The Florida legislature has drawn up a bill ending the use of punch-card ballots and introducing other reforms to the voting procedure.
The bill, which came with only two days left in a hectic legislative session, is expected to be approved shortly in separate votes in Florida's House of Reprensentatives and Senate.
It will ban punch-card ballots from the now-infamous Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach - and from the 21 other Florida counties, out of a total 67 counties, where they were used.
Florida's voting procedures caught the world's attention in the hotly disputed November 2000 presidential election. The use of punch-card ballots left vote-counters puzzling over dimpled chads and hanging chads, with many ballots being discarded and becoming "undercounted" votes.
Whenever an election results in a margin of one-quarter of 1 per cent or less separating the two leading candidates, there can be a manual recount of ballots where the voter's intention was not clear, but the recount must be requested by 5 p.m. on the second day after the election.
The bill also offers under-voters another chance to vote before leaving the polling place. Some Florida counties already use machinery which alerts electoral officials immediately if the voter's intention is not clear on a ballot.
Florida lawmakers have also agreed to give some flexibility for absentee voters by allowing them to identify themselves by signature and date of birth. A social security card will no longer be required.
The bill will increase to $20 million, from $8 million projected earlier, funds available to the state government to reimburse counties for half the cost of purchasing voting equipment, such as scanners and touch-screen computers.
It is expected the reforms will be in time for the elections for state governor, state congress, and US Congress in 2002.
AFP