Fla. OKs Election System Overhaul

May 5, 2001 8:50 AM

Fla. OKs Election System Overhaul "Florida's governor was eager to change the state's maligned election system after recounts delayed his brother's election for 36 days and left many Democrats believing Al Gore had won".
posted by matteo (10 comments total)

My favorite detail from the New York Times: Florida's Republican-dominated House and Senate are requiring hand recounts in elections closer than 1 percent. So much for the notion that counting by hand is dangerous and reckless, the central theme of the GOP's recount strategy.
posted by rcade at 9:34 AM on May 5, 2001

The difference here is that there is now an established statewide standard set that all counties must use, unlike the last election where standards varied county to county and might even have varied within counties depending on when the votes were counted.
posted by gyc at 12:50 PM on May 5, 2001

The standards in the last election had to vary from county to county -- there was no uniformity in how votes were collected.
posted by rcade at 6:28 PM on May 5, 2001

GOP Legislature Overhauls Voting System, Fixes Flaws

Chads, Butterfly Ballots, State Supreme Court to be Eliminated
posted by dhartung at 10:05 AM on May 6, 2001

Given the tremendous bipartisan support behind this bill it would seem that pretty much everyone has given up any pretense whatsoever of the election in Florida being anything other than a farce.

"There's nothing seriously wrong with the system, let Bush be President. Okay, now that that's taken care of... yeah, the whole process was admittedly a sham. But we Republicans sure got what we wanted."
posted by drywall at 12:54 PM on May 6, 2001

Again, it must be repeated (again and again!) that the trashing of the Florida Supreme Court was, and is a disgrace. The Court did precisely what it should have. The real rape of the electoral system, the real violation of due process and equal protection was effected by the US Supreme Court.
posted by ParisParamus at 3:26 PM on May 6, 2001

I thought that was what made dhartung's post funny.
posted by rodii at 4:55 PM on May 6, 2001

"Damn you. You figured out my strategery."

But seriously, I'd like the Democrats to do some Whitewater-style investigation of this whole "election". The Republicans inevitable protests that "there's nothing to investigate" would sound like Clinton's - only difference is he was actually telling the truth (he only lies about "little" Bill) ...
posted by owillis at 6:55 PM on May 6, 2001

I'm interested in whether or not the FL legislature will make specific instructions on how to tally paper ballots now that all counties will have the same method of voting.

I observed the recount in Volusia County (the first hand recount, and optical-scan county), and even without the chads, there was much debate and interpretation....
posted by jennak at 8:46 PM on May 6, 2001

"...there is no right to suffrage..."
Antonin Scalia
posted by nofundy at 7:56 AM on May 7, 2001