Florida Counts Votes Swiftly While Other States Slow to a Snail’s Pace

Americans can recall the Bush v. Gore 2000 election when Florida had little to boast about election efficiency as the country waited for weeks between recounts and litigation for a winner to be declared, but 20 years later, that nightmare has been reduced to a distant memory in the Sunshine State. What changed since then? As WPTV political analyst Brian Crowley put it after Trump handily won Florida in 2020, it all comes down to the state’s investment in the right equipment and its counting of mail-in ballots 22 days before the election.

“When you look at what’s going on in some of the other states right now, where there is uncertainty, at least Floridians can put their heads on their pillow and know Florida got it right this time,” Crowley noted at the time.

Ben Kuehne, an election attorney who remembered the 2000 Florida vote debacle, concurred. “Florida invested money in technology that works and works fast,” he said. “Our Constitution says that elections are done at the state level. That is one of the remarkable aspects of our Constitution, so state law matters.”