After several elections in which the results have been in dispute, Florida’s new Republican governor, Charlie Crist, has decided to replace paperless touchscreen voting machines in 17 of the state’s counties with optical scanning voting hardware that will include paper records of the votes cast. Crist is expected to unveil his plans Thursday.
Josh Rogin, deputy chief of staff for Rep. Robert Wexler, (D-Fla.), confirmed Wednesday that Crist will include the initiative as part of his proposed state budget. “The governor will announce that significant funds will be a part of his budget to ensure a paper trail will be available throughout the state.”
More than $20 million is expected to be earmarked for the replacement project in the budget proposal, Rogin said.
Wexler has been working feverishly in Congress for the last six years to improve the accuracy of his state’s elections, Rogin said. Those concerns were fueled by election problems that surfaced during the 2000 presidential election in the state. It eventually took a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to decide that Republican Gov. George W. Bush of Texas would be awarded the state’s electoral votes over Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Gore, giving Bush the presidency. Continuing problems have emerged since then, including in the 2004 presidential election and in a Congressional race last year.
Erin Isaac, Crist’s press secretary, declined to comment on the pending announcement. “We look forward to rolling our plan out tomorrow,” she said.
Election disputes have been headline news in the state for several years. In November, the losing candidate in a disputed Florida congressional election filed a lawsuit contending that glitches in electronic voting machines in Sarasota County were the main reason for some 18,000 allegedly undercounted, or missing, votes there in the Nov. 7 election.
That case is now on appeal.
Lillie Coney, coordinator for the Washington-based National Committee for Voting Integrity, said Crist’s proposal “is in the interests of Floridians and it’s an example of what states should be considering if they’re using completely paperless systems in public elections.
“The big issue is if something goes wrong [with paperless system], how do you recover?” she said. “With a paper record that is voter-verifiable, you have something [to use] to evaluate [a] voter’s intent….”
Coney said she believes that the move could resonate elsewhere as other communities tackle the same concerns about election accuracy. “I think it sends a strong, positive message to other states … especially in other states with new leaders, that mistakes were made in the past” and are being remedied in the future, she said.
Reggie Mitchell, Florida legal counsel for the Washington-based political group, People For the American Way, said in a statement that he “welcomes reports that Governor Crist is working with Congressman Wexler to abolish voting machines that do not allow citizens to verify their votes on the spot. These machines have caused too many election problems in Florida, and they should be replaced with more reliable technology. We say, ‘bravo.'”
“It’s remarkable to finally see a bipartisan effort to address the voting scandals that have plagued Florida since the election fiasco in 2000,” Mitchell said. “It’s also encouraging that the Governor is putting his money where his mouth is, and offering significant state funds to help counties make the switch. After spending millions on unverifiable touch-screen machines, these counties will need help.”
