For years Florida was the butt of jokes for its “hanging chads,” long voting lines, and other Election Day malfunctions.
But the joke is over.
According to the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a group that advocates for measures to improve election integrity, Florida is now the model for ensuring that results are reported accurately and in a timely manner, so voters know the winners and losers on Election Day, rather than having a days-or weeks-long season to count ballots.
In the PILF report, which came out last week, Florida passed several measures to shore up election results for accuracy.
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Overall, PILF is recommending that other states adopt eight reforms that helped take Floirda from “worst to first,” as the group noted.
The Foundation identified eight policies that allow Florida to know its election results on Election Night:
- Pre-Election Audit of Equipment to Avoid Election Day Mishaps
- Absentee ballots must arrive by Election Day
- Absentee ballot verification through unique identifying numbers like driver’s license or Social Security numbers
- Early Canvassing of Absentee Ballots with Observers and criminal penalties for releasing information related to the pre-canvass count
- Electronic poll books
- Paper ballots counted electronically
- Ban Ranked Choice Voting
PILF noted that many states have similar policies.
In some cases, a majority share Florida’s methodology, yet in others, Florida is a distinct minority. Florida and Tennessee, for example, are the only states to ban ranked-choice voting.
“After the debacle of 2000, Florida has transformed its election system to one of the best in the country,” said PILF President, J. Christian Adams. “Americans deserve to go to bed on Election Night knowing who won. The month’s long wait for election results leads to uncertainty and distrust in our election process. States must implement these crucial policies, such as requiring mail ballots to arrive by Election Day, to restore the ‘day’ in Election Day.”
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia accept mail ballots that arrive after Election Day. Some even accept ballots up to two weeks after Election Day.
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