President Obama claimed victory of the 2012 election well
before midnight on November 6th. By that time, there were still many Florida
voters standing in line to wait their turn to vote. Wednesday morning, the final count
still wasn't in.
It seems a little backwards to vote after the result has
been called, but there
“At this point, many election officials and candidates and
lawyers are exhausted,” he said. But he urged them not to move past the issue and on
to others, saying, “we really need to think about this and how to address these
problems.”
According to Coffey, this will require a broad overview of
the current situation and the options available for expediting the voting process. “If
it weren’t for Obama’s win in Ohio, the focus would be on Florida and what a mess
things are here,” he said.
Right now, election offices are lacking the resources to
keep up with voter volume. Part of this could be alleviated by implementing early
voting, as so many other states have done.
“Republicans and Democrats waiting in line did not care
about which party might benefit from early voting,” Coffey said. “They all like
early voting and should not be subjected to five and six hour waits.
As both a swing state and one of the largest sources of
Electoral College votes in the country, it’s surprising that early voting isn’t already
available. Giving this option to citizens would make the voting process less frustrating for
both voters and counters, would cut line volume, and would allow those working on
election day much easier access to voting.
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