Officials hope early voting could head off problems

Saturday, October 25, 2008

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Officials hope early voting will let voters with registration problems resolve them before Election Day.

TALLAHASSEE (Bay News 9) -- Tens of thousands of Floridians have cast their ballots already because of early voting.

Some of those voters have also found out that there are problems with their registrations, which some officials said could help prevent chaos on Election Day.

Democratic poll watcher Ron Meyer said the extra time will help voters make sure their vote counts.

"The key is, between now and the end of early voting, a myriad of problems, if there are a myriad of problems out there, can be resolved in favor of letting every voter cast a vote, and that's an important way to resolve it," Meyer said.

Early voting may be critical, as problems are already showing up throughout the state. There are allegations of fraudulent registration and felons on the voting rolls. In addition, Florida's new 'no match, no vote' law is attracting more controversy every day.

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But as popular as early voting has been, the number of people who turn out early pales in comparison with those who turn out for Election Day. Despite all of the issues that will be resolved prior to the election, many more could show up on Nov. 4.

In Leon County, which was spared the fallout from the 2000 recount, Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho said he credits early voting with making the county's election process run smoothly. Ten years before early voting was implemented through a state law, it was part of electoral life in Leon County.

The county may still be ahead of the curve. Sancho said he offers to fix voter discrepancies on the spot, a move he said state officials discourage.

"Don't micromanage at the county level, because that's why local officials are elected locally, to make sure that the voting populaces can be adequately served," Sancho said. "The idea that some top-down, one-size-fits all program is the only thing that should be done is laughable, in my opinion."

For most counties, taking care of problems with voter registration is limited to the early voting period and the two days after Nov. 4.

However, Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark said she also plans to help voters with problematic registrations take care of those on Election Day as well, despite the warnings of Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who says such a plan could violate Florida's 'no match' law.