Voters must mind election pitfalls
Opinion from Michael Mayo Published October 17, 2004

South Florida Suyn-Sentinel

You've heard the old joke: It isn't being paranoid if they're really out to get you.

Many South Florida voters know the feeling.

Combine the events of 2000 with the events of 2004, and you have a jittery electorate wondering what unforeseen obstacles could prevent them from having their votes count.

"I think we're all a bit paranoid now," said Diana Hesse of Wilton Manors, confused by contradictory postage instructions for her absentee ballot.

"You can't assume anything," said Keith Greenberg, 18, of Coral Springs, a Duke University freshman whose first election experience in August was disenfranchisement.

"I'm glad I'll be able to vote, but I've lost a little bit of faith in the system," said Inez Williams, 77, of Lauderhill, whose court case was ped Friday when the Broward County elections office said it wouldn't disqualify her for an incomplete application form.

Ready or not, here we go again.

Election 2004 is here, with early voting starting Monday and absentee ballots in the mail. The new state motto: Voter beware. Four years after chad, recounts and a 537-vote margin that decided the presidency, nobody is taking anything for granted.

This time around, Florida voters have more options. But they still must navigate a confusing minefield, with potential tripwires everywhere.

Those who vote by electronic machines have to trust a system that lacks a voter-verified paper trail for recounts. Those who vote at the wrong precinct on Nov. 2 might have provisional ballots invalidated. Those who don't show picture identification might be wrongly denied by poll workers unaware that veteran voters are allowed to sign affidavits.

Those who vote by mail might forget to sign the envelope. Or they might not use enough postage, with three-page ballots requiring 83 cents, not the 60 cents the election envelope instructs. Local post offices have been told to process all under-stamped ballots, but you wonder about those being mailed from out of state.

Voters need to be vigilant, aware and responsible enough to make sure their votes count. First-time voters should call the elections office at 954-357-7050, to make sure their registrations are valid.

"The message that people should get is not to be discouraged, but that you've got to fight to protect your right to vote," said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Don't throw in the towel or give up."

It's a lesson Keith Greenberg has learned. Greenberg pre-registered last fall. After he turned 18 in March, he received his voter's registration card. In August, while at Duke, he received and returned an absentee ballot for the local Democratic primary.

In late September, he got a letter from the elections office saying his ballot didn't count.

It was the first he heard of a new requirement. First-time voters who register and vote by mail must send the elections office a photocopy of identification, such as a driver's license. The law went into effect Jan. 1.

The elections office didn't notify him of the requirement when it sent him his registration card or the absentee ballot.

"You get your registration card, you think you're a real voter," said Greenberg, who faxed in a copy of his driver's license last week. "This makes me more cynical and distrustful of the process. ... I almost didn't request a ballot for the primary, and then I wouldn't have known about this until after the regular election."

Inez Williams also almost lost her voting rights. She moved from New York in May, sent a voter's registration form to the elections office in July and waited for her card, which never came.

On Sept. 30, four days before the rolls closed for the general election, Williams got a notice from the elections office saying her application was rejected because she didn't check a box affirming her citizenship. She's been a U.S. citizen for 30 years.

"What I don't understand is why was there such a long delay," Williams said. "If they saw I didn't fill in the box, shouldn't they send it back to me earlier so I could fix it?"

Four years after Debacle 2000, Florida voting remains just as broken as fixed.