Four hours after the polls closed on Election Day, the TV networks and the Associated Press declared the winner of the crucial state of Florida. There were no takebacks, no corrections, and no recounts. Florida’s election went extremely smoothly, a sharp contrast to the infamous 2000 election that laid bare the fragility of democracy. The governor at the time, Jeb Bush, pushed for changes to ensure there would never be a repeat. Florida’s current leader, Ron DeSantis, praised state and local officials for their speedy vote counting. While Pennsylvania had a significant portion of votes left to count the morning after Election Day, Florida had already reported 93% of its total votes. This year, only California and Texas had more ballots to count than Florida.
The chaos of the 2000 election could have been averted if the widely used punch-card voting machines had been replaced earlier. In 1988, a report recommended ending the use of these machines due to potential problems, including incomplete punches and unclear voter choices. The infamous “hanging chads” defined the 2000 election, as they left some voters’ decisions open to interpretation and slowed down the vote counting. It wasn’t just a matter of recounting; two people looking at the same ballots could interpret them differently. The U.S. Supreme Court stepped in to stop the recount, effectively handing the election to George W. Bush.
After the chaos, the Florida state government responded quickly to enact a sweeping overhaul of the election rules. The Election Reform Act of 2001 banned punch-card voting machines, established new rules for issuing and counting provisional ballots, and set more stringent time frames for the certification of vote counts. Other states should view Florida’s response as a model to prevent election chaos in the future.