Florida seeks to address election woes TALLAHASSEE - Two months after long lines plagued Florida on election day, Gov. Rick Scott says he wants to return to 14 days for early voting and limit the length of ballots. Scott's comments came as University of Florida researchers released a report that found African Americans were twice as likely to be affected by the Republican-led election law changes in 2011 that shortened early voting from 14 days to eight. Scott supported the bill when he signed it, but last week he told black legislators he had nothing to do with it. Now - citing recommendations from elections supervisors and Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner - Scott supports not only a return to 14 early voting days, but also boosting the number of hours from 96 to 168 and allowing more polling places. He would also allow county supervisors to conduct early voting on the Sunday before election day, when black churches have historically conducted "souls to the polls" voter drives. And he wants shorter ballots. Elections supervisors have said multi-page ballots - due to 11 lengthy constitutional amendments put on by the Republican-controlled Legislature - were a major reason for the long lines and late results seen in many counties on Nov. 6. President Obama was declared the winner of Florida four days after the election. We need shorter ballots. We need more early-voting days, which should include an option of the Sunday before election day. And we need more early-voting locations," Scott said in a statement last week. He said the election system was "clearly in need of improvement." Scott's announcement came as the League of Women Voters of Florida, University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith and other voting-rights advocates announced new research that found the more-restrictive voting laws passed in 2011 pushed more Floridians to vote by absentee ballot and extended the lines on election day. That in turn most hurt the voting prospects of minority voters, Smith said, mostly because the rejection rate for absentee ballots cast by minorities was typically double or more than the rejection rate for whites. Most of the rejections were because signatures on the ballots didn't match those on registration forms. Smith, League officials and Lee Rowland of the Brennan Center for Justice in New York joined to make a number of recommendations, including allowing more days and more voting locations, limiting legislatively drawn ballot summaries to 75 words, and allowing voters to change their addresses at the polls - in effect, restoring the pre-2011 rules. "We simply have to put election problems and election embarrassments behind the state," said Deirdre Macnab, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. Later, she said the League applauded Scott's recommendations. Scott's turnaround came just two days after he disavowed any blame for the 2011 rule changes in a meeting with Florida's legislative black caucus, and three months after he refused to extend early voting beyond the allowed total of 96 hours. State House and Senate leaders held hearings last week on election problems, and both chambers planned to propose legislation to implement some or all of Scott's proposals.