Florida has made scores of changes to election procedures as state elections officials try to avoid a repeat of the presidential contest that kept the world on the edge of its seat more than three years ago.

"We're not slacking off. We're going full-bore. There is a sense of urgency that we've got to do it, and we've got to do it right," said Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning, former president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections and a member of Gov. Jeb Bush's task force appointed to fix election problems.

"We know there's so much at stake that we're not letting up," Browning said.

Many of the changes standardize definitions of voter intent, define what actually constitutes a vote and establish strict procedures for how canvassing boards will proceed with recounts.

"At least we have some standards for recounts, so if we have a really close election, we won't have the confusion about whether there should be a recount and how ballots should be interpreted," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida, which has lobbied extensively for election reform.

Some of the changes are fairly straightforward: The statewide Elections Canvassing Commission will now be composed of elected officials only, rather than including the appointed director of the Division of Elections. The secretary of state - now an appointed position - will not be part of that board, either. Instead, the board consists of the governor and two Cabinet members appointed by the governor.

The controversy surrounding former Secretary of State Katherine Harris and her refusal to recuse herself from the state Canvassing Commission after endorsing George W. Bush led to efforts that would ban such practices and make county supervisors of elections nonpartisan seats. State lawmakers didn't address either reform despite evidence of strong public support for them in surveys.

But Rep. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, who has led election reforms in the House, said he doesn't recall either being an issue for the Legislature during the post-2000 series of election reforms.

'Premature' to discuss election

It is not known whether Gov. Jeb Bush, who recused himself from the state Canvassing Commission in the 2000 election of his brother, will do so again. Either way, the governor will find himself in the unusual position of naming all the members of the Canvassing Commission that will certify the ballots in a race his brother is in.

"Governor Bush recused himself from the 2000 Elections Canvassing Commission to avoid any appearance of impropriety during a very unique circumstance, although he was not required by law to do so," said Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj. "It would be premature to discuss the 2004 election at this point."

If Bush does remove himself from the board, state law allows him to appoint the remaining Cabinet member in his stead. If a Cabinet member also recuses himself, the governor may any elected official to fill the commission.

County canvassing boards continue to be made up of the supervisor of elections, a county court judge and the chairman of the board of county commissioners, but they will have an extra day to get their results to the state Canvassing Commission for certification of the votes. That will prove important with the new provisional balloting mandates, which will create more paper ballots to be verified and tallied.

The county boards must now certify the vote count no later than seven days after a primary election or 11 days after a general election.

A recount will be allowed only if there is one-half of 1 percent or less difference between the two front-runners in an election - and that recount can be called off by the losing candidate. If the machine recount turns up a difference of one-quarter of 1 percent or less between the front-runners, the Canvassing Commission must order a hand recount of all votes in the entire geographical jurisdiction of the office.

No longer will the state allow apparent losing candidates to cherry-pick the most profitable areas to pick up votes.

In the event of a manual recount, rules adopted by the Division of Elections require counting teams to go through each ballot, determining whether there is "a clear indication that the voter has made a definite choice." Ballots are either confirmed, rejected or placed in a stack to be interpreted by the county canvassing board.

Clarifying voter intent

Rules regarding voter intent are now very specific yet allow for a variety of voting styles, at least in the recount. That means ballots that weren't counted in the election itself could get counted if a recount is required. For example, circling a candidate's name instead of blackening the oval next to it would constitute a vote for a listed candidate in the recount, but it would be considered an undervote and not counted in the election itself.

Regardless of the election's outcome, there are sure to be skeptics of the voting systems and the process, said Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho.

"The politicizing of the election process is immense," Sancho said. "It's not just a single-party issue. It's been politicized by everyone."