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Frank J. Derfler www.derfler.net

The early voting in Florida and other states is getting a lot of newspaper coverage. Of course, in the proud tradition of “If it bleeds, it leads!” the coverage is generally as negative as the reporters can reasonably make it. “Gee, it’s going really well here.” isn’t a lead that will make the editors happy.

The Sun-Sentinel has a story about people, primarily Republicans, being harassed during early voting.

While the Voter’s Bill of Rights in state law says they have a right to “vote free from coercion or intimidation by elections officers or any other person,” a glitch in the newer early voting law does not include the same 50-foot guarantee.

The New York Times has a story (registration required) about the people called “challengers” who are trained to question the credentials of voters at polling places and, in doing so, to disrupt the voting process.

The parties are also preparing to battle over voter qualifications in Florida, where they had until last Tuesday to register challengers. In Fort Myers, Republicans named 100 watchers for the county’s 171 precincts, up from 60 in 2000. But Democrats registered 300 watchers in the county, a sixfold increase.

USA Today has a story “Florida is focus of furor again” that doesn’t really show as much furor as the headline suggests:

In the first four days of early voting, 4,461 Duval residents cast ballots. Another 67,000 requested absentee ballots — twice the number four years ago. Some officials estimate that one-fourth of Florida’s votes could be cast early. Many here believe it’s safer. Says Marcia Winnard, a Bush supporter: “I’m a little paranoid about this election.”

Since I couldn’t go flying in my single-engine Piper on this beautiful Saturday because of the temporary flight restrictions caused by candidates hopping across the state, I set off by car to visit polling stations in Miami-Dade county to see if I could experience the coercion, intimidation, and turmoil.

The three Miami-Dade polling sites I visited were all in county libraries. At the first station, about 80 people were sitting on chairs at 11:30 AM, waiting for the polling place to open at Noon. More people were coming in, but the mood was patient. I chatted up some poll workers who told me the only problems they had since early voting started were health concerns over voters who climbed the stairs to the second floor of the library and then had to stand in line. They were happy that the county had brought in plenty of plastic stacking chairs.

The polls were open by the time I got to the second polling place. Again, it was evident that the early polling was a success. I didn’t see anyone campaigning inside or outside the library, although I did see one person outside wearing a yellow vest with “poll watcher” on the back. Inside, I did a quick head count and found about sixty voters coming, going, or patiently waiting. I talked to one worker inside who told me that the peaks during the week were during the lunch hour, after school, and after work. She said, “Lots of people come in with their kids after school and turn them loose in the children’s section of the library while they vote. It works out great.” The poll watcher in the vest was gone when I came back out. The third location was pretty much the same story. Good traffic, but no intimidation or coercion in evidence.

Of course, my survey isn’t scientific, exhaustive, or comprehensive. I’m sure that bad things happen and that tensions will rise as the days wind down. But, so far advance voting seems to be going pretty well here in the Sunshine State.