Natl Review

Florida Blames Itself
The state says “mea culpa” for November.

By NR’s John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru
April 19, 2001 3:25 p.m.

Who do Floridians blame for their mess of an election last November? Themselves!

In a new poll of state residents, 61 percent believe voters own "complete" responsibility for making sure they mark their ballots correctly, and 20 percent think voters have "most" of the responsibility. Plenty still support changes — 81 percent say they're for some kind of reform, and three-quarters want it done by next year's races — but it's refreshing to see so little finger-pointing.

Most of the reforms Floridians support seem fairly innocuous, with big majorities in favor of making counties use the same ballot design, machinery, and recount standards. Two other ideas with very strong support — mandating a single closing time for polls around the state and creating a statewide voter list to reduce fraud — would ameliorate a pair of problems Republicans complained about last year: thousands of GOP votes allegedly lost in the panhandle when the networks called the state for Gore, and hundreds if not thousands of Democratic votes gained from the failure to prevent felons from gaining illegal access to the ballot box.

Two voting reforms face strong opposition: voting over the Internet (76 percent against, 16 percent in favor) and restoring the voting rights of felons (57 percent against, 33 percent in favor). Some Democrats strongly favor this latter policy, believing that they have much to gain, especially in the South, if felony violators are allowed to vote after serving their sentences.

The survey was sponsored by a pair of Florida think tanks, the Collins Center for Public Policy and the James Madison Institute.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2001