Florida moves up its primary

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law sweeping election changes Monday that eliminate electronic voting machines in favor of paper ballots and make Florida’s presidential primary among the earliest in the nation.

Florida’s Jan. 29 presidential primary is ahead of all other states except for caucuses in Iowa and Nevada, county conventions in Wyoming and the New Hampshire primary. South Carolina’s primary is also Jan. 29, although leaders there have said they will move up the date to maintain their status as the first primary in the South.

Crist, a Republican, signed the legislation at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office. He called the law a breakthrough in restoring voter confidence in Florida.

The law does away with ATM-style touch-screen voting machines in 15 counties, including Palm Beach and Broward. Voters will use paper ballots that are run through scanners. The main reason for the change: The optical-scan machines produce a paper trail that can be recounted in close elections.

Florida’s elections process has been under scrutiny since the 2000 election, when irregular results from punch-card ballots left the presidency in limbo and made Palm Beach County’s butterfly ballot fodder for late-night comedians. George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes in Florida after the Supreme Court halted a recount.

Palm Beach County switched to touch-screen machines in 2002 -- and almost immediately set off a campaign to replace the electronic system with paper ballots. Last fall, a Sarasota-area congressional election raised more fears about electronic voting when touch screens recorded more than 18,000 blank votes.

Touch-screen machines will be used during the Jan. 29 presidential primary, but paper ballots must be in place by fall 2008, with one exception: Touch screens can be available for disabled voters until 2012.

Florida’s early primary is controversial. The Republican and Democratic national parties are threatening to strip the state of delegates to the nominating conventions for violating party rules, which forbid primaries before Feb. 5, known as Super Tuesday.