sounds more like window dressing. Before he even toured the problem areas, he still made the same claims he's made before, this time absurdly saying "We had a really good election."
He began in Hillsborough County, where there were few problems, reasoning that he would "learn benchmarks that could be applied elsewhere," but when officials there suggested the same changes that advocates have called for, they were all but rebuffed:
Hillsborough County election officials articulated some of the same points as voter rights advocates when asked Monday how to solve long lines and improve the democratic process at Florida's polls.
Return early voting to 14 days, from eight during this year's general election, they advised. Don't tamp down voter registration by placing additional restrictions on third-party groups. And don't limit early voting sites to libraries and government buildings.
The response from Department of State interim general counsel Gary Holland, on at least that last point: "Talk to the Legislature."
"I was a little taken aback by that," said incoming Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer. "I was like, I thought that's why you were here."
So it would seem this is really a "not listening tour." Should anyone really be surprised?
That wasn't all. Detzner said he would "take what he learned to the legislature," but will that mean anything? After all, the changes Hillsborough elections officials, advocates and Democrats have called for were mostly in place before the Florida lawmakers dismantled them just in time for the 2012 elections, combined with the voter purge Detzner and Rick Scott conducted. That was the point. It's clear to just about everyone that the goal was to make voting harder to attempt to thwart what would be a favorable turnout for President Obama.
But Detzner appears to be ignoring that inconvenient reality. These were his responses to suggestions yesterday:
On restoring early voting times: "When you look at the turnout, which was larger than it was in 2008, that obviously speaks to the point that people were satisfied with the current law. People responded, reacted and turned out in greater numbers."
Not much to add to this, accept to point out that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. There was a large, and I might add, determined turnout because voters already knew officials in Tallahassee were doing everything in their power to keep them from voting.
On the law governing conduct of third-party registration groups, which was later eased by a federal judge: It allows elections officials to identify those who commit fraud, he said.
Again, voter fraud is nearly non-existent. There's actual math to prove it.
And on the state's troubled scrubbing of ineligible voters from registration rolls: He said those identified are given "due process to give them notice and ample time to have themselves be removed or be prosecuted."
Due process....for actual eligible voters who were purged and have to go through the process of proving they were eligible all along? As for those who were properly purged from the rolls, there's actual math there too, and there were so few it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Still, there was one thing Detzner picked up on and claimed he would look into. Technological issues due to the "lengthy ballot" and those long amendments. Do we assume that means amendment written in full which voters will have to spend time reading before voting will still be around in the future? Just need to beef up issues processing those endless ballots?
Detzner summed up his findings in a repeat from what he said when the election was over:
"We had a really good election."
On what planet? Given his "responses" I doubt many will be confident in "positive" changes being made when this so called "listening tour" is over. Detzner appears to be listening only to the voices in his head, not those of people who actually want to make the system work for voters. After all, the next election in 2014 will be a tough one for Republicans in that their candidate for Governor is quite possibly the worst on record. The majority of Floridians are counting down the days until he's out of office and hoping the state will still be afloat by then. Detzner and his Republican crew will have a lot of hurdles to overcome.
It's foreseeable that the turnout to oust Scott will be enormous, and short of entirely doing away with the democratic process altogether and appointing Scott as emperor, what can we possibly expect then?
Whatever the Republicans try, the national spotlight will be on them. Make no mistake, we'll all be watching.
