Amid recounts and various problems within the early voting system and one week after the votes were in, several key issues are still left undecided in Florida.
Suzy Trutie, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade County, told USA Today that most of the blame came from a complex 10 page ballot, which in some cases took Florida residents 40 minutes to complete. This accounted for long lines at polling stations and forced many polling stations to stay open late to allow everyone in line to vote.
But why is Florida the last one to the table, something that all but nullified their categorization as a “key battle ground state” in the 2012 presidential election.
Florida was expected to be the key to winning the election. In Florida both candidates, Romney and Obama spend millions campaigning and running adds up to the election; however, as the votes came in President Obama won with out the votes from Florida residents. For Florida residents who waited up to seven hours to vote, this must have been frustrating. In fact, The Ledger reported that residents were still voting long after the election was already called for President Obama.
This is becoming a major issue for Florida voters as well as democratic and women voter groups who are threatening to file suit against the State of Florida if the voting problems are not corrected. One area of focus as reported by The Ledger, is the early voting time period which was shortened for the 2012 election. Many of the groups believe the shortened time period accounted for many of the states counting problems.
The groups would also like more polling stations and a revamp of the system to insure that polling locations have adequate equipment and workers to speed up the voting process.
Al Gore, who also dealt with similar voting issues in Florida during the 2000 election, said on his cable network, Current TV, that these practices in Florida are “un-American” and “it is a strategy that is a direct descendant of the racist Jim Crow tactics that were used in the wake of the Civil War to prevent black people from voting.”
Regardless of whether these tactics were used intentionally to prevent Florida minorities from voting. Overall many Florida residents want voting reform to prevent their vote from not being counted or even considered during the next election.
It is hopeful that a bipartisan effort will be able to resolve these issues before spending tax payer money to defend these practices in court.