Voter Advocates Call For Task Force Investigation
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A coalition of voter protection groups gathered on the steps of the Miami-Dade and Orange County courthouses Monday urgently calling for an independent task force be created to investigate what went wrong in Florida on Election Day and the early voting period.
"It is clear that Florida's 2012 election process was shameful and unacceptable," said Maribel Balbin, president of the Miami Dade League of Women Voters. "The state simply can't afford to be in the national spotlight once again to be the butt of late night comedy, the national punch line, for dysfunctional elections."
The League, along with the AARP, National Congress of Black Women, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Florida Institute for Reform and Education and Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation are calling on Gov. Rick Scott to form a "multi-partisan task force" of state leaders who would draft reforms and have them ready at least two weeks before the Florida Legislature convenes in March.
"Somebody has to be accountable for what happened on Election Day," said Equality Florida's Nadine Smith. "And somebody has to be accountable for fixing what happened on Election Day."
The outrage follows some of the longest lines in South Florida history to vote, yet lacked in turnout percentages for a presidential election.
"We know how hard some of our supervisors of elections worked but they were fighting an uphill battle and that's unacceptable," said Balbin.
The uphill battle was House Bill 1355. It was proposed and passed in 2011 by Miami's own Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a Senator who has been ducking calls from CBS4 News for two weeks.
"We tried it. It didn't work. Can we go back and fix it from here?" said Balbin.
HB 1355 decreased the number of early voting days by six and limited what could be used as an early voting site. The coalition of voter protection groups is now asking the governor for a task force, similar to one formed following the 2000 election fiasco.
"A budget for staff and resources, a timeline, deliver recommendations before the session starts, leadership. It needs to be a bipartisan trusted group of citizens," demanded Balbin.
If change doesn't happen the League of Women Voters says they'll march into the courthouse, and file a lawsuit to force it.
"People understand that what happened is completely inexcusable, totally unacceptable, and absolutely fixable," said Smith.
Gov. Scott has proposed a task force headed by his own Florida Division of Elections chief Ken Detzner.
Other organizations, Florida New Majority, Florida Immigrant Coalition, AFL-CIO, Advancement Project, AFSCME, and SEIU Florida State Council are also banding together to tell Tallahassee lawmakers to make sure this election debacle doesn't happen again.
They want a longer early voting period, more early voting locations, and a stronger effort to help minority voters.
Miami Gardens democratic State Sen. Oscar Brayon said he'll sponsor legislation based on the recommendations.
When asked for a statement regarding Tuesday's call for election reform, Gov. Rick Scott released the same statement he released on Saturday regarding the results for the 2012 general election.
"Around 8.5 million Floridians voted in this general election – more votes cast than in any other election in state history. A record of nearly 4.8 million Floridians also voted early and absentee ballots. We are glad that so many voters made their voices heard in this election, but as we go forward we must see improvements in our election process. I have asked Secretary of State Ken Detzner to review this general election and report on ways we can improve the process after all the races are certified. As part of this evaluation, Secretary Detzner will meet with County Election Supervisors, who are elected or appointed to their position – especially those who ran elections in counties where voters experienced long lines of four hours or more. We need to make improvements for Florida voters and it is important to look at processes on the state and the county level. We will carefully review suggestions for bettering the voting process in our state."
