Florida’s at it again. The land of sunshine, Mickey Mouse, high winds and hanging chads is threatening to bollix another presidential election.
The latest cause for deep misgivings involves a dispute over whether maverick presidential candidate Ralph Nader will appear on the Florida ballot. Yes, the election is more than a month away. But absentee ballots are slated to be mailed to voters on Saturday under the guidelines of a federal consent decree. Time is short.
This might seem like a straightforward issue to resolve, but it’s a loaded one. And as we know from 2000, the electoral process in Florida wilts under scrutiny like bougainvillea in a microwave.
Democrats think that Nader played the role of spoiler in the state four years ago. He got 97,000 votes. President Bush carried Florida by a 537-vote margin, and that put Bush over the top in the Electoral College.
So Democrats in Florida and elsewhere in the country are striving mightily to keep Nader off the state ballots in 2004. Yes, there’s a cynicism in that, an assumption that voters can’t be trusted to follow their own preferences. They have to be denied the option of Ralph Nader so they will be steered to what Democrats consider their likely alternative, John Kerry.
Nader is seeking a spot on the ballot in Florida as the candidate of the Reform Party. The remnants of the party once led by Ross Perot have nominated Nader as their standard-bearer.
Last week, a Florida judge issued a temporary order denying a ballot spot to Nader, ruling that the Reform Party has essentially ceased to exist. But Republican Secretary of State Glenda Hood ignored the court and directed that absentee ballots be printed with Nader listed as a candidate. On Wednesday, the judge emphatically demanded that his order be upheld. All this is headed to the Florida Supreme Court.
On? Off? Give us a break. The Florida courts need to resolve this issue quickly. Hurricane Ivan may batter the Florida peninsula, but Hurricane Ralph threatens to batter whatever is left of the state’s reputation for election integrity.
By the cynical calculus of political campaigns, Republican supporters of Bush are working on behalf of the liberal Nader, hoping that Nader will peel votes away from Kerry. And Democrats are battling to bury Nader’s candidacy, because they don’t trust voters–or, apparently, the appeal of their own candidate.
Election procedures have a place, but judges should be very careful in deciding to deny voters and candidates access to the ballot. We’re agnostic on whether Nader legally qualifies in Florida. But the courts there have to resolve this fairly and quickly–this time, before Election Day.
