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CNN Today

Florida Leaders Meet to Discuss Election Reform

Aired January 8, 2001 - 4:01 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's been two month since the presidential election that focused so much attention on the state of Florida and its voting procedures. Today, an effort to improve Florida's methods of casting and tabulating votes began in earnest.

CNN's Gary Tuchman is back in Tallahassee, where a special task force has held its first meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an image of Florida that will be long remembered. That's why many people in this room say they now must be leaders in election reform.

PAM IORIO, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SUPERVISOR: The greatest lesson from November the 7th is that we can and we must do better. Our voters deserve the best, and our leaders have an obligation to provide the best.

TUCHMAN: 21 state leaders -- 10 Democrats, 10 Republicans and one nonpartisan member -- have been given responsibility to come up with proposals to improve the technology, standards and procedures for Florida's voting system. It was the president-elect's brother who ordered the creation of this commission, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush opened the two-day forum.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: It seems to me that the main mission here ought to be to bring clarity, to bring clarity where the after -- the aftermath of this election, there was clearly confusion. We should bring clarity to the voting methods in this state. Every voter needs to know when they go to vote that their vote is going to count.

TUCHMAN: The first proposal on the table: get rid of all punch- card ballot machines, used in 24 of Florida's 67 counties.

IORIO: The voting system used by almost every major urban county in the state was based on 1970s technology, and that led to a large number of errors made by voters on election day that effectively negated thousands of votes.

TUCHMAN: This election supervisor says all Florida counties should use so-called "optical scanners." They're currently used by 41 counties. It would cost at least $25 million to make the switch. (on camera): Ultimately, many here want Florida to switch to ATM-style machines. With these machines, you simply press the screen for the candidates of your choice. For example, for president, I'll vote for Thomas Jefferson; commissioner of American literature, John Steinbeck; minister of transportation, Amelia Earhart; poet-laureate T.S. Elliot; minister of comic relief, Bob Hope. But if I wanted to cancel that vote, I'd press it again, have a blank screen, and then I'd press Lucille Ball.

(voice-over): This task force will issue recommendations by March 1st, but it can't make its proposals law. That will be up to the state's legislature.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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