Ah, election season, when voters’ fancies once again decide the fate of the free world. Or, alternatively, when unusable machines and untrained poll workers threaten to wipe out 250 years of democratic progress, as was the case in the most recent Florida primaries. Janet Reno must be kicking herself for not enforcing the nation’s election laws as the Attorney General in 2000, now that her own political future has been affected. Florida’s ineffective voting system gave her a recount of her very own, and she lost out worse than Gore did.
Even after the presidential debacle regarding how many corners a vote consisted of, hordes of elderly Jews turning out to vote for Pat Buchanan and a second Bush in the White House, the efforts of Florida’s legislature have not solved their state’s voting problems. They passed a $30 million bill buying, among other things, fancy new voting machines with touch screens, but these modern miracles were apparently too complex for some of the clueless poll workers, who did not realize that the machines had to be turned on to function. Since voting districts are responsible for the training of their own volunteer poll workers, training standards can vary from not enough to none at all. Since local and state authorities have failed, the federal government must step in.
Our election system is a barely democratic, jury-rigged mess to begin with. Anyone who recalls how the Florida legislature nearly voted in 2000 to award the state’s electoral votes to Bush by fiat will understand that a hodgepodge of ancient and sometimes contradictory rules and laws is not always effective in conveying the will of the voters. National standards and funding would go a long way towards reaching the goal of total enfranchisement. Training poll workers and paying them a nominal wage would no doubt give them incentives to better help and instruct voters. Standardizing voting machines would eliminate squabbles among disgruntled losing candidates, such as Reno, who claimed as her “stronghold” the district with the most problems.
Casting a vote is the most important act a citizen can perform within our government. In an age when you can file your tax forms online (an activity of much interest to our federal government), surely the voting process can be made simpler as well. With two months remaining until the Jeb Bush vs. Bill McBride Florida gubernatorial show-down, the federal government should not wait to see what Florida can cobble together in the service of democracy, but should act now to standardize voting procedures.
