Electoral reform in Florida

Electoral reform in Florida refers to efforts to change the voting and election laws in the Sunshine State.

Alternate voting systems

Voters in Sarasota, Florida voted to switch to instant runoff voting in November 2007. [ [http://www.fairvote.org/irv/?page=1423&articlemode=showspecific&showarticle=2501 Coming to a polling place near you: instant runoffs] , Rick Barry, Pelican Press, January 12th 2007.]

Ballots

Florida came under pressure to reform its mechanical butterfly ballot system after that system was associated with a sufficient number of spoiled ballots to have decided the 2000 U.S. Presidential election. The card punchers in some cases became clogged with chads which prevented ballots from punching completely through, resulting in an undervote. They were largely replaced with touchscreen electronic voting machines.

Expansion of the electorate

Florida previously had rigorous felony disenfranchisement laws that denied approximately 400,000 people the privilege of voting [ [http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/elections/results.htm Florida Ex-Offenders Barred from Vote Decisive in Election] , Human Rights Watch.] In 2007, at the urging of Gov. Charlie Crist, the laws were relaxed, allowing hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders to regain their voting rights after having served their prison terms. [ [http://restoremyvote.com/ Restore My Vote ] ]

All qualified voters are allowed to vote absentee under Florida law. [ [http://election.dos.state.fl.us/absenteevoting.shtml Absentee Voting] , Florida Division of Elections.] .

Allocation of electoral votes

In 2007, SB 2568 was introduced in the Florida Senate to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and award Florida's 27 electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote. The bill failed.

External links

* [http://www.fairvote.org/?page=900 Fairvote Florida] .

References