Florida’s 29 electoral votes were finally given to President Barack Obama last Saturday, Nov. 10, after a four-day long count following election night. The delay has left many Floridians slightly embarrassed, as the rest of the country wonders what took us so long to count the votes. There has to be something seriously flawed with the Sunshine State’s voting system for this kind of delay to keep happening, as this happened before in the 2000 election. Plus, it turns out that however detained our presidential results were, in the end it didn’t even matter. As soon as Obama won Ohio, the election was over and nobody seemed to care about the great swing state of Florida anymore. All of a sudden we went from being a crucial part of the nation’s decision, to having an outcome that was totally insignificant.
So what exactly is it about Florida legislature that causes such a delay in each election? According to Huffington Post Miami, Florida legislators cut back the number of early voting days from 14 to eight, ensuring that there would be more time-consuming provisional ballots to tally on Nov. 6. The ballots were much longer than in previous elections, causing the talliers to take even more time verifying each one. There was also the issue with provisional ballots. Florida law states that people who can’t provide adequate identification or who have problems proving their home address or registration are required to use a provisional ballot that election officials have to specifically check to prove eligibility. Each of these issues presented an extremely long and drawn out process to the unfortunate people having to count every ballot.
Florida doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to election night. The 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore had an incredible recount dispute that eventually led to a Supreme Court case. The eventual outcome was not known for more than a month after balloting because of the extended process of counting and then recounting. As a result, a few reforms were made to Florida’s electoral system and they seemed to have their act together in the 2008 election. Now, Florida is once again notorious for having slip ups throughout the election process. It took five days to reveal which presidential candidate won Florida. A few more reforms are obviously still needed throughout the state of Florida to improve this issue.
What really bothers me is the fact that our decision didn’t even matter. Florida has historically been a swing-state in presidential elections, meaning its electoral votes could go to either party and therefore are vital for close races. Toward the end of both Romney and Obama’s campaigns, over $60 million were spent in the month of October alone by each candidate, according to a graph by The New York Times. Many of these final campaign stops were in fact in Florida when we still had some electoral pull. That means that a good portion of those millions of dollars were spent just campaigning here. Was all of that money a waste? I have been plagued these past few months with annoying Youtube ads of Michelle Obama telling us how important Florida is, as well as the incessant banners on pretty much every website telling us to “Vote Today!” and “Your Vote Matters!” Well, it turns out that it really didn’t.
America’s democratic system of voting has successfully given the people a voice since it was first instituted in the early 1800s. I should be proud, especially as a woman, that I live in such a wonderful democracy that doesn’t suppress any of my inalienable rights, and I am. Yet every system has its flaws.
The media places so much focus on these all-important swing states that leave out much of the U.S. not considered in the spotlight. For example, many people in the state of Hawaii don’t even bother to vote anymore because of the inevitable one-party status and the lack of recognition from the rest of the nation, according to CNN. I know that this is how politics work, but I can’t escape the slightly helpless feeling I get while watching the election results unfold on TV. The statistics and projections are all presented in detail, and a panel of knowledgeable political commentators tell us what we should expect. I only wish the other states could be placed in such a high standard as the few states that get all of the coverage.
Florida will probably remain a swing-state for many elections to come, and even if our outcome didn’t really determine the election this year, we might have our chance next election. Until then, important heads need to come together somewhere and figure out this voting situation once and for all.
Lauren Richey can be reached at lauren.richey@spartans.ut.edu