Reply #15: FL: Disaster looms again on Election Day in Florida

[tbyg52]

Is another Florida election disaster in the offing? Sadly, yes. Barely seven months before the presidential election and it is déjà vu all over again. How did we get here (again) and, more important, is there anything we can do to stop the train wreck?

First, to how we got here. It was politics, plain and simple. Promising that ''when Floridians cast ballots in an election at any level -- local, state or federal -- they can leave the polling place knowing that their vote has been counted and recorded and can be verified,'' in May 2007, Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law a bill that eliminated those pesky, paperless touchscreen voting machines and replaced them with allegedly more reliable, recountable ''optical-scan equipment that provides a paper trail.'' The same bill, which had the full support of both parties, also included a provision changing Florida's presidential primary to the last Tuesday in January and another provision allowing candidates seeking federal office to retain their existing public office (namely, the governorship), at the time of qualifying for the federal office.

Sound like a horse trade? Yes -- at the expense of Florida's voters.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/476926.html