Florida voting system already strained, it's only going to get worse.

Palm Beach County voting rolls swell due to last-minute registration: South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
"Newly registered voters, who traditionally are less likely to cast a ballot than longtime voters, might turn out in droves this year, [David] Niven [a Democrat who teaches political science at Florida Atlantic University] said. He cited the sharp policy differences between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry and the race's tight margin as factors that will attract even the politically ambivalent."

I don't know how long David Niven has been at this game, but 30 years or so ago when I was up to my eyeballs in politics, new registrants, especially in the presidential year, were more likey to vote that year than the average registered voter. This was before "motor voter" and HAVA and campaign finance reform when there was hardly anybody paying people to get voter registrations submitted. In those days, people who got interested in the election got registered. Now, people who get pestered get registered. Is this progress?

Another report [Broward elections office bombarded with requests for absentee ballots: South Florida Sun-Sentinel], also linked at NewsMax, notes some apparent problems with people getting absentee ballots they had requested and cites this example: "Frieman said one neighbor requested a ballot from the supervisor's office by phone three weeks ago, but has still not received it."

Places I worked in the old days, you requested an absentee ballot by mail or in person. Now in Palm Beach you just call in. Convenient. And, dangerous. First, because there is no way to know if this person even exists - no official ever sees any identification. Second, the potential for mischief by people calling in and asking for ballots to be sent for folks who didn't ask them to (they moved, they're incompetent, they don't care, or all three, i.e., they're dead). Even if these are not used to cast fraudulent votes they will be fodder for charges of fraud and intimidation.

These stories cover Palm Beach and Broward counties, throw in Metro Miami-Dade, and you have the three huge, heavily Democrat counties which Kerry must carry at least 2:1 over Bush to defeat Bush. This was the battleground in 2000, but it will be only one of many this year.