State must not allow a rerun of the 2000 presidential election mess

July 31, 2004

Here we go again. Four years after a razor-thin margin of votes in Florida threw the 2000 presidential election into chaos, things may not be much better in the Sunshine State this November. Technical glitches and suspicion that officials may be manipulating the system for partisan advantage have made bitter post-election disputes all too likely.

The race for the White House is shaping up to be a squeaker again this year. Another vote-counting fiasco that would erode confidence in the integrity of the nation's elections is the last thing anyone needs. Florida officials have to make sure that voting there is fair and verifiable.

Looking to avoid a replay of problems that introduced the public to hanging and pregnant chads in 2000, many Florida counties have switched from punch-card ballots to computerized touch screens. But there are indications that the new machines may have limitations of their own.

In a number of counties, they are not set up to generate a paper record of votes cast. Computer tapes of vote totals should be available. But if a recount becomes necessary, there won't be anything for officials to manually count. That's unacceptable, particularly with circumstantial evidence fueling suspicion that officials may be manipulating the system.

Earlier this month it became public that detailed, electronic records from the 2002 election in Miami-Dade County were lost when key computers crashed last year. Election officials recovered the records from a backup computer disc last week. But in the interim, while Republican Gov. Jeb Bush - President George W. Bush's brother - was busy reassuring voters that the machines were so reliable that Democrats' legal and legislative moves to require a paper trail were unneeded, the Republican Party was sending out literature urging its voters to use paper absentee ballots in the coming election to make sure their votes could be verified.

That controversy could hardly have come at a worse time. It erupted just weeks after officials, under pressure from the public, abandoned a flawed process that would have purged tens of thousands of felons who are black from the voting rolls, but practically none who are Hispanic. Blacks, incidentally, vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, while Hispanics favor Republicans.

For the nation's sake, officials need to make sure that balloting in Florida this November is above reproach.