WASHINGTON — President Bush signed a sweeping election-reform bill into law on Tuesday, nearly two years after the calamitous 2000 election that brought him to the White House.
The law, if fully funded by Congress, will bring more than $170 million to Florida over the next few years to help the state and counties meet new national election standards, congressional staffers told Florida Secretary of State Jim Smith’s office on Tuesday.
Florida also can compete for
additional grants, including a
portion of $100 million established to help states provide access for disabled voters.
“Counties will be reimbursed for a lot of their outlays in buying (new voting) equipment,” Smith said on Tuesday between visits with county supervisors of elections. “For the future, there’s no question a lot of that money will be used for poll worker training and voter education.”
In all, the law provides authority to spend $3.86 billion over fiscal years 2003 to 2006, most of it for states to replace outmoded voting machines, train poll workers and help meet federal standards. Congress must still appropriate this money year by year, a high priority for election reformers and state officials.
States are required to set up a voter database, ensure access for the disabled and help soldiers overseas cast absentee ballots. States and localities are also required to allow voters to cast “provisional” ballots if their voting registration is in question.
The landmark legislation, called the Help America Vote Act, was inspired by mass confusion at the polls and five weeks of legal wrangling in Florida two years ago. A compromise leading to final passage in Congress was prompted by Florida’s primary in September, when some polls were closed for hours and some poll workers had trouble operating new machines.
The signing came one week before the midterm congressional elections, but its provisions do not apply until next year.