Why was Florida voting such a mess?


One month after Florida was lampooned nationally for being so slow in reporting election results, the Florida Legislature is looking for answers.

Today, the Florida Senate is debriefing Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and Ron Labasky, the general counsel for the Florida Supervisor of Elections. Later today, they will head for the Florida House where they will again be quizzed by legislators there.

Florida became a national joke on late night television shows because it took days for Florida to be called for President Barack Obama. Because Obama had won enough electoral votes elsewhere, Florida’s slow reporting did not affect the overall outcome.

In addition to the slowness of reporting, legislators are also looking at whether early voting needs to be changed. Voters waited hours in some counties to cast ballots during early voting.

Labasky said one of the possible solutions would be to loosen state regulations to allow supervisors of elections to have more flexibility to choose early voting sites.

Supervisors now are limited to government buildings and libraries, though many counties do not have libraries with sufficient space to house early voting.


Jeremy Wallace

Last modified: December 4, 2012