Bravo to the Florida Senate, which passed a sweeping bipartisan election reform package. The legislation pays for new voting machines and voter education. Among its provisions are the standardization of ballots, a voter's bill of rights, clear standards for recounts, and non-partisan supervisors of elections. It does, however, contain one controversial section that eliminates the second primary. For those who don't remember, the second primary gave us Governors Askew and Graham.
Proponents say that too few voters come out in the runoff.
As reported last week, election reform in the House turned ugly when Republicans added campaign finance provisions aimed at giving Jeb Bush an advantage for his re-election bid. Now House and Senate conferees will have to hash out their differences. Let's hope that the bipartisan approach of the Senate prevails. Election reform that does not have the approval of both Democrats and Republicans will be met by suspicion by half of Florida's voters. After Florida's embarrassment of November, this legislature must not go home without fixing our election process.