Darryl PaulsonSixth in a series.
The 2000 presidential election in Florida exposed numerous problems with the election process, and many of those problems were disproportionately likely to affect black voters.
As the nation waited for the Florida election results to see who would be the next president of the United States, complaints emerged about antiquated voting machines, poorly designed ballots and the purging of black voters.
More than 190,000 over-votes were cast, meaning that these voters voted for two candidates for the same office. Under Florida law, over-votes are illegal and not to be counted.
In Duval County, voters were instructed to vote for a candidate on each page, but the list of presidential candidates covered several pages. By following the instructions, thousands of votes were disqualified.
In Palm Beach County, voters confronted the infamous “butterfly ballot.” Candidates were listed on both pages of the ballot with punch holes in the middle. Many voters punched the wrong hole. Some voters who cast an incorrect vote tried to correct it by punching another hole for their preferred candidate. This double punch disqualified the vote.
A Washington Post study of Duval County found that as many as one out of three black votes were rejected in Jacksonville. A similar study by The New York Times concluded that black precincts had three times as many rejected ballots as white precincts. Problems such as these would led observers to refer to Florida as “the home if electile dysfunction.”
Another problem disclosed in the 2000 election was the purge of voters, disproportionately black, based on faulty data. The Legislature contracted with Data Based Technologies (DBT) to purge ineligible voters.
Since felons cannot vote in Florida unless they have their political rights restored by the governor and cabinet, the state sought to remove any felons who should not be on the voter rolls. The data used was worthless and generated “false positives.”
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigation into the 2000 presidential election in Florida concluded that blacks were disproportionately purged from the voter rolls. In Miami-Dade, blacks were 65 percent of those purged even though they made up only 20.4 percent of the population.
Florida conducted another purge before the 2012 election. The state prepared a list of 180,000 potential illegal voters. Of those, 75 percent were blacks or Hispanics. The state “found” 2,600 suspicious potential voters that were sent to county supervisors of elections. Many supervisors found the list “sloppy” or “embarrassing.” Many refused to participate.
In September 2012, the Division of Elections found only 207 noncitizens on the original list of 180,000. Only 85 individuals were removed, or .0002 percent of Florida’s registered voters, according to PolitiFact.
In 2011 the Legislature drafted new election laws limiting early voting days and hours. Civil rights attorneys pointed out that blacks used early voting more than whites in four if the past five presidential elections. In the 2008 election in Florida, 54 percent of blacks voted early, or nearly twice the rate as whites.
The 2012 election reinforced Florida’s image as being incapable of conducting fair and efficient elections. When the polls closed at 7 p.m., tens of thousands of Floridians were still in line waiting to vote. It was not until 2:54 a.m. that the last voter would cast his ballot in Lee County.
A study by Ohio State University professor Theodore Allen discovered that 201,000 Floridians did not vote due to the long lines. Allen estimated that this cost Obama 108,000 votes and Romney 93,000.
One final issue that disproportionately limits black voting in Florida is the felon vote. Florida is among the four most restrictive states when it comes to felons voting.
The Sentencing Project, using state data, found that more than 10 percent of all Floridians are disqualified from voting because of a felony conviction. For Florida’s black population, more than one in five are disqualified from voting.
“More people were disenfranchised in Florida than in any other state,” according to the Sentencing Project.
The major barriers to black voting are gone, but too many impediments still stand in the way of free and fair elections. Florida must do better.
Next: Democrats and Black Voter Discrimination in Florida.
