Election reform without money to pay for it Punchcards are out.
Optical scanners are in.
That much the Florida House and Senate agree on as the two legislative bodies try to craft a mutually agreeable election reform bill in the final hours of the legislative session. Problem is, once again the Legislature doesn't want to pay the tab for one of its mandates. Responding to an outcry from a frustrated and embarrassed electorate after Florida's presidential election fiasco last fall, lawmakers voted to replace the state's remaining punchcard ballot machines with optical scanner machines, which read ballots on which voters fill in a bubble or complete an arrow. As usual, the differences center on peripheral issues including whether elections supervisors should be non-partisan, if voters should consider a constitutional amendment to give former felons voting rights and should campaign contribution limits be raised. But on the voting machine issue the two chambers are in agreement.