They could be a disaster in a close election. Her pleas were rejected. Commissioners opted to upgrade, rather than replace. Osceola County Elections Supervisor Donna Bryant ran for re-election railing against buying more modern voting equipment. Florida's elections, in fact, are chaos by design.
State laws say that every county has the right to tally votes the way it sees fit.
And the repercussions are stunning. In Lake County, the canvassing board decided against counting votes of residents who filled in the circle next to a candidate's name but who also wrote in the same name on the ballot. Across the county line, in Orange, canvassing officials counted such votes, saying the voters' intent was clear. It's part of the state's tradition of giving power to local government. Vague, fuzzy and conflicting laws written by state legislators only added to the confusion.