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FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Sunday, February 27, 2005

Election Reform

    "Build on election successes":
    The debate started badly when Secretary of State Glenda Hood blindsided county elections supervisors with an ill-advised power grab. There should be some strong statewide standards in areas such as poll worker training, early voting, voter registration and the handling of provisional ballots. But elected county elections supervisors should not be forced to cede all power to an appointed secretary of state whose decisions appear tainted by political partisanship. Lawmakers should reject Hood's pitch for the authority to fine and criminally charge elections supervisors who don't follow the rules. She is the one who deserved sanctions for her mishandling of the flawed felon voter lists and her hyper-enforcement of election rules that would have resulted in unfairly disenfranchising voters.

    One of the most meaningful election reforms would be to allow all felons to vote after they have completed their sentences. While Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet made it easier for felons to have their civil rights restored, they did not go far enough.

    Another important change would be to allow the return of the primary runoff in 2006. While elections supervisors are concerned about timing issues, those could be worked out, most easily by an instant runoff process. Runoff elections have produced some of Florida's best public servants and help ensure the party nominee has broad support. Republicans should be more receptive to runoffs now that their party can regularly expect multiple candidates for governor and other statewide offices.
    There's a lot more in the editorial.

6:40 AM

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