaul seems beset with problems.

First came lingering questions about the security of new touch-screen voting machines. Then came a state felon purge list of dubious accuracy. And terrorists may target voting spots, federal officials now warn.

``We're working day and night - literally seven days a week - to ensure a smooth election process,'' said Seth Kaplan, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade County elections office.

Election officials across the state say they're on top of things.

Counties have already tested new machines in the 2002 races, said Bill Cowles, elections supervisor in Orange County and president of the statewide association of election supervisors.

Hillsborough County, for example, used its new Sequoia touch-screen machines in 2002, in the Tampa mayoral race in 2003 and in the Democratic presidential primary in March. No serious problems emerged.

Cowles also said election officials will be very careful before removing felons from the voting rolls. And preparing for a potential terrorist attack is just good planning.

``You shouldn't panic. We're only raising our awareness,'' he said.

Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson agreed.

``After Spain, we all knew that elections were going to be targets,'' he said, referring to the March 11 train bombing that cost Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar his job.

Most counties appear to be hiring additional people and spending more money than in 2000, although hard numbers are scarce.

In Miami-Dade County, there is the new, $25 million touch-screen voting system first tried in 2002, Kaplan said. The election budget is about $3 million, double that spent in 2002.

``Certainly, it's accurate to report that this year we'll incur hundreds of thousand in overtime. That's certainly fair,'' he said.

Hillsborough will deploy 3,500 workers to staff polls on Election Day. The county plans on the effort costing about $500,000, although the final figure likely will be higher, Johnson said.

But as Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes talks to voters, she hears a lot of wariness about the state's ability to pull off this presidential election.

``It's like a feeding frenzy. There is no trust,'' she said.

Concern over the touch- screen system and its lack of a paper record has gotten serious, she said. Like Miami- Dade, Broward uses an ES&S touch-screen system, similar to Hillsborough's.

``Maybe it's growing,'' she said. ``I've been hearing more of it lately.''

Nicole de Lara, communications director for the state Division of Elections, dismisses concerns about touch-screen systems.

``The only reason to do a manual recount is to determine voter intent,'' she said.

With the touch screens that isn't necessary. The machines don't allow people to overvote, or vote for more than one person in a race. Voters are prompted twice before the machine allows a person to undervote a ballot, or choose no one in some races.

``So really, a manual recount is unnecessary because voter intent is clear,'' de Lara said.

Johnson noted he can print a list of all ballots cast.

``It'll take a long time, but I can do that,'' he said.

De Lara said Florida has one of the most rigorous certification program in the country for voting machines. She's very confident in the state's ability to have a smooth Election Day.

Outside of Florida, voter advocates are focused on the country's fourth-biggest state.

``In the short term, Florida does need to work exceptionally hard,'' said Rob Richie, executive director for the Washington-based Center for Voting and Democracy. ``What happened in 2000 was just a travesty, and it was eye- opening for the whole country.''

The bigger, long-term problem is national in scale, he said.

The Founding Fathers felt no strong need to offer constitutional protection to voting. ``They weren't going to set a national standard because there was no national standard,'' Richie said. The federal government needs to do that now, he said. Then it must spend money to make sure elections are conducted fairly.

``We can send launchers to Mars. We can count close elections. We can do that,'' Richie said.

For the nation's collective mental health, he said a tight presidential race in Florida would be bad.

``If it's close,'' he said. ``Florida will be complete chaos.''